Pam's Krafty Korner: February 2015 Diva Blog Hop--Ombre It!

Hey, Folks!!

If you're joining me from Amy's Blog, I'm the last stop for today. If you just started here, feel free to head to Sue's Blog and start from the beginning to hop thru all the sites!

Today our Hop Theme is 'Monochromatic', or another 'fancier' word might be Ombre. Gorgeous cards and projects can be created using JUST a single color in various shades, and ONE of the goals of the hop today is to show you that you don't need to have EVERY color under the rainbow (but let's face it, most of still want to anyway!) to creating stunning projects!!

I had been playing around with ideas of what to show you today, and then earlier this week I opened up my March/April copy of "Stampin' Sucess", which is a magazine Stampin' Up! puts together and sends out to all of their demonstrators, and one of the projects in there screamed at me that it was PERFECT for today's post!! It's a free-flowing paper moblie.

And it's SUPER easy to do!! Here are the steps as explained in the magazine (and somewhat edited with my trial/error!!):

First up, gather your supplies:

So, initially when I read the instructions, it stated that I need to spray paint an embroidery hoop and allow it to dry. I had the bright idea of trying to take three pieces of 1/4" x 11" cardstock, and staple them together to create the hoop instead. That didn't seem 'quite' strong enough, so I added another three pieces around the outside of that to add a bit more stability.

What I did NOT account for was that the weight of the strands really would be pulling on the hoop, and I really needed something with firm structure, so I resorted instead to an 8" metal ring. I didn't want to take the time to spray paint it and wait for it to dry--I rummaged thru my Washi Tape, and found a roll of blue that coordinated with Lost Lagoon & Soft Sky and wrapped the ring with that!! Perfect! Then I used White Baker's Twine and cut two pieces that I looped together and tied to the ring in four spots.

For the mobile, you will need white cardstock, and two tones of colored cardstock. I used Lost Lagoon and Soft Sky, and you'll also need those same two colors of Classic Ink Pads as well. Your options are really endless as far as what color to pick, but if you're feeling overwhelmed, checking out one of the Dynamic Duo options that Stampin' Up! suggests could be a good place to start!! I'm kinda drawn to the Wild Wasabi/Garden Green duo myself, but often get accused of using 'green' ALL the time, so thought I'd work outside of my color comfort zone for this project!!

I decided to use the floral image from "Thoughts & Prayers" for my stamp image, but there are SO MANY great options out there--background stamps are another great idea for using on a project like this! You'll want to stamp both sides of the cardstock--using the Lost Lagoon pad on the same colored cardstock, and the Soft Sky pad on the Soft Sky & Whisper White cardstock.

I picked five sizes of circles to punch out for my mobile--1 3/4", 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1" & 3/4". You could start bigger, or go smaller if you want, but I don't think you'd want to go less than a 1/2" size for your smallest punch. AND if you have your Big Shot, with the Circles Collection dies, you could always use those instead of your punches. Honestly, I think the punches will make the project come together faster, but depending on the tools you have at your disposal, there's more than one way to get the look you're going for. You're also not limited to circles. I think flower shapes could be a really fun look, as could squares, triangles, etc.! The only limit is really your imagination &/or available supplies!!

Out of the Lost Lagoon Cardstock, I punched out 1 3/4" & 1 3/8" circles. I think I used at least two sheets of cardstock with these punch sizes. I decided to make sixteen (16) strands, so cut out 1-3 of each size circle per strand.

From the Soft Sky Cardstock, I used the 1 3/8", 1 1/4" & 1" circle punches, and probably used at least 1 1/2 sheets of cardstock. Finally from the Whisper White cardstock I punched out the 1" and 3/4" circles. I arranged each of the piles of circles from largest to smallest and sat down at my sewing machine (using white thread and the longest stitch length I could set), and sewed down the middle of each circle. There's no real rule here, other than leaving a bit of a tail on the top and bottom, but you can place the circles as close together or as far apart as you want!

When I got each strand sewn, I took the thread and double-knotted at the top and bottom of each, and also created another 'knot' at the bottom before trimming the excess thread. I decided to add my own 'touch' to the mobile, and placed two large rhinestones at the bottom of each strand, just above the additional knot I had made.

Finally, it was a simple matter of tying each strand to the metal ring, and trimming the ends of the thread. I didn't do this, but the instructions I read also suggested adding a dab of Crystal Effects to the top of each strand to hold it in place on the ring.

This really is a cool fun project and the color options could go SO many different directions!!