Social Stamping | oh 2020!

Good morning! It’s sunny and already hot here in south west Western Australia. Perfect weather for crafting I think – inside in the cool! (Although any time is perfect crafting time really.)

Welcome to the final Social Stamping blog host! You can click on the banner above or here to visit the main host page where all of today’s posts are listed.

Social Stamping is the brain child of Kelly Kent. All the way back in March, Kelly set this up as a way for her crafty friends to stay connected virtually when so many of us were restricted from actually meeting face-to-face. You can read the very first post here.

The theme for this month is ‘oh 2020’. In what has truly been a year for the history books (thanks COVID!), there is a lot to reflect on for 2020. I am very thankful that most of my year has been ‘normal’, Western Australia has not had to deal with significant restrictions to daily activities. We all remained well through winter, with better hand hygiene and people being more careful if they were unwell. My family is all close by so I’ve continued to see them as much as I’d like.

Social Stamping has been a great benefit to my blogging – I’m very much a deadline girl and purpose driven crafter, so a weekly commitment was very motivating for me. Thank you to Kelly for organising Social Stamping!

While this time of year can be time of reflection, it’s also time to look forward – what will the new year bring? So while we say ‘oh 2020’ we can now say ‘hello 2021’. Hence my project choice to share with you – a 2021 calendar easel card made with the gorgeous new set, Sweet Strawberry**. Can you believe my husband got me this for Christmas?! Me neither 😀 (he did wrap it but I bought it).

I’ve CASEd my calendar design from a fun version Gail Ellis shared on her Facebook page. In the past I’ve made this easel calendar card by Kelly Kent, but I was glad to find Gail’s version – last year I made the easel card with notepaper without calendars for teacher gifts, so this year I made the calendar easel for a couple of the same teachers.

The easel is Poppy Parade card stock, with layers of Call Me Clover and Soft Sea Foam. The outline images were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, and colour added with coordinating stamps – so easy!

The images in this set stamp so beautifully! And then it’s so easy to get them all cut out with the Strawberry Builder punch. I had a play with colours to see which one looked the best.

I used ink and blender pens to colour the image stamped directly on the Soft Sea Foam layer. And you can see the Call Me Clover layer was embossed using the Subtle 3D folder – my go to for adding texture.

Here is a side view of the easel – it folds flat to fit in an envelope too!

Did you get any craft goodies for Christmas? What are you looking forward to for 2021?

I’m lucky last for our last Social Stamping blog host, next takes you to the start to see Kelly’s stunning creation.

** Sweet Strawberry is available from 4 January in the new Stampin’ Up! Mini Catalogue – I’ve got it already as a perk from being a demonstrator. If you’d like early access to new products let’s talk about you becoming a demonstrator too!