Wildflower Path Smiles

Hello Ladies!  Glad you could come back for another visit.  The idea behind today's card is an English-style garden with taller flowers in the back, then medium height and smallest in the front.  The Wildflower Path stamp set is a stand alone set with no dies or punches, but has enough different stems and flowers to make up my garden.  So, I gave the idea a try and here's my English garden in full bloom.

My thought was to use bright, summery colors for my garden, and I think this works.  This has a mix of some of the new 2022-2024 In Colors with some favorite standbys.  The card starts with a base of Sweet Sorbet cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored in half and folded.  The next layer is So Saffron cardstock cut at 5 1/4" x 4".  It's attached to the card front with Dimensionals.  The stamped layer is Shimmery White cardstock that's cut at 5" x 3 3/4".

Stamping started with the heavier stems that I stamped in Shaded Spruce ink.  These were stamped four times across the card, but the two outer stems are partially off the side edges.  The thinner stem was stamped with the new Parakeet Party ink three times, once in between each of the darker stems. 

On the darker stems, I stamped what looked mostly like roses to me.  These are 2-step stamps.  The larger stamp was inked with the new Sweet Sorbet ink and off-stamped before stamping on the stem.  The more detailed stamp was inked with Sweet Sorbet also, but stamped full strength.  The flowers for the other stems were inked with Mango Melody and stamped.  (I tried So Saffron first, but it was too pale.)  I liked the garden so far, but it needed some darker flowers to offset some of brightness.  

There is a cluster of three flowers that would work for the lowest flowers in the garden.  These were stamped three times in Orchid Oasis ink.  The flowers were twisted each time I stamped so the flowers didn't look like little soldiers lined up.  There were a few more leaves stamped tucked in the bottom using Parakeet Party ink.  There's also a single flower in the set that was stamped a few times near the bottom using Mango Melody ink.  The last thing was to add just a touch of the grasses on the bottom edge with Shaded Spruce ink.

The sentiment is from the same Wildflower Path stamp set.  The words are wonderful and the font fits them perfectly.  This was stamped on a piece of Basic White cardstock cut at 2 5/8" x 7/8".  I used Shaded Spruce ink for this.  To make the whole sentiment layer stand out more, a piece of Shaded Spruce cardstock was attached across the card front with adhesive.  The size is 4" x 1/2".   This ended up a little dark for my tastes, so a strip of Vellum 4" x 1 3/8" was attached in the center only.  Then the sentiment layer was attached to the center of this using Dimensionals for some lift.  

I wanted to carry the design inside the card just like taking cut flowers inside the house to enjoy.  The inside of the card is stamped on Basic White cardstock using the same stamps and colors from the front of the card.  To bring in some of the So Saffron layer from the card front, I added a 1/2" strip across the bottom edge.  I liked how that gave it a more finished look.

Looking at the finished card, I realized the garden needed some butterflies flitting about.  I used the Brushed Brass Butterflies to finish my garden.  One of the tiny butterflies landed on the sentiment to draw attention there, and the other two are enjoying the many blossoms.

Thank you for joining me today on a walk through my English garden.  Hope you enjoyed yourself.  You can always make your own garden to enjoy with either the Wildflower Path that I used or any of the many floral stamps that Stampin'Up! has to offer.  Just pick your favorite flowers and start planting.  Oh sorry, I meant stamping!!

If you're placing an order, please use the Host Code found on the top right of my blog posts.  I appreciate it so much.  Please enjoy your day and find some time for gardening, whether that's creating with stamps or with real flowers and plants.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Sneak Peak Happiness Abounds

Hello friends!  Hope y'all had a very blessed Easter spent with family and friends.  We enjoyed a great day spent with some family, despite the ups and downs we've had lately with my hubby's health.  The doctor tried another procedure today, but it didn't work.  So it's back to deciding the next step for him to take.  We really take our health for granted until there's a problem.  Thanks to all of you that have been keeping him in your prayers.  You are a true blessing to us!  

Now on to the projects I'm sharing with you today.  I think most of you have your new catalogs in your hot little hands already.  These cards are a sneak peek of a new stamp bundle called Happiness Abounds, and a new DSP called Hues of Happiness.  Oh  My  Goodness  This is such a gorgeous new set!  And one of the awesome points of this is that the dies will cut out some of the flowers in the DSP.  Can I just say awesome?!

