Botanicals for As You See It Challenges

Back hundreds of years ago, when I was first setting out on my own, a "new" craze was starting - decorating with tropical plants! And I fully embraced this new trend, filling my living space with dracaenas, philodendrons, ferns, and ivies. There was a learning curve involved, especially on some of the ferns and ivies, but I loved the look and I loved nurturing those plants, and I loved making macrame hangers for them! The Botanical Gardens suite reminds me of those years and I needed an idea for the latest As You See It Challenge:

With that diagonal line, the vine framelit from the Botanical Builder Framelits would be the perfect choice, and the leaves and flowers would be the perfect embellishments.

In keeping with the tropical theme, I wanted my leaves to be shiny and waxy looking so I embossed them all with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder like I did on this project that I cased for the weekend retreat that I just held:

I found that project on Pinterest, created by Kelly Acheson, and I didn't change a whole lot because I loved it so much! So did my customers, although there was a whole lot of die cutting and embossing going on! (You should see my cutting plate that I used with the Precision Plate!)

• The background DSP is from the Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper, which coordinates with this suite of products. I love the designs and textures of all of them.
• The awesome wooden sentiment is from the Expressions Natural Elements, and seems like just the thing to add to this jungle card.
• The flowers, cut from Cajun Craze and Hello Honey cardstock, are sponged in the center with Cajun Craze ink. 
• The big job was die cutting and embossing all the leaves. Made from Mossy Meadow or Old Olive cardstock, each leaf was pressed into a Versamark pad, ensuring that there was even coverage, dipped into the Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder and heated with the Heat Tool (using long tweezers to hold the leaf). This process was repeated for even coverage.
• Glue Dots will be your best friends for this project!

Thanks for popping by today, and make sure you visit As You See It Challenges this week and take part in this great sketch challenge.

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.



Product List

Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper [140583]	Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [133676]	Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100702]	Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119684]	Hello Honey 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [133678]
Expressions Natural Elements [138395]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [126965]	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder [109130]	Heat Tool [129053]
Botanical Builder Framelits Dies [140625]	Big Shot [113439]	Precision Base Plate [139684]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Glue Dots [103683]
Stamping Sponges [141337]

Hello for Freshly Made Sketches

Almost everyone has done a cover or a parody of Adele's new hit, "Hello", so I figured why not get in on the action here, especially when one of the stamp sets that you can earn for free during Sale-A-Bration is called Hello! I also wanted to get in on the action with Freshly Made Sketches, because I just love their unique challenge sketch this week:

When I first saw the sketch, I thought it would be perfect to use with the Botanical Gardens Suite, and I decided to use Basic Black as the main front panel, so I wanted a bold sentiment to emboss in White Stampin' Emboss Powder. And the Hello Stamp Set is perfect for the job!

You can earn this set in either wood mount or clear mount for free simply by purchasing $60 worth of Stampin' Up! products during the first half of Sale-A-Bration. Why only the first half? This is one of three Sale-A-Bration rewards that is available only for a limited time, through Feb. 15, 2016. After that these three will be replaced with 3 new products that none of us has even seen yet! So if you want this great set, make sure you don't wait too long.

• The unique strip on the top of the design was made from a piece of Designer Series Paper in the Botanical Gardens collection. The Botanical Gardens DSP features a palette that includes Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Hello Honey, Old Olive and Mossy Meadows, so those are the colours I've used for this card.
• Using those same colours of cardstock, I made the card base, the card front and I used Botanical Builder Framelits to die cut the tropical looking flowers and leaves at the top.
• As I mentioned before, I heat embossed the greeting from the Hello Stamp set in White Stampin' Emboss Powder.
• If you purchase the Botanical Blooms Bundle, which includes the Botanical Blooms Photopolymer Stamp Set, Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper and the Botanical Builder Framelit Dies, you would have ordered enough to earn the Hello Stamp Set for a Sale-A-Bration reward! How cool is that?

I'm planning to be back tomorrow with my top 10 products from the new Occasions Catalogue, just in case you need a little guidance to help you streamline your wishlist a little! Happy Monday!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Hello Wood-Mount Stamp Set [141240]	Hello Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141243]	Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper [140583]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]	Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119684]
Hello Honey 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [133678]	Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [133676]	Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100702]	Versamark Pad [102283]	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132]
Heat Tool [129053]	Botanical Builder Framelits Dies [140625]	Big Shot [113439]	Big Shot Die Brush [140603]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Glue Dots [103683]