It’s still almost 4 weeks until the Stampin’ Up! 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue goes live and time is starting to drag. It’s not that I don’t have lots of lovely things to play with, but I feel like we’re a little bit in limbo. I still have a stack of retiring products still to show you, but want to share the new stuff too. What’s holding me back is that I don’t want to get you all excited about something that you’ll have to wait nearly a month to buy. That doesn’t seem fair. So for now I’ll continue with my occasional sneak peek alongside the retirements. So today let’s say “so long” to the Graceful Garden Stamp Set and Garden Trellis Embossing Folder.

GARDEN TRELLIS

This project began with the retiring Garden Trellis Embossing Folder and the inked embossing folder technique.

On the inside of the open embossing folder I swiped the ink pad to coat the surface and carefully placed a layer of Whisper White Card inside. Then using my retiring Big Shot and multipurpose platform I embossed the card. When I was done, the ink from the folder had transferred to the surface of the card, creating a striking coloured background with raised white details.

I loved the effect so decided to do the same inked-embossing folder technique but as a strip down the side of another layer of Whisper White Card.

TIP – To clean the embossing folder I simply ran it under running water and set it aside to dry.

GRACEFUL GARDEN

For the sentiment I chose ‘I adore you’ from the Graceful Garden Stamp Set, stamped onto Whisper White Card using Cherry Cobbler ink. Then I punched it out using the 1-1/2″ Circle Punch.

As I started to think about what I was going to do with the sentiment, I pulled out my scraps of Cherry Cobbler and Calypso Coral Card. These colours work well together and I hoped they would inspire me. As it turned out I wasn’t wrong.

I can’t exactly explain how I came by the final layout except to say that I started layering various scraps together until I found something I liked. I decided that I needed a pop of a third colour to break up the solid square at the back and turned to the retiring Colored Doilies for that. Old Olive works well with both Cherry Cobbler and Calypso Coral so it seemed like a match made in heaven.

All I needed to do was stick it all together on a card base made using Thick Whisper White Card.

I trimmed down the main embossed panel and used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach it to a layer of Cherry Cobbler Card. Then with more liquid glue I fixed the layers to the front of the card base.

I fixed the other Whisper White Layer to the inside with a 1/8″ strip of Cherry Cobbler Card edging the embossing. This gave it a really neat finish.

FRONT PIECE

To assemble the focal piece I used liquid glue to fix the doily to the 2-1/8″ x 2-1/8″ Cherry Cobbler Card, then added the 7/8″ x 2-3/4″ Cherry Cobbler Card towards the bottom.

On top of that I added a 1/8″ x 2-1/2″ scrap of Calypso Coral Card with liquid glue, and then the sentiment with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I added the completed piece to the front of the card with more Stampin’ Dimensionals.

That only left the Whisper White Medium Envelope. For this I took the now clean and dry Garden Trellis Embossing Folder and embossed the flap. With that done my project was complete.

Well this isn’t my usual style, but once again starting out with no predetermined plan seemed to have worked. I let the scraps do the work and I’m really happy with how the card turned out.

PRODUCT LIST

RETIRING PRODUCTS – The Garden Trellis Embossing Folder, Big Shot and Colored Doilies are all retiring and only available while stocks last. The Graceful Garden Stamp Set is also retiring although stocks of all retiring stamp sets are guaranteed until May 24th.