always in bloom

Happy Friday! I hope you had a wonderful week and managed to stay cool. 😎

I’m up for this week’s TGIF! I’ve been wanting to make more Honey Bees, so I used today’s post as my excuse to pull them out and create a couple of cards. I wanted to create a folksy background and I thought the Always In Bloom set and matching stencil might be the perfect thing to pair with them!

I also wanted to experiment with changing the wings a little to give the bee a different look. I snipped the wings in half and adhered them to the body at an angle. I used two layers, one cut from vellum, and a top layer cut from watercolor paper, which gives them a pretty, full look. For the background, I used the Always In Blooms stencil, which makes it quick and easy to create the background. I stenciled the design twice (omitting the word “bloom” word and just using the flowers). I positioned the stencils so the design would be right at the top edge of my card and stenciled all three steps, then did it again with the stencils flipped 180 degrees so that I ended up with a symmetrical design that fills my A2 panel.

I created the pink version first, and decided to make a second with a little different color combination. This one uses some brighter reds, blues, and yellows. For both versions I added a diecut border on each side, which was cut using the Nordic Slimline die. I also added a sentiment from the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of you set, stamped in black.

Thanks so much for stopping by today to check out my cards! Have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome to Day 1 of our second birthday celebration and full reveals of our newest collection! Today and tomorrow we’ll be showcasing all of the pretty products from our Spring Market collection…

If you’d like to see all of the new products up close, Laurie will be hosting an Instagram Live presentation of all of the new products on Tuesday, April 27 at 11:00am CDT, so tune in if you’d like to check it out!

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Let’s check out today’s reveals!

Note: In an effort to simplify our release posts, all product details and full descriptions will be viewable via the link below each product heading. Note that while the new products are viewable in the shop HERE, they will not be available for purchase until Wednesday, April 28 at 10am EDT.

Bold Alphabet & Bold Numbers dies

Bold and curvy, there’s a new alphabet set coming your way, along with matching numbers. The details on our new Bold Alphabet and Bold Numbers make them extra special!

Click HERE for Bold Alphabet details & info
Click HERE for Bold Number details & info

AlphaBuds Bold Floral Details stamp set & die

Dress up the already beautiful Bold Alphas and Numbers with these pretty floral details. Designed to tuck perfectly around the curves and lines of the Bold Alpha, you’ll love dressing up your sentiments and monograms!

Click HERE for AlphaBuds Bold Floral Details stamp set info
Click HERE for AlphaBuds Bold Floral Details die info

Delightful Digits Die

You’ll be counting all the ways to love this number collage die – sized to fill an A2 card front!

Click HERE for full details & info

Digit Sentiments stamp set

The perfect companion to our Bold Numbers die set, you’ll pull find yourself reaching for this sentiment set for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and more!

Click HERE for full details & info

Always in Bloom Stamp Set + Die

We’ve heard you loud and clear – you love having our designs in multiple sizes! The Always In Bloom set features many of the same floral designs as the new Alphabuds Bold Details set, but in a much larger scale. With several images having mirror images, you’ll love all of the focal point building options, not to mention the pretty bouquets you can create!

Click HERE for stamp set details & info
Click HERE for die details & info

Always in Bloom Quick Cards Stencil

This stencil set coordinates with the Always in Bloom stamp set, allowing you to quickly stencil focal points for cards that come together in a snap. Use the matching Always in Bloom stamp set to stamp some additional details!

Click HERE for full details

Let’s Have a Word: Birthday and Congrats dies

We have two wonderful additions to our Let’s Have a Word die collection – Congrats and Birthday!

Click HERE to view birthday die details
Click HERE to view congrats die details

I was so excited to create with all of these new goodies! Let’s start with the projects…

The new Bold Alphabet die is so perfect for building your own sentiments and phrases. The letters fit together beautifully. I spent a lot of time designing the coordinating AlphaBud Floral Details stamp set – I think you’ll find something to tuck in nearly any space created by the letters and numbers in the set. These new AlphaBuds are a little more free-form than our original AlphaBuds Slim set – there is no backer die that fits the letters and floral clusters, but rather it’s designed to be more more free-form and open to your own designs, making it easy to create sentiments and phrases, then just tuck the florals in as desired!

The Bold Alphabet set is great for longer phrases as well – fill a whole card front! I’m also loving how it looks amazing so with many of our other products, such as our Crimped Frames and Circles, and our Macrame dies.

