Love at First Sight

As soon as I saw this new set from Stampin' Up, I knew I had to have it. Gauging by how much of I've seen of these stamps out in the blogosphere, I know I wasn't alone. One thing about working with a stamp set this popular, however, is the fact that I'm relatively certain I won't be showing you something that hasn't been done before.

For my first card, I did the watercolor technique, where you ink up your stamp with markers and then mist it with a fine mist sprayer before laying your image down. I used Sunflower and Goldrush for the petals and Garden Green and New England Ivy for the leaves.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White, Garden Green and Chocolate cardstock; Garden Green and Chocolate ink pads; Sunflower, Goldrush, Garden Green, New England Ivy, and Chocolate markers; Stampin' Up Inspired by Nature stamp set; Ribbon from Walmart; 3M foam mounting tape.

For my second card, I embossed the flower image with white embossing powder on patterned paper. This particular paper is a favorite, which was recently retired by Stampin' Up. I wish I'd gotten more and can't quite believe that I'm using what I have and am not hoarding it.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy cardstock; Sweet Leaf textured cardstock; Stampin' Up Porcelain Prints Designer paper (retired); Twilight ink pad; VersaMark ink pad; White embossing powder; Stampin' Up Inspired by Nature stamp set; Stampin' Up Whisper White taffeta ribbon; Embossing tool; 3M foam mounting tape.

My last simple, unadorned card is my favorite. I used round sponges to "scrub" Sunflower and Autumn Terracotta ink onto Colonial White cardstock, starting with Sunflower and then alternating between the two colors until I had achieved the look I wanted. I angled my stamp so that the tall grass would appear to be blowing in the wind.

Materials & Tools: Colonial White cardstock; Cocoa textured cardstock; Cocoa, Sunflower, and Autumn Terracotta ink pads; Stampin' Up Inspired by Nature and Verve Stamps Here for You stamp sets; Round sponges.

As I was typing away and looking at my cards, I was thinking that this will probably be a stamp set that I'll still be using 10 years from now. While the silhouette style that's so popular right now will probably fall by the wayside, the flowers and tall grass are timeless as far as I'm concerned.

The little boys were asleep before 8:30 last night with no bedtime battles, so I got the chance to stamp uninterrupted for a while. That was nice. As for today, I'll be playing it by ear. Bjorn has already asked to play computer games but isn't interested in moving past the "C" with regard to learning his letters. I think he's still basking in the success of yesterday. So cute. For now, I'm going to go make breakfast. Marv got a call from the nursing home that his dad had fallen again this morning, so he went to check things out. You have a good day. I'll check back later.