"A cuppa" of "Hexagon fun!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!  Hopefully this post will go active bright and early on Valentine's or I 'm going to feel very silly!  Please grab a nice hot cuppa and enjoy today's project. 

The new Spring Mini has a great new embossing folder featuring a honeycomb/hexagon pattern .  Initially I was disappointed there is no coordinating hexagon punch but happily there is a "work-around" for this issue which does not involve scissors...well, at least not too much!   Please join me in hoping for a hexagon punch in the near future?  

So let's get started!  First the stamping...the adorable teacup image is from an exclusive Sale-a-Bration (SAB) set called Patterned Occasions.  In case you aren't already familiar with SAB, it's the best time of the year to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator or customer because for every $50 purchase (before tax and shipping) you can choose a free stamp set from the SAB brochure.  As a demonstrator, I was able to pre-order some of these great sets early!  I shared the elephant image from that same set in my previous Petite Pocket die post which can be seen here: . http://inkerzaway.blogspot.com/2013/02/petite-pocket-die-to-rescue.html

Taking the color inspiration from this pretty sheet of Sycamore St Designer Series paper (also an SAB award)  I used a combination of markers and ink pads to color the stamps.  First I tapped the teacup onto a Tangerine Tango ink  pad then used an Early Espresso marker to go over the little steam curls and the "whole lotta love" sentiment at the bottom. You could choose to use a blender pen to remove the color before applying the brown marker but the dark brown marker covers over the brighter color easily without damaging the marker.   A marker could have been used to color the teacup, but I like quick and easy projects!  ;-)   There is a heart image on this stamp which is covered with a heart punched from Silver Glimmer paper and attached with a glue dot.  The image was punched out using a circle punch, layered on an Early Espresso circle scallop then attached to the card base.  

Now for the card base...the bottom layer is Tangerine Tango layered with a slighter smaller white card stock layer embossed with the honeycomb embossing folder.  To get the decorative paper hexagons, simply run a small strip of the decorative paper through the honeycomb folder.   Since decorative paper is much thinner than card stock, running it through the folder weakens the fibers enough that it can be easily pulled apart into strips of hexagon shapes.  In this case, I found it much easier to make the strip wide enough to cover two rows of hexagons, then I just pulled the two strips apart and laid them over the corresponding hexagon spaces on the white card stock.  A few of the edges were a bit ragged so I trimmed them up with my paper snips but that was a piece of cake compared to trying to cut out a bunch of hexagons.  Overall, the strips nested in nicely and just needed a dab of adhesive in the cell of each hexagon to stay put....isn't that fun???  Of course, you could also choose to pull off the hexagons one at a time and scatter them wherever you need a little splash of color.

So, that's it for today! I would love to hear what you think.of this project and if you try this easy hexagon technique  please come back and share a link. You can find links to the SAB brochure, the Spring Mini and the Stampin' Up! "big book" catalogue in the sidebar of my blog.  If you don't already have a a Stampin' UP! demonstrator you can shop thru my Stampin' Up! webstore at http://www.janhoyt.stampinup.net . I 

Here is a list of Stampin' Up! product  used for this project:

Patterned Occasions stamp set (SAB exclusive) (SAB brochure)

Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper (SAB brochure)

Honeycomb "Textured Impression Embossing folder #129378 (spring mini)

Tangerine Tango ink 126946, card stock 111349 

Cardstock: Whisper White #100730 and Early Espresso #119686

Early Espresso Stampin' marker #119680

Silver glimmer Paper #124005 (also available in Red and Champagne!)

1 3/4" circle punch 119850

2 3/8th in scallop circle punch #118874

Small Heart punch #117193