Our new Delightful Digits die pairs perfectly with the new Bold Numbers. I loved using it to create several birthday and graduation cards. First up is this pretty 18th birthday card…I can hardly believe it, but I’m going to need this card for my daughter in just a few short months! I had fun making these numbers super feminine by tucking several of the AlphaBuds Bold Floral Details sprigs in and around the numbers. The sentiment is a combination of the Bold Numbers dies and Digit Sentiments stamps.

This one is perfect for any age – just swap out the numbers on the Big Balloons to customize it for your recipient! Our new Let’s Have a Word Birthday die works wonderfully with our previously released PreText Sentiments stamp set and Banners die.

The Bold Numbers dies are so perfect for custom graduation cards. Having a daughter that’s a junior this year, she handed a list of cards she’ll be needing (along with the recipients’ favorite colors!), and I couldn’t wait to put these pretty numbers to work to celebrate our 2021 grads. Our Crimped and Nordic Slimline dies work wonderfully for stretching these numbers out and adding in the AlphaBuds Bold Floral Details.

I needed to make several of these, so to make them a bit quicker, I started off by stamping all of the AlphaBuds Bold Floral Details onto their matching dies, which I used to play around with placement and figure out my design. When actually creating the cards, I set up my MISTI with the florals laid out how I wanted them, using the stamped diecuts as my guide, but then stamped directly onto my Slimline panels, omitting the Alphabud Floral diecuts. It made them quicker to mass produce, rather than doing lots of diecutting.

These pretty number dies don’t have to be feminine, either! My graduation card list included one guy student as well, so I pulled out some black, grey, and burgundy (our school colors), and also added some gold details. Loving the way that Delightful Digits die looks cut from back and layered over black with foam for just a little dimension and a background that’s super interesting but not overpowering. I used the new Let’s Have a Word: Congrats die cut from gold metallic cardstock to finish it off.

There are so many occasions covered in the Digits Sentiments set – here I pulled out the “high 5” sentiment from the set and paired it with our Sliver Lining die and a Delightful Digits background to create a card that would be perfect for a kindergarten grad, or just to say “great job!”

Next I have several pretty floral cards using our new Always in Bloom set. I loved the tiny florals from the new AlphaBuds Bold Florals set and new I was going to want them jumbo-sized as well! The larger size is perfect for bouquet and focal point building. Here I clustered several blooms together and “tied” them all together with our Put a Bow on It set. That stenciled Square Dance background is giving this card a summery feel – loving the “lace” border too, which was cut with our Macrame Borders & Tassels die. I’ve been hooked on those dies recently! The sentiment here is a combo of our new Let’s Have a Word: Birthday die and the PreText Sentiments stamp set and matching Banners.

Along with the Always in Bloom stamp set, we’re also releasing a matching “Quick Cards” stencil that coordinates with this set. I absolutely loved creating with this stencil set. If you love building focal points, but sometimes struggle with placement, this stencil set is the perfect solution. And so quick. Here I used the stencil as it was designed – it’s three steps, and when used as designed, creates a design like this card below, but there are lots of different ways to create with it, as I’ll show you in my next few cards. After doing the stenciling, I used the Always in Bloom stamp set to stamp some details on the flowers and “bloom” sentiment, and also stamped the remainder of the sentiment. I always love to add colored pencil shading too – it just really adds a lot of depth and interest.

This next card also uses the Always In Bloom Quick Cards stencil. This time I moved the design upward to the top edge of my card rather than centering the stencil on my A2 panel. This allowed me to turn the stencil 180 degrees and stencil it again to fill up my card front. I also turned it 90 degrees and filled in the empty spaces on the sides as well. I love how this one turned out! I used the stamps to stamp the sentiment onto the matching diecut. I heat embossed the “bloom” word detail with white powder.

Using the stencil to create larger designs like the one above gave me the idea to try it on one of our Slimlines as well, and that worked out wonderfully too! I stenciled the design twice , which left a larger open space in the center of my card panel, which I topped off with a Crimped Circle diecut and a sentiment from the set. I added a couple of small floral sprigs from the AlphaBuds Bold Floral Details set at the top and bottom of the sentiment. That’s one of the great things about having these florals in two sizes – so many options!

Last but not least is a card for Mom using the Always in Bloom stamp set and matching dies, along with the Bold Alphabet dies. I stamped several of the florals from the set in soft shades of pink and layered them over a background created with the Macrame Borders & Tassels and Macrame Diamonds dