To a Dear Friend with Prized Peony

We’ve missed peony season (in the U.S. peonies typically bloom in April, May and June), but that doesn’t mean we can’t create beautiful cards with these beautiful flowers – peonies bloom all year long in the crafting world. Yay! I created a peony card with beautiful Fall colors on the card I’m sharing with you today. Here’s my card:

My card was created for the Fusion challenge that kicked off yesterday. Fusion gives us a sketch and an inspiration photo – we can be inspired by either or by both. Here’s a look at the challenge inspiration:

As you can see, I was inspired by bands on the sketch but also inspired by the rainbow of peach tones in the inspiration photo. The beautiful flower at the center of this card is stamped with Cajun Craze ink on Thick Basic White cardstock. The Prized Peony stamp set features three gorgeous flowers that can be stamped and cropped with the coordinating Peony Dies. I planned to color the flower on the front of my card with my Pale Papaya Stampin’ Blends, but I thought it looked pretty perfect on its own – no need to add color to this gorgeous image. There is also a gorgeous variety of sentiments in this set that I love so very much. Here’s a look at the Prized Peony stamp set:

And here’s a look at the coordinating Peony Dies that can be used to crop the flowers in the stamp set or to build a 3-D flower (if you’d like to see the 3-D flower in action, click on the image below to look at associated the samples in my online store). Here’s a look at the Peony Dies:

The sentiment on my card is half of one of the sentiments in the Prized Peony stamp sets. To isolate “to a dear friend” from “love and thanks to a dear friend,” I simply added a piece of tape over “love and thanks,” inked up the stamp with Cajun Craze ink and then stamped it down on a strip of Pale Papaya cardstock. Here’s a closer look:

I positioned my flower over a background of three stripes – Pale Papaya, Calypso Coral and Cajun Craze. What a gorgeous mix of tones, don’t you think?! I cut the strips at 1″, 3/4″ and 1/2″ and glued them to a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. Such a simple way to build a beautiful background. If you like this mix of Pale Papaya, Calypso Coral and Cajun Craze as much as I do, I hope you’ll save this for future reference:

My card is simple, and it felt a little too simple until I added three Pale Papaya Genial Gems around the sweet flower. These faceted gems (with a little pop of gold glitter inside) gave me just what I wanted on my card. Here’s a look at the Genial Gems embellishments:

Stamp Sets: Prized Peony  Papers: Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Pale Papaya, Thick Basic White  Inks: Cajun Craze  Accessories: Peony Dies, Genial Gems, Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Prized Peony Cling Stamp Set (En) – 152504

Price: $24.00

Peony Dies – 152701

Price: $40.00

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin’ Pad – 147085

Price: $7.50

Cajun Craze 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 119684

Price: $8.75

Calypso Coral 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 122925

Price: $8.75

Pale Papaya 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 155668

Price: $8.75

Crumb Cake 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 120953

Price: $8.75

Basic White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Thick Cardstock – 159229

Price: $8.25

Genial Gems – 155500

Price: $8.00

Stampin’ Dimensionals – 104430

Price: $4.00

Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals – 144108

Price: $4.00

I hope you’ll pop over to the Fusion challenge to see the cards by the design team members and to play along with this week’s challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

Sale-a-Bration Wrapping Up

Sale-a-Bration wraps up on September 30 – and that’s just around the corner. I don’t want you to miss out, so I hope you’ll take a look at the Sale-a-Bration brochure to see if there’s anything else you want to earn before the sale goes away. To learn more, click here.

Christmas Whimsy Card Kit

Last week I introduced you to the super-fun (and whimsical) card kit that’s showcased on page 6 of Stampin’ Up!’s July-December 2021 Mini Catalog. The kit is now available, and I don’t want you to miss out. To read all about it, click on the image below (or CLICK HERE to order it today):

Placing an order today?  Of course you are! If you are placing an order for $150 or more, I want you to enjoy all of the Host Rewards you have earned.  If your order is less than $150, I’d love for you please add this Host Code – GFW3Y9J3 – when prompted. Thank you!