Stampin’ Up! Falling May Flower Garden

Happy Hawwmp Day, y’all!  Although I’m only just realizing what day it is – I spent all day Tuesday thinking it was…Monday?  Which is odd since Tuesdays are the day I do my Newsletter and I spent a lot of time getting that ready!  But, it’s true – I was discombobulated all day.

Which is why the card I did follows a sketch that closed at noon on Tuesday.  And today’s not Tuesday, so… yea.

Speaking of which, I used a technique on this one that I blatantly copied from Amy Koenders.  You can see the card she did right here.  I justified my overt copying by telling myself the sketch demanded a frame, so…almost all the cards that were submitted have a frame.  And how many ways are there to do a frame?  But, I did use a completely different stamp set, so there’s that.  I pulled out the Falling Flowers bundle and then took a sentiment (and a little tiny bee!) from the Garden in Bloom set.  Take a look-see:

So – in addition to the sketch challenge at My Favorite Things – that I missed!, I played along with the Can You CASE It challenge, which gave me my colors.

I started with a plain piece of Whisper White card stock.  Then, using the instructions I got over at Amy’s blog, I fashioned a frame.  First I used the largest of the square Stitched Shapes Framelits and, with half of the die hanging off the end of the platform (so it wouldn’t cut) I ran it thru the Big Shot and cut the top half.  Then I reversed the layout, letting the little “stitches” in the die hook into the stitches that had just been cut to help me line it up.  When I ran it thru that second time, I ended up with a rectangle with the stitches cut into it!

I repeated that process using a scallop-edge die in the Squares Layering Framelits to cut out the middle.  Once I had run thru the Big Shot twice (both times only cutting half of the die). I ended up with the frame you see.  Now, to be fair, I fully expected to have to do it a few times to get it right – but I got lucky on the first go! 🙂

Next up, I used a sticky note that I cut to the size of my frame, and stuck it in the center of my Whisper White card front.  Right below the sticky note, I stamped the sentiment from Garden in Bloom in Basic Gray Archival Ink.  Then, using the flourish stamp in the Falling Flowers stamp set, I stamped around the sticky note and the sentiment with Smoky Slate ink, that I stamped off once before stamping my card.  When I pulled up the sticky note, I had a clear “canvas” for my “picture”.  I matted the panel on Basic Gray and Daffodil Delight card stock panels with SNAIL.

Using the images in the Falling Flowers stamp set, I stamped a few leaves in Smoky Slate (full strength).  Then I cut a sticky note mask (knew that was coming, didn’t you!!) and covered them up one at a time to stamp the little berry image in stamped-off-once Daffodil Delight.  I lined the back of my frame with Stampin’ Dimensionals and stuck the frame over the top of my canvas.

Then I stamped several flowers in Tempting Turquoise (the large two are full strength and the little ones are stamped-off-once) and some berries in full strength Daffodil Delight (I colored them in with my Daffodil Delight Watercolor Pencil), and cut them all out with the matching dies in the May Flowers Framelits.  Then I colored the large flowers in with my alcohol-filled Aqua Painter, using ink from the lid of my Tempting Turquoise stamp pad.

I used Liquid Glue and Stampin’ Dimensionals to adhere them to the frame to get a 3-D effect and some Tempting Turquoise and Daffodil Delight Enamel Shapes for the middle of the flowers.

Finally, I stamped the little bee from the Garden in Bloom stamp set in Basic Gray Archival Ink on Whisper White, colored him in with my Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Write Marker and fussy cut him.  Then I stuck him to his flower with a little Liquid Glue – and brushed his wings with the Clear Wink of Stella.  

And that was it for the card front.

On the inside, I stamped a second sentiment from Garden in Bloom in Basic Gray in the middle of a Whisper White panel.  Then, using some sticky note masks, I stamped some Tempting Turquoise flowers and Smoky Slate leaves at the bottom.  I stamped the two large flowers first, covered them with their masks, and stamped the rest of the images “behind” them.  I lightly colored the centers of the large flowers with my Daffodil Delight Watercolor Pencil!

I double matted the panel on Basic Gray and Daffodil Delight and SNAILd it into my Whisper White card base, popped the card front on with Stampin’ Dimensionals and the card was done!

On my Whisper White Medium Envelope, I repeated the Falling Flowers images on the front…

…and gave the envelope flap a stamped-off-once Smoky Slate Falling Flowers flourish.  Then I added another little bee in the corner.  Cuz I like him! 🙂

Et Voila!  I really kind of never get tired of all the beautiful flower images that Stampin’ Up! brings to us – and this Falling Flowers bundle is definitley one of my faves!  And the fact that they give us so many matching dies is just the icing on the cake!  Hope you like!

Scroll on down for the card cuts and all the products you’ll need to make this one for yourself!

HOST CODE FOR 1 MAR – 15 MAR: X64XATES

We all love a great deal, don’t we?

And the BEST DEAL, with the BEST VALUE, is the Starter Kit!

Right now, get up to $200 for just $99.  And – it ships for free!  You select $125 worth of product and pay just $99 – plus, right now, you get 2 FREE BONUS STAMPS with a value up to $104.  Did I mention FREE SHIPPING??  And – of course, from the moment you join, you’ll get your demonstrator discount on all your future Stampin’ Up! products!

If you’re interested in becoming a Demonstrator or have any questions about joining, feel free to drop me an email, I’d love to tell you more about it!  Or visit my Join My Team page for more details.  I welcome all types of Demonstrators on my team – from those who’d just like to get the discount for themselves to those who want to build a business. 🙂

Finally – Stampin’ Up! just let us know that the Card Tin in the Sale-A-Bration flyer is completely sold out!  It was a winner and I’m thinkin’ a lot of folks got it.  So…when you order, be ready to choose a different FREE goody!

TTFN

Mary

STAMPIN’ UP! PRODUCTS USED IN THIS PROJECT:     

CARD CUTS USED IN THIS PROJECT:

Whisper White Card Stock: 4 1/4″ x 11″ (card base – scored and folded at 5 1/2″); 3 3/4″ x 5″ (card front and inner liner); 2 5/8″ x 3 3/8″ frame (cut from largest Stitched Shapes Square and the 2″ scallop Layering Squares Framelit)

Daffodil Delight Card Stock: 4″ x 5 1/4″ (mats for card front and for inner liner)

Basic Gray Card Stock: 3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″ (mats for card front and for inner liner)

If you need any stamping supplies, I’d be very happy to be your Demonstrator. Just click on the Order Stampin’ Up! Online Now button on the right side of the screen to go directly to my online store or drop me an email if you have any questions. Happy Stamping!

Shop the Clearance Rack here. Earn FREE Stampin’ Up! Products – Join my Punkin Head Peppermint Rewards – My online customer thank you program!

FINN-FAN FIX….

‘Member me saying yesterday I figured it wouldn’t be long before FInn-Chewie figured out the transition from stairs to lap?

Well.

Sure ’nuff!  As soon as I hit “schedule” on the post and closed up shop, he gracefully (-ish) stepped across the gap and onto my lap.

So I took a few (dozen!) close-ups!

What a face!

TTFN

M