Happy Labor Day!  I’m thrilled to announce that some of the labors of my stamping have paid off because I was chosen for the Splitcoaststampers.com Clean and Simple Design Team for Fall 2011!  I’ve tried out for it a few times before and was chosen for a couple guest designer spots, but this time I finally made it through to the full-fledged design team.  I’m super excited!  🙂

I have to confess that my excitement was dashed a bit when I received the assignment for my first challenge as a DT member.  It’s a theme challenge – shoes.  I have exactly two stamps – both tiny ones –  that would work for that theme:  the boots from Stampin’ Up’s Branch Out set (and I’m still not sure why they put those in there), and a flip flops stamp.  It wasn’t too hard to choose the flip flops.  After a lot of thought, I finally came up with a sentiment that would be nicely suitable for Operation Write Home.  Like a lot of the sentiments I use, it’s a pun.  Then I hesitated on using it because it looks like I misspelled a word in it.  Finally I decided to go with it anyway, because the pun becomes pretty apparent when you see the flip flops.

Then I got to thinking that “sole” could also be interpreted as “only”… so maybe it’s another way of saying “You’re my one and only.”  I suppose it’s all up to the hero who chooses it to send home to his or her loved one, and what the recipient reads into it.

I discovered something pretty cool when I was adding a bit of color to the flip flops. Coloring Apricot Appeal marker over Pretty in Pink marker results in a color very very similar to Groovy Guava (at least on Naturals Ivory cardstock). That’s what I used for the tiny flowers on the flip flops. My Bliss Blue marker (yes, most of my SU markers are THAT old) turned out to be a really close match to Soft Sky.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you get to enjoy a day of rest and relaxation.

Supplies for this card:
Stamps: A Little Love (Stampin’ Up); computer generated sentiment
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, Afternoon Tea designer paper (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU); printer ink
Other: Bliss Blue, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, and Chocolate Chip markers, dimensionals (SU); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); white Signo gel pen (Uniball); corner rounder punch (EK Success)