Flowering Cactus - Crafty Collaborations Blog Hop

Hello, I am delighted to be joining the Crafty Collaborations Blog Hop for the first time this month where we are showcasing the fabulous Flowering Cactus Product Medley.

If you are starting here with me or have hopped over from Diane Evans in Canada welcome, grab a cuppa and hop around for lots of prickly inspiration!

Creativity comes easy when you've got amazing coordinating products and this is something that Stampin' Up! are particularly good at!  The flowering Cactus Product Medley contains stamps, paper, dies and accessories that allow you to let your creativity run free.

The Flowering Cactus Product Medley includes these exclusive products:

• 15 piece Flowering Cactus Photopolymer Stamp Set (suggested blocks a, b,d,g)
• 48 sheets of 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper: 8 each of 6 double sided designs
• Die cut felt sheets: 4 each of 2 colours
• Linen thread combo pack:10 yards of each in natural and Calypso Coral colours
• 10 piece Flowering Cactus dies

Here is my project:

The colours I used:

Calypso Coral

Mint Macaron

Mossy Meadow

Pear Pizzazz

Pool Party

You will need:

21 cm x 14.5 cm Basic White Thick (BWT) - scored at 10.5 cm

10 cm x 14 cm BWT

10 cm x 14 cm Mossy Meadow

9.5 cm x 13.5 cm Basic White (BW)

BWT thick, Mossy Meadow and Pear Pizzazz for stamping and die cutting

The background:

I used a blending brush to add some Pool Party ink to the right hand corner of the BWT panel.  I then wrapped some of the linen thread around the card securing on the back with double sided tape.

The stamping and die cutting:

I stamped and die cut a selection of cacti.  I added ink on the two tall cacti to add depth and dimension.  The die cut detail on the tall cacti is amazing - all those little dots and dashes - so clever!

The sentiment:

I love this sentiment, my life does seem quite prickly at the moment - it has been stamped with Mossy Meadow ink onto a die cut stitched edge rectangle.

To assemble:

Adhere the background to the card base with dimensionals.  Arrange the cacti and adhere.  I used Tombow on the Pear Pizzazz cacti and then dimensioals for the others.  I used mini glue dots to adhere the felt flowers.  Adhere the sentiment with diemnsionals too.

The inside/envelope:

Spot the mistake lol!  Well, this was my first insert - I was quite pleased with it and even got as far a photographing it, then I realised my mistake.

Take 2 - stamp a cacti using Mint Maccaron ink and add some flowers using Calypso Coral.  I used the blending brush to add some colour to the right hand corner.  If you look closely you can see that I did not clean my mat in between adding ink to the cacti and trying to add Pool Party ink to the insert!  However I quite liked the effect so I left it as it was.  I also stamped another sentiment using Mossy Meadow ink.

I also stamped a cactus on the envelope and used the remaining Pool Party ink on the blending brush to add a little extra colour to the envelope.

The completed project:

I made this project with a friend in mind, she works as a receptionist for our local GP surgery. She is dealing with a lot of prickly people right now so this sentiment was perfect for her.

The details:

The trio of jewels were added at the very last minute as I felt there was something missing from my project.

The little felt flowers are so cute and I am a huge fan of adding tactile elements to my projects.

Best of all there are 8 sheets of felt embellishments in the Flowering Cactus Product Medley - plenty to keep me going with lots of projects!  My daughter has asked me to make her a picture as she is a fan of cacti so hopefully I will share that soon - I have a feeling there will be lots of felt flowers on it!  If I do manage to use all the felt flowers the clever people at SU have produced a refill kit for us so all is well.

Next up is Sandra Mastello in Australia who has another prickly project to share.  Thanks for hopping along with us.

Susan xx

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