A couple of years back Stampin’ Up! had a stamp set called Botanical Blooms.  I loved it and was so sad when it retired.  Stampin’ Up! must have taken pity on me because now we have a stamp set with a similar feel that excites me just as much, Tropical Chic, and I couldn’t wait to get it inky for this week’s simple Sunday project.

I began with a 2″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Thick Whisper White Card shaped at the top using the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch.  This is my basic bookmark blank.

Then I took the flower image from Tropical Chic and inked it up with Flirty Flamingo ink, I stamped it onto some scrap paper (known as stamping off) to remove a little of the ink and then used a Sponge Dauber to add a little Gorgeous Grape ink around the edges of the petals.  Next I used the brush tip of a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker to colour the stamens of the flower directly on the stamp rubber and finally stamped the image onto the bookmark.

For the leaves I inked up the largest of the leaf images in the set with Lemon Lime Twist ink and used a Sponge Dauber to add a little Granny Apple Green ink around the tips of the leaves before stamping that onto the bookmark.

Once I’d filled the bookmark with a random arrangement of flowers and leaves I threaded a length of Gorgeous Grape 1/4″ Mini Striped Ribbon through the slot at the top and tied a small bow using Whisper White Solid Baker’s Twine around it to hold the ribbon in place.  In no time at all I was done.

I love to create flower petals and leaves that have a mixture of colours and stamping off then adding additional colour with a sponge dauber is a favourite technique of mine.  It softens the look of the images don’t you think?

BUNDLE BONUS

Another reason that I love the Tropical Chic Stamp Set is that there is a coordinating set of dies called Tropical Thinlits.  I didn’t use them on today’s project but I made sure to get them using a single item number as it saved me 10% off the cost of buying the stamp set and dies separately.  You might also be interested in this deal so I’ve included links to the bundles (one with the wood-mount red rubber stamp set, and one with the clear-mount red rubber stamp set).

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