Here's the Happiness Abounds stamp set and coordinating Blossoming Happiness die set.  And you see all of those lovely flowers and leaves down there?  That's most of just 2 sheets of the Hues of Happiness DSP - one sheet in pinks and yellows, and one in purples and blues.  This is what's left after making 3 cards already!  It's just a gorgeous garden of roses.  The colors are so rich and beautiful.  I'm ready to go out and buy a big bouquet of roses in a glorious rainbow of colors like this!

To maximize the Designer Paper, I cut it into three 4" wide strips.  Then one of the strips was cut at 3" intervals to give me a nice amount to work with.  Looking at the two cards, it's hard to imagine they are made from the same strip of DSP.  A third card that sort of "marries" the two pieces together will be shared with you tomorrow.  

Both of these cards started out with the same idea of using the Scalloped Contours Dies to cut a piece of Basic White cardstock to frame up the DSP.  I used the 2nd largest die for this.  To get the DSP to fit just right, I needed to trim it down to 2 5/8".  This way the tiny stitching lines show all around the edges of the DSP.

The first card started out with a base of Melon Mambo which is one of the colors listed on the DSP.  It's cut to normal A2 size of 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half.  

 

The piece of DSP is attached to the die-cut frame using adhesive.  A strip of the White Glittered Ribbon is wrapped around this and attached in the back.  (I'm so happy this ribbon is carrying over to the next catalog!)  This is all attached to the center of the card front using Dimensionals.  

At this point I had fun going through all the die-cut roses to see which ones I'd like on the front of the card.  I chose he largest rose in the Melon Mambo shades, one of the smaller Daffodil Delight flowers, and three of the leaf clusters.  The large rose was attached to the card front with Dimensionals.  Then the leaves and yellow flower were all tucked in underneath the rose.  

A sentiment from the new Sending Smiles stamp set was stamped on a skinny strip of Basic White cardstock using Mellow Moss ink.  This was flagged on the right end, then tucked under the rose also.

A bow made from the White Glitter Ribbon was added to the card with Mini Glue Dots.  I actually added five 2021-2023 In Color Jewels to give it some extra sparkle.  Unfortunately, the jewels are retiring soon, but last I looked, they were still available if you needed a few more of these awesome jewels.

This next card started with a base of Coastal Cabana cardstock cut 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half.  I added a 1" x 4 1/4" strip of another print from the Hues of Happiness DSP to give a darker anchor to the side of the card.  I think it added a nice touch.  The 3"x 4" DSP piece was trimmed down again to fit the Scalloped Contours die-cut piece and attached with adhesive.  This was layered onto the card front using Dimensionals.

Now for the flowers, I chose one of the Fresh Freesia ones and two leaf clusters.  I also stamped one of the flowers from the Wildflower Path stamp set using Fresh Freesia ink, because I wanted a tinier flower to add.  This was cut out with Paper Snips. 

The sentiment is from the Wildflower Path stamp set also.  It's stamped with Night of Navy ink, then trimmed up close with the Paper Snips.  This was added to the left of the layer with the leaf clusters tucked underneath.  Both of the Fresh Freesia flowers were attached with Dimensionals.

Lastly three of the jewels from the 2021-2023 In Color Jewels were added.  For this card I chose to use the Soft Succulent jewels which blended nicely.

Whew!  What fun that was getting all those flowers die-cut and then playing with them.  I'll have another card tomorrow that starts out somewhat similarly, but has a fun fold added to the mix.  Did I happen to mention just how much I'm enjoying this new Happiness Abounds Bundle and coordinating DSP?  Oh yeah.  It's definitely going to be one of my very favorite things to use in the upcoming catalog.  Whether you use each part of the bundle by itself or put them all together on one card, I think it's all fabulous!  Just saying...

Hope you're as excited as I am about getting your favorite items from the new May 2022-April 2023 Annual Catalog.  There are some really wonderful new ideas, colors, and layouts to get your creative juices flowing and put you in a stamping mood.  I'm looking forward to hearing what's your favorite new item in the catalog!  I'm sure there's going to be something that is just perfect for you. 

If you need to pick up any retiring items from the catalog, please use the Host Code shown in the upper right corner.  Try to get your order in as quickly as possible.  There are a good number of items that are already sold out, but still many more that are available.  Good luck shopping and get them while you still can!!

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon