Welcome to Stampin’ Addicts Retiring Sets Mega Hop. We’ve all been busy playing with a few of the stamp sets that Stampin’ Up! has announced will no longer be for sale as of July 1st, 2010. I’m so glad you decided to stop by and see what wonderful creations this group of gals … oh, and even 1 guy … have designed to share with you.
If you started this tour from the beginning you came upon my blog after drooling over the beautiful creations Jennifer made with the Garden Whimsy set. If you're starting the tour at my website, follow the link at the bottom of this post to continue on your journey. If you get lost along the way, you can always jump back on the tour bus by visiting Stampin' Addicts for the complete list of participants. This tour will run through Sunday evening (June 13) ... so sit back, relax, enjoy and come back often!!!
I have chosen to share with you a few samples I made with the stamp set “Le Jardin Botanique” and maybe … just maybe … convince you that you can’t live without it! (giggle)
I recently splurged and took brayer classes offered by the “famous-to-the-stamping-community” Michelle Zindorf, and thought this set would be perfect for me to practice my newly learned technique on. Remember … I’m a beginner so please be gentle with me! In this first project I decided to make a 5 1/2” square card and try my hand at a landscape type artwork. I’m definitely NOT a botanist, have no clue as to what kind of flowers, berries, whatever I am using – so just went with my imagination. I thought those little berry leaves would make a fun “bush” (of sorts), nestled on a hill with a lonely tree and a bunch of random wildflowers. After this project was completed, I proudly showed it to my daughter who lovingly told me it was beautiful and looked like a fantasy picture. I’m hoping she meant that in a good way. What do you think?
I enjoy creating different sized cards than the standard, so once again chose a larger 6 1/4” x 4 1/2” size to focus on the floral image from this set. 
I embossed the image to make it pop a bit, colored the blooms, highlighted a few petals and the stem with a white gel pen – then stamped a few random leaves on the lower corner. Then I had to do it all over again because I “somehow” managed to drop the inked up brayer on the completed image. <sigh>
Did you notice the fun corner treatment I used on the Really Rust background panel? 
If you want a larger view of any of the images, just click on the photo.
Ok, so I’ve put away my brayer and taken out my spritz bottles for a change of pace … added some water and a few drops of re-inker and sprayed away on some whisper white card stock which had already been adhered to a heavy duty magnet sheet and run through the big shot. I used 3 colors for this process, but the photo isn’t showing it well. After it was dry, I stamped the images and colored the tree with an aqua painter. I really like the effect of this technique. This would make a quick, easy and useful gift for anyone … who doesn’t love magnets!
Thanks so much for joining me on the tour bus, I hope you enjoyed what I shared with you! Please continue on the journey by visiting Krystal who will be showcasing some fun ideas using the Good Friends set.
