I’m on a mission to introduce some of the new products from the Stampin’ Up! January to June 2020 Mini Catalogue to old favourites from the 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue. Today’s old favourites are the Tropical Chic Stamp Set and coordinating Tropical Thinlits. These pair wonderfully with the Tropical Oasis Suite.

TROPICAL LEAVES
I began today’s project with a 3″ x 4″ card from the Tropical Oasis Memories & More Card Pack. I love the big leaf pattern and this was the influence for the rest of my design.
First I chose Grapefruit Grove Card for the base of my gift card holder. This is really simple to make using a 3″ x 7″ piece of card as shown in this diagram.

Just before I glued the gift card holder together I remembered to punch out a semicircle from the back using the 1/2″ Circle Punch. This would make it easier to remove the gift card.
In case you missed it, here’s my original video tutorial showing how I make this simple gift card holder.
Once the basic gift card holder was assembled I was ready to begin decorating it.
TROPICAL OASIS
Next I went back to the Tropical Oasis Memories & More Card that inspired this design. At 3″ x 4″ it was too large, so I cut it down to 2-1/4″ x 3-1/4″. Then I fixed the card to the front of the gift card holder with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).
I knew that my sentiment would cover a good portion of the printed card and so I needed to create more leaves. For this I started with Whisper White Card, some Stampin’ Sponge and an Old Olive ink pad. Then I simply sponged a light layer of ink over the card.
With the base colour done my next task was to cut out the leaves. This was where the Tropical Dies came in and I cut out two leaves matching the leaf shape on my background.
Finally, taking my cue from background layer I sponged a little Pretty Peacock ink over parts of my die cut leaves. Then I set them aside.
TROPICAL CHIC
My next task was to create a small tropical flower using an image from the Tropical Chic Stamp Set. I began by inking up the stamp by tapping it onto a Grapefruit Grove ink pad. Then I removed a little of the ink by ‘stamping off’ onto some scrap paper. Next I added some Real Red ink to the petals using some Stampin’ Sponge. With the inking complete I stamped the image onto Whisper White Card. Then it was back to the Tropical Dies to cut out the flower image.
I was almost ready to start decorating the gift card holder but first I needed my sentiment. Like the flower image I found this in the Tropical Chic Stamp Set. Sort of. I actually found a sentiment that said “with much love and thanks”, but I didn’t have room for all of that. It wasn’t an issue though as it would be a simple process to alter it.

So I inked up the first half of the sentiment using Pretty Peacock ink. Then looking at the surface of the stamp I placed a piece of sellotape over the “&”. This would ensure that any ink on that part of the stamp wouldn’t be transferred to my project. Then I simply stamped the sentiment onto a piece of Whisper White Card.
Finally I was ready to put everything together starting with the sentiment that I attached with liquid glue. Next I used some Tear & Tape Adhesive to add a small piece of the 5/16″ Braided Burlap Trim. This was followed by one of the leaves held in place with liquid glue. Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals were used to attach the second leaf and then the flower finished off the design.
OLD AND NEW
I have to say I’m having a lot of fun matching old and new products. The new Tropical Oasis Suite and the older Tropical Chic Stamp Set and Tropical Dies are a match made in heaven don’t you think?
You’ll find links to some of my previous projects created using the Tropical Chic Stamp Set in the list below. Just be aware that as these are older blog posts some of the products may no longer be available to purchase. Also note that the Tropical Chic Stamp Set is now only available in the new ‘cling mount’ (link below).
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