Stamp happy in the Garden

I had a bit of time this evening to play with my new hostess set from next year's SU catalog. Garden Silhouettes is a beautiful set! This is the very first card I made with it and I just love it. I started with glossy white paper and stamped the sprig with Versamark. Then I brayered over that with the new River Rock color. I let it dry for just a second or two and then stamped the sprig again with the Versamark and brayered again over that with Always Artichoke. That is how I got the shadow effect. I highlighted the sprigs a bit with my awesome white gel pen, then I mounted the brayered piece on whisper white and then on a card base of Always artichoke. The word Lovely is also in this set along with the word Charm. I stamped lovely onto whisper white and punched it out with the small oval punch. To get the oval cardstock to stick to the hardward, I used Crystal Effects around the opening. I slipped a strip of narrow white organdy through the holes and around the card. This card would be great for lots of occasions. It has a bit of an elegant feel to it.

The next card I made is from the same set, just another stamp. I started with a card base of Soft Sky, another new color in the SU catalog next year. I stamped the floral bough with craft white and then cut off 2/3 of the front of the card. I stamped the bough again on a piece of whisper white with the Soft Sky stamp pad and mounted it under the flap of the card. I thought it looked a bit like fabric so I added a faux stitch line with my piercing tool and white gel pen. I also used the gel pen to add dots to the middle of the flowers. I tell ya, once I get that gel pen out I just go crazy with it! I pulled out my Be Happy set and stamped the "smile" with Soft Sky. I wanted a scallop around that, but I don't have one yet so....I pulled out my word window punch and punched out a bunch of those. The punched out piece was just long enough to mount behind the smile circle and hand over like two 'scallops.' I just kept sticking them around until I had a full scalloped circle. I have to admit....this is one of my few orginal ideas! yay for me! I took my piercer tool and poked a hole in each scallop just to add some more texture. The dot on the 'i' is one of the new Ice rhinestone brads. I love these!! To finish off the card I tied some narrow white organdy and silver cording around the front of the card and rubbed the white cardstock edges with my Soft Sky pad. This card does make me smile! I can't wait to play with it more!