What to do with the Tangerine Tango diagonal?

Yesterday I sat down in the stamp room and said to myself, "I'm not getting up until I have at least three ideas for that crazy loud Tangerine Tango striped paper!" Well, I made two… dinner time interrupted. But two good ideas is better than no ideas at all, right?

This is part of the fun and bright Sycamore Street Designer Series paper pack you can get for free right now during Sale A Bration, with any $50 order. The patterns are colorful and bold, and while they didn't grab me at first, I have been really enjoying them and have discovered a couple new favorite color combos, too.

But… the Tangerine Tango diagonal stripes just eluded my mojo! Other then using tiny bits on a banner or pennant, I hadn't used them at all. So yesterday's rather un-Valentine-like challenge to myself was to come up with ideas for it. I think when you are working with bold patterns, the key is to pair warm with cool colors to take the tone down a notch (I used Pool Party and Basic Gray with a nice bright Whisper White) and to use it in small doses. I tried it with the pattern on half a card and it really is still too overwhelming for me. These two cards both use two by four inch pieces.

I used the super cute Patterned Occasions stamp set on both of these cards, another one of those great Sale A Bration freebies. If you haven't heard about our big annual sale, click here to view my shopping website and get all the deets! And I'd be happy to snail-mail you a catalog, too–just ask!

So what do you think? Did I successfully come up with a way to use this crazy bright pattern? Well, if not–never fear! Each side of Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up is double-sided. So if you're not crazy about one side, just flip it over, and there's a world of inspiration on the other.