Blossoms abound

I was digging through one of my cupboards of old stamps when I came across the Blossoms Abound stamp set.  This is a long since retired set. I am not sure if it was ever in the UK catalogue. I bought this set from a lady in the USA about eight or nine years ago. I used it a lot initially, but I wasn't really happy with the results. Probably because I didn't have two purple inks that worked well enough together to look like lilac.
 Until now that is... S.U have brought out two lilac /purples that go together brilliantly.  So I have been playing with this set again today, along with the Perfectly Penned sentiment set, The Birch background stamp and the very old  En Francais background stamp Inks,.. Highland heather, Gorgeous grape. Mossy meadow, Old olive, Smokey Slate, and Grey granite.

I started by stamping the background in Grey granite with the Birch background stamp and Smokey slate with the script.

 Blossoms abound is a two step stamp set. If you're unfamiliar with these sets.  I'll explain,   the lilac blossom is made up of two stamps. The base is a less detailed stamp,  which I stamped in the lighter purple.  The second stamp has the detail and I inked up the detail stamp in the darker purple and stamped on top of the lighter purple image. It's as easy as that.
The leaves on this set are done the same way as the blossoms, although you have to stamp the stem before stamping the leaves. The stem also has the veins of the leaves and  this shows you where to stamp the leaves.

The sentiment is from the Perfectly penned stamp set and I stamped this in black Versafine.  I finished the image with some sponging to vintage it up a bit.   If you want a closer look click on one of the photos.

Butterfly card in lilacs

Okay so I am being boring now and have come up with yet another variation on this lilac theme I have going. This time not only have I combined it with the butterfly thinlets.

 I have also used the chicken wire die I purchased recently. It's the first Sue Wilson die I have bought and I have to say I am very impressed with how cleanly it cuts, even without the recommended shims. 

Blossoms Abound in pink

I love this Blushing Bride ink and card stock from S.U.  so I thought I would combine it  with my new favourite stamp set  Blossoms Abound. Okay so the stamp set is an old one but it's new to me. 

I have  also use  this new cotton ribbon in Blusing Bride on this card. I love how S.U do ribbons to  match their card stock. 

 I really do love this ribbon,  being cotton there is little slippage, meaning my bows are less likely to come undone.   May have to invest in some other colours now.

Blossoms Abound

Just over a week ago I found this  lilac, two step stamp set on Ebay and fell in love with it on sight. 
But this set was for sale in the USA.
After some deliberation  over the cost of the stamp set, postage and possibly  import duty,   I decided  I would buy it.

It's called Blossoms Abound and it's a retired Stampin' Up set.  I believe it was retired in 2008 so it is quite an old stamp set.

 Anyway, it arrived at lunchtime today,  just as I was going back to work.  Which meant I'd have to wait to have a play with this set.

 I got my chance to play this evening after dinner and walking the dogs. This  what I came up with.




I found this stamp set a little different to work with. Normally i would stamp the blossoms before stamping the stalks and leaves.

With this set, it's easier to stamp the stalk and leaves first.  But you do need to plan where to position the stalks  carefully to allow enough space for the blossoms.

The colours I used for the stem and leaves  were ;
Always Artichoke and Old Olive,
Lovely Lilac and Concord Crush for the blossoms.
Unfortunately both of these colours have been retired. 

I think, I left a little too much space between the blossoms on this card. So I filled in the stark white areas with some splatter marks using the splatter stamp from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set with Crumb  Cake  and Lovely  Lilac ink.

I also used the Honeycomb stamp from Butterfly Basics and Crumb Cake ink to fill in any  remaining blank spaces.

Once I had finished the card I still had the desire to keep on playing with this set so I made a couple of simple book marks.


The sentiment is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.
Which I think has also been retired.







The Butterfly die is also from S U and is  still available from S.U.
I cut three Butterflies one in silver, one in purple and one in white.

I sponged the edges of the white butterfly with Lovely Lilac ink and applied glue to the bodies only and stacked the butterflies on top of each other.

To give the wings a little lift,  I cut a few sticky foam pads into small strips about 2mm wide and stuck them between the wings as  close to the body as possible so they cannot be seen.