Do you ever do this? See something and think “I’ll pass on that set, don’t need another one of those”? Then you start to notice all sorts of things being made with it. And they are so pretty! And then you start to waffle on whether or not you might need that set.
When the Occasions Catalog came out last January, the Grateful Bunch stamp set was one that I totally bypassed. It was okay, but I didn’t really need another flower stamp set. It did have a coordinating punch which is nice, but I was still ho-hum on the set. Looking at the individual stamp images, they didn’t really look like much.
Then I started seeing more and more samples being made with it. And it started to grow on me a little bit. At some point, Stampin Up announced that going forward, bundle sales (special prices when you buy stamp set and dies/punches together) would be only offered during the one catalog period. In other words, if I wanted the discount, I needed to get it before the next catalog came out. The thing that pushed me over the edge to go ahead and get it was that it would be in the 2016/17 Annual Catalog so I would definitely have time to get some use out of it.
At this point, I’ve probably made about a dozen cards with it already in the last couple weeks. No joke. I just can’t stop making these flower cards. Yes, the individual images are so-so, but this set was totally designed to layer! And lots and lots of layers are even better. And yes, use those pearls or rhinestones that you’ve been hoarding. It is so worth it! Trust me.
Wait until you see what I’ve done with this set. Here are my favorite three cards so far. These flowers look amazing in just about any color combination. First up is Night of Navy and Crushed Curry. The sentiment is stamped in Versamark and then I used Copper Embossing powder. The washi tape is the copper washi tape from Afectionately Yours.
When using your heat tool on Vellum, be sure to keep it moving quickly or the Vellum will warp. To avoid having my adhesive show, I used just a small amount of my fast fuse tape in the very center of the card. Then I adhered a flower over the top. Then arranged the rest of the flowers working outward from the center of the card. The washi tape at the top and the bottom help hold down the Vellum as well. Then I added pearls to the center of every flower. It’s a lot of pearls, but it makes the card.
Next is Melon Mambo and Basic Black. This card is very similar to the one above, but it’s rotated 90′ and I changed up the sentiment. This card is made pretty much the same as the Night of Navy, just with different colors. The embossing powder color is Melon Mambo, which has been retired for a little while. I still have a bit left in my stash and it worked perfectly for this card.
Last is my favorite: Flamingo Fling. I just love this card. The Whisper White panel on top is cut to look like a polaroid picture with the flowers in 3D popping out of the “polaroid”. The black square is adhered to the back side of the White to help with the polaroid illusion.
I know you’re thinking it would take forever to stamp and punch out all these flowers and that’s not the case at all. The three flowers are all on one stamp and the punch punches out all three at once. So easy! For each of these cards, I would stamp it twice in both the coordinating cardstock and on Whisper White, then punch out all four images. For some of the cards, I stamped a couple extra of the small flowers so I had enough to fill in. I used lots of dimensionals to get all the layers. I finally made myself put this stamp set back on the shelf for now. I need to give some other new sets some love. I would love to see what you make with this stamp set.
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