My regular blog followers will now that I love living in rural Nova Scotia. There’s something very magical about looking up and seeing nature right outside the window. Occasionally we see black bear, and on summer evenings we might hear a coyote. Most of the time though it’s the birds that catch my eye, and the eye of our cat Houdini. Yesterday that’s what immediately came to mind when he dashed off the deck and I got up to see what it was that had excited him. That’s when we had a really scary moment.

What Houdini had spotted was a fox crossing the garden, and instead of asking to come in, he actually ran towards it! Oh my goodness, I flew out of the chair and was outside in a flash, off after Houdini. Fortunately by this point he’d stopped and perched on a small wall, watching the fox. He’d ignored us shouting at him to come back, but the noise was enough to make the fox speed up on its way. We watched as it disappeared into the trees, and Houdini returned to his sunny spot on the deck. There’s never a dull moment in our little piece of heaven.

BEST MOMENTS

After all that, today’s project has no such excitement. Just a quiet elegance that happened by accident.

I’d planned to make a card using the new Verdant Garden Designer Series Paper and the new Daisy Lane Stamp Set. That choice of paper inspired my green colour scheme of Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz and Mossy Meadow.

On Whisper White Card I started by stamping two of the small daisy image from Daisy Lane with Soft Sea Foam ink. Then using Pear Pizzazz ink I stamped the bottom part of the stem. Finally with Mossy Meadow ink I stamped ‘The best moments in my life happen with you’ sentiment.

Then using Paper Snips I fussy cut the daisies and the two bottom leaves from each stem and set them aside.

SUBTLE LAYERS

Next I went over to my retiring Big Shot to create the layers for the sentiment.

I wiped the inside of the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder with the Pear Pizzazz ink pad and then placed a piece of Pear Pizzazz Card inside it. Then I placed the embossing folder directly onto the multipurpose platform with a single cutting pad on top and ran it forward and backwards through the Big Shot. When I removed the card it now had a lovely subtle texture with the detail highlighted by the ink.

Now I needed to swap from the multipurpose platform to the retiring Magnetic Platform to die-cut the layers.

I began with my embossed piece cut using the #3 square die from the Stitched Shapes (counting from the smallest up). Then I cut out the sentiment using the #2 square die from the same set.

With that done I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach the sentiment to the embossed layer. Then I added the four fussy-cut leaves and one of the daisies with liquid glue. The final daisy finished off the layers, attached with a Stampin’ Dimensional.

SIMPLE WHITE BASE

I created a simple white card base using Thick Whisper White Card and had planned to include a background layer of patterned paper. The problem was that I couldn’t decide which piece to use or where to position the assembled sentiment.

It was as I was removing one piece of DSP to try another that I realised it actually didn’t need a background. That sentiment piece was quite stunning all by itself. So that was it. I added some Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back of the piece and attached it to the centre of the card front.

That just left the inside of the card and envelope to decorate. I decided to use the small daisy image for this. So with Soft Sea Foam ink I stamped a daisy on the front of a Whisper White Medium Envelope in the bottom right corner.

Then I stamped the daisy in the bottom right corner on a layer of Whisper White Card. I used liquid glue to fix the layer inside the card base and my project was complete.

Sometimes less is more, and I’m glad I ditched my original idea of a patterned background. What do you think?

DAISY LANE PROJECT PACK

I really like this new Daisy Lane Stamp Set and have lots of ideas for it. Of course it doesn’t hurt that there’s a coordinating Medium Daisy Punch coming too.

In fact I’m planning a series of projects using this stamp set and will send the tutorial pack to anyone who purchases the Daisy Lane Stamp Set or Daisy Lane Bundle through me.

In addition, to celebrate the launch of the new catalogue, I’ll also be creating kits containing all the prepared pieces to make my projects. To get one of these kits for free, simply order the Daisy Lane Stamp Set or Bundle through me by July 22nd.

So while I finish preparing the tutorial and kits, here’s a proper look at the Daisy Lane Stamp Set. It will be available to purchase once the Stampin’ Up! 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue goes live on June 4th.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – Although I only used the Daisy Lane Stamp Set for today’s project, you’ll see I’ve included a link to the Daisy Lane Bundle below. If you want the Daisy Lane Stamp Set and Medium Daisy Punch, you’ll save 10% if you order them together using the ‘bundle’ item number.