Oh Hello Simplicity from St. John, USVI

I’m on the Azamara Quest in the West Indies and Virgin Islands for a few weeks.  I thought I’d share some photos and projects with you while I’m away at sea.  I have some photos at the end of this from the isle of St. John in the US Virgin Islands today at the end of this post.  Enjoy, now onto a fun little project!  I just love stamp sets that really make me look at them twice.  The set Oh Hello definitely does that for me.  I didn’t notice it at first, but the oval stamp with the alternating Chevrons is an optical illusion.  That’s pretty cool if you ask me!  I wanted a clean and simple project, so I created this fun and flirty card.  Enjoy all the creative tips!

Creative Tips:

• I used the flower as a focal image together with the large doily from the Delicate Doilies Sizzlits for the Big Shot.
• To make the flower pop a little I cut an oval using the new Oval Framelits, ran it through the Honeycomb Embossing Folder. 
• I wanted the oval to pop a bit more, so I ran a sponge over it and along the sides using Garden Green Ink.  I found it easier to sponge the edges first before running it through the TIEF folder.  When I did it the opposite way, a few of the honeycomb shapes wanted to cut apart.
• To color my flower stamp, I used Garden Green and Rose Red Markers.  I cut out my image and popped it up using Stampin’ Dimensionals.
• I wanted a little more to my image, so I stamped the large patterned oval in So Saffron behind the Doily and off to the left.  Together it really made a beautiful combination.
• I wanted the doily to stand out a bit so I used my bone folder to curl the edges up a little on the top and bottom.  I made sure to only add adhesive to the center.

• I used the chevron stamp along with my Stamp-a-Majig to line it up along the bottom of the card.  It made for a pretty background for my Banner Flag.
• I used a 1 3/8” Square Punch to create my banner flag and anchored it with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  For a little pop to it, I added two alternating sized Pearl Basic Jewels.
• The card needed a little something to break it up in the center, so I added two different sizes of strips.  This is a great way to use those left over slivers of card stock that you have left over.
• For my finishing touch, I added some minor paper piercing in the upper corners.  The Essentials Paper Piercing Templates along with our Stampin’ Pierce Mat and Paper-Piercing Tool are the most cost effective and easy way to add that little something to your project.  No stamper should be without those three tools!

I hope you loved this little simple project.  I just love this stamp set.  The sayings are great – and you can never have enough of those!  I find that the mix of stamps in the Oh Hello set are fabulous.  And even better is our Oval Framelits bundle with the Oval Framelits.  You’ll get 15% off the total cost and have some real staples that you’ll use over and over again.

Well our white beach/teal waters snorkeling day was not as planned thanks to pouring rain showers and a grey sky (not fun when all the taxis are open air).  We still enjoyed all St. John had to offer, just a bit wet!

Colorful beach front living

Our ship Azamara Quest anchored off shore way back there!

My office for the rest of the rainy day with St John in the background.

I’m off to Ilse Des Saints, Guadeloupe in the Eastern Caribbean today.  We can’t wait to explore this island for the first time. Look for some more fun projects tomorrow, more photos and hopefully we’ll have some better weather!

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Stamp Sets – Oh Hello (130733c, 130730w), Oh Hello Bundle (131102w, 131101c) Ink – So Saffron (126957), Garden Green (126973), Rose Red Marker (119700 – Subtles Marker Collection), Garden Green Marker (119701 – Regals Marker Collection)  Paper – Whisper White (100730),So Saffron (105118), Garden Green (102584), Rose Red (102544)  Cool Tools – Stamping Sponges (101610), Stamp-a-Majig (101049), Delicate Doilies Sizzlits (126999), 1 3/8” Square Punch (119877), Honeycomb TIEF (129378), Oval Framelits (129381)  Finishing Touch – Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Essentials Paper Piercing Pack (126187), Stampin’ Pierce Mat (126199), Paper-Piercing Tool (126189), Pearl Basic Jewels (119247)