Have you seen the 2021-2023 In Colors from Stampin’ Up!? This is a collection of five new colours added to the Stampin’ Up! range for a limited time (2 years). I have to say that this year’s new colours have really inspired me, almost to the point of obsession. Right now my absolute favourite of the five has to be Pale Papaya. It’s a soft apricot that just seems to go well with everything. Today my hit of Pale Papaya comes in the form of a pretty polka dot pattern from the Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack.

HAND-PENNED DSP

I really love this polka dot paper, the ‘washed’ look gives it a real softness that’s perfect for a background layer. Having decided on the paper, I then chose the rest of the colour palette; Early Espresso and Soft Succulent.

I began by using my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Early Espresso Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create my card base.

Next I cut a 3-3/8″ x 5-1/2″ piece of the polka dot paper and fixed it to the front of the card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Then I found a 1/8″ x 5-1/2″ strip of Soft Succulent Card and glued that up against the left edge of the DSP.

With the front of the card prepared it was time to consider how I would coordinate the inside of the card. It didn’t take me long to decide that the polka dot paper was perfect for this. So I cut a 3/4″ x 5-1/4″ piece and glued it down the right-hand edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card. Then I added a 1/8″ x 5-1/4″ strip of So Succulent Card along the left-hand edge of the DSP. Finally I glued the assembled layer inside the card base.

I wasn’t quite finished with the DSP yet as I still had to decorate the Basic White Medium Envelope. So I cut a 2-1/4″ x 6″ piece and glued it to the envelope flap. Then with my Paper Snips I trimmed off the excess paper using the edge of the flap as a guide.

PENNED FLOWERS DIES

Now that the preparation had been done it was time to start on the decorative part of my project. For this I cut two 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ pieces of card, one in early Espresso and one in Basic White, and attached Adhesive Sheet to the back.

Next from the Penned Flowers Dies I took two dies. First, the large very detailed floral die, and then the outline die that fits around it. When you get the set from Stampin’ Up! these dies are nested together so you may even miss that there’s two.

TIP – To make my life easier I placed the nested dies cutting side down on my work surface. Then, after making sure the gap between the two dies was even all the way around, I stuck some old washi tape on the back. This way I could be sure they wouldn’t shift when going through my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.

With the dies ready I used them to cut out the Early Espresso Card and set it aside. Then I cut it out from the Basic White piece. This time though I tried really hard not to dislodge any of the pieces as I slid the die-cut onto some scrap paper. You see I wanted to add some soft colour to it and that was going to be a lot easier if everything was in one place.

I chose Polished Pink first and using a Blending Brush I swept the ink over the flower areas of the die cut. Then I changed brushes and did the same to the leaves using Soft Succulent ink. The brushes do make it hard to be precise, but actually I quite liked that a couple of the petals ended up with a slight green tinge.

JIGSAW TIME

Finally I was ready to begin putting everything together.

I started with the Early Espresso die-cut piece by removing the border from the outside. When I started out I’d planned to use this, but changed my mind. I decided to keep it with the dies just in case I wanted it for another project later on.

Next, using my Take Your Pick tool, I removed the petal pieces from the three large flowers and all the tiny dots from the centre of the flowers. I was in two minds about the leaves and opted to remove just the jagged centre from the two largest leaves. Finally I popped out a couple of extra pieces to help define the separation of the three main flowers. With that done I removed the backing paper from the Adhesive Sheet and pressed the die-cut piece onto the card front.

Now to complete this part of the card I turned to the ink coloured die-cut. I took individual parts from this piece and after removing the adhesive backing, pressed them into place like a jigsaw. This process was quite quick as the pieces were quite unique and easy to lock into place.

That just left the sentiment and I wanted something small to allow the die-cut decoration to be seen. In the end I chose “Congratulations” from the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set.

Using Soft Succulent ink I stamped the sentiment onto a 1/4″ x 2″ strip of Basic White Card. Then using liquid glue I fixed it onto the card front and my pretty project was done.

I really love the soft look of the petals and how the Early Espresso outline makes everything pop. What do you think?

For more projects using products from the Hand-Penned suite see these earlier blog posts:

• Thank you for being kind and other sentiments
• Penned Flowers simply make me smile
• Hand-Penned and painted thanks
• Penned Flowers Dies for paper piecing fun
• A great day if you like gift tags

PRODUCT LIST

I bought the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set and coordinating Penned Flowers Dies as a bundle using a single item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included both options below so you can explore this option if you wish.