Big Girl or Smarty—It’s All About The Pants

Bobbi Putman 1944-2008

Hi Stamping Friends!

Today is a bittersweet day for me…it's been five years since I lost My Mommy, my great friend, my inspiration, and my biggest fan. 

Although I didn't realize it at the time, that moment in 2008 would forever change my life in ways I could never have imagined. Most importantly, losing her gave me the courage and opportunity to start a journey of discovering myself and to begin living my life more passionately. 

Since then, I've made some big changes in order to better take care of myself.  I quit a job I had loved for 17 years, because it no longer fulfilled me.  I started walking…A LOT.  I finally quit smoking.  And, I took the leap of focusing on my Stampin' Up! hobby as a full-time business! 

My Mommy is a HUGE part of my stamping adventure to this day.  She always encouraged me to enjoy and share my creative talents because she knew that I absolutely LOVE doing it!  I even named of my business Too Cool Stamping in honor of her memory.  She would always exclaim that my cards were, "Too Cool!" 

Nowadays, it's that "Too Cool" factor that I try to bring to all of my projects, my blog posts, my events, and every part of my life.  Still trying to make her proud, I guess. 

Big Girl Pants

Back on February 19, 2011, I blogged about a special card that I created for her: My Mommy's Big Girl Denim Pants Card.  We always talked about putting on our Big Girl Pants when things got tough.  Well, it sure seems like I've accumulated quite a closet-full of those damn pants over the years, but I'm happy to say that they are feeling more comfortable all the time! 

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Put On Your Smarty Pants!

OK—I admit it's a terrible segue, but the adorable jeans in the Patterned Occasions Sale-A-Bration set totally reminded me of My Mommy and our Big Girl Pants.  It seemed like the perfect project to share today! 

I seriously can't get over how adorable these jeans are hanging on a line!  Too Cute!

The 5" x 3-3/4" Whisper White background is embossed with the Cloudy Day Texture Impressions Folder.  I added a strip of Lucky Limeade card stock that was die-cut with the Finishing Touches Edgelits to the bottom.  Doesn't it look like grass?

I strung a line of Calypso Coral Baker's Twine across the top, and adhered it behind a 5-1/4" x 4" layer of Not Quite Navy card stock to create the clothesline.  All layers are adhered to a Baja Breeze card base. 

Then, it was just a matter of stamping all of those colors of denim!  I used Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, Midnight Muse and Not Quite Navy Markers to color the pants, and omit the sentiment. 

Oh, and then there are the Smarty Pants! 

For the Smarty Pants, I used Markers to achieve a fun, tie-dyed look!  I squiggled on stripes of Calypso Coral first, then added zigzags of Melon Mambo and Island Indigo. 

TIP: Always start with the lightest colors first when you are coloring so close to other colors of ink.  You don't want a darker color to contaminate your lighter marker brush tips.  

I finshed off the jeans with some Rhinestone Jewels bling!

Faded Knees TIP: See how the Not Quite Navy jeans above are a little lighter at the knee?  This was an unexpected consequence of me coloring the top half of the pants, and then the bottom half.  Where the marker strokes overlapped, the color became lighter.  Well, whaddya know?!!!

The Baker's Twine bows were added separately and glued on with a dab of Multipurpose Glue.

My Midnight Muse jeans are distressed with a Sanding Block along the bottom and ripped in all the right places with a Piercing Tool. 

I used the Not Quite Navy marker again to isolate the sentiment for stamping onto Whisper White.  Then, I did some double-punching to make the two-layered pop-up.  The words are punched with the Word Window Punch, and the sides are shortened by punching again.  The Baja Breeze card stock was punched with the Decorative Label Punch, then shortened by punching the shape again. 

Learn how to shorten your punch-outs with the Double Punching tip I showed on a previous post.

I changed the Whisper White to 4-1/4" x 4" here, and layered it on a 4-1/4" square piece of Not Quite Navy.  Then, the only other difference is the coloring on the Smarty Pants!

I added two "ruffled" Calypso Coral cuffs with markers first, then colored in the rest with the Elegant Eggplant marker.  The heart is also in Calypso Coral, punched from the Owl Punch. These would have been just My Mommy's style, because purple was her favorite color! 

Complete Supplies List:

• Stamps—Patterned Occasions (SAB #129624)
• Ink—Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Midnight Muse, Calypso Coral, Island Indigo (card #1), Melon Mambo (card #1), and Elegant Eggplant (card #2) Markers
• Paper—Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Lucky Limeade,
  Whisper White card stock 
• Accessories—Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Rhinestone Jewels
• Tools—Cloudy Day Texture Impressions Folder, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Big
  Shot, Word Window Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Owl Punch (card #2), Sanding Block (card #1), Piercing Tool (card #1), Multipurpose Glue, Dimensionals, SNAIL

Find all the supplies to create these projects & more at my Online Store!

Check out all of the Sale-A-Bration items you can earn…choose one FREE item for every $50 you spend!

Angie

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Events—Mark Your Calendars!

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