Nutty for You

Back again! I've been up in the mountains for the last five days away from computers & all things stamping. That doesn't mean I wasn't plotting new cards though!

I'm pretty excited about this little gem. It came to me bit by bit over the weekend. Today is my nephew's birthday and he happens to be all about squirrels. With that in mind, how could I not think of the little guy from Bouquet Bunch? After all, he is one of the main reasons I bought the set. But, I knew he wasn't big enough to pull off a card all of his own. Then, it struck me! The ornament punch could so easily become an acorn. Add in a few multi-color oak leaves for good measure and there you have it. I even got to play a little with River Rock and found that it makes a great acorn base. More tomorrow...right now I have to come to terms with the fact that it's Tuesday even though it sure feels like a Monday!

Up, Up, and Away

I promised more playing with punches today & here you have it. While trying to create my octopus from yesterday, I discovered that the Ornament Punch makes a lovely hot air balloon. And what is a balloon with out a basket? This little basket comes from the Bouquet Bunch flower pot. I just didn't ink the ribbon around it's middle or the lower lip of the pot.

I combined it with my favorite sky technique (which just uses a torn paper towel & a sponge) and my ever faithful Lovely as a Tree set to give the balloon a place to explore. I even branched out and utilized Soft Suede, a color I use rarely. Now that I know it will be around for a long time, I need to make friends with it. It's one thing to ignore an In Color that only has a year lifespan & quite another to neglect a part of the enduring pallet!

Bouquet Bunch Flower Pot

I may have gone a little Big Shot crazy with this one, but I like how it turned out. Really Rust is one of the colors that I will miss when it retires this summer. One of my favorite things about it is how nicely it makes terracotta flower pots. Partnered up with a bit of Certainly Celery & Old Olive and we quickly see that Really Rust is not just a fall color any more!

I had fun playing with the letters from the Many Thanks die too. I'm so glad that we have stamps & die cuts to make letters for us since my handwriting leaves much to be desired. Oh, and we won't even discuss my drawings!!

Bouquet Bunch Topiary

The back of my mind has been playing around with the images from the Bouquet Bunch stamp set ever since I started making my swap cards for the new Summer Mini-Catalog. The other day, an idea of a topiary came into my head & I haven't been able to shake it. So, today I decided it was high time I figured out what to do with it!

Viola! This is what it became. I may be slightly addicted to the Textured Impression Folders, but who can blame me? They make such a huge difference with so little effort!! Here's hoping that we have all sorts of new ones in the future. I use them all of the time.

Sorry for my absence yesterday, I had a couple of big classes down in Lakewood to get ready for & no time for blogging. But, I met a whole bunch of new stampers & had a great time in my classes. I could have done without the snow this morning, but that's Spring in Colorado. If only I had packed shoes other than my Crocks for today!

Bouquet Bunch Swap

It's a pre-veiw for the Summer Mini Catalog! Bouquet Bunch is the set I selected to order early to create swap cards. I'm part of a group of Stampin' Up Demonstrators that help each other out at the start of each catalog. We each select a set & make cards to share. That way we all have great cards to display on our boards without having to buy the whole catalog. Or at least without having to buy it all at once. :) Thanks again to my upline, Cindy, for making the swap happen!

I thought of this card as a sort of sequence of events: first you grow the flowers, then you pick them, & finally who ever receives them puts them in a vase (made out of Tall Tales paper). With all of the sentiments available from Teeny Tiny Wishes, this card could easily be made for almost any occasion.

Now I just need to make thirteen more of them! That will be a whole lot of coloring. It's a good thing that's one of my favorites. I'm also glad I ordered this set in clear mount--that made placement of the flowers ever so much easier.