Well I had a busy morning yesterday with household chores punctuated by phone calls and Zoom meetings. However the timings worked out exactly as I’d hoped. Within minutes of finishing my final Zoom call I was greeted by Tim the delivery driver carrying my latest order from Stampin’ Up! Inside was a small selection of products from the new annual catalogue and I was eager to play. Of course like a child in a toy store I didn’t know what to grab first, so I began simply with Cottage Rose.

COTTAGE ROSE

Cottage Rose is a gorgeous new stamp set with pretty flower and leaf images, and six sentiments. As this was the first outing for the set I decided to start with the largest image.

Using Basic Gray ink I stamped the image in the corner of a 3-3/4″ x 5″ piece of Very Vanilla Card. I planned for this image to be the coordinating feature across the whole project so stamped it again on the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. Finally I cut a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card and stamped part of the rose in the bottom left corner of that too.

Colouring the delicate flowers and leaves was a quick and easy process using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. I began with the roses, using dark So Saffron for the centres. On the petals I started with dark Petal Pink, just where the artist had added shading. Then I went over each petal with light Petal Pink. Finally I went back and added a little more dark Petal Pink on the shaded areas.

Next I used the same dark, light, dark process on the leaves using the Soft Sea Foam Stampin’ Blends. Then I picked up the dark So Saffron to colour the tiny gypsophila (baby’s breath) flowers.

Once everything was coloured I went back to the Cottage Rose Stamp Set for the “Best wishes” sentiment. After stamping it on the smaller of the Very Vanilla layers using Basic Gray ink I was ready to assemble the card.

SIMPLE LAYERS

I began by using my Paper Trimmer to cut a 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ piece of Petal Pink Card. Then with the long side at the top I scored it at 4-1/4″. After folding it along the scored line I sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder and my card base was ready. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the larger of the two Very Vanilla pieces on the inside.

Next I cut a 3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″ piece of Basic Gray Card and mounted the remaining Very Vanilla layer on top with liquid glue.

While I liked the way the main piece turned out I now thought that it needed a little bling. So I scattered some self-adhesive Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels around the rose. With the embellishments firmly in place I attached the layers to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. My quick and easy project was complete.

Oh my goodness I had a feeling that Cottage Rose was going to be a great set to add to my collection and I’ve not been disappointed. The images are so delicate but detailed and I have lots more project ideas already. Watch this space!

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Cottage Rose Stamp Set in a bundle with the coordinating Cottage Flowers Dies. Buying the two products using the single ‘bundle’ item number meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying them separately. I’ll have more about the dies and coordinating Abigail Rose Designer Series Paper in a day or two, however I’ve included a link to the bundle below in case you want to explore that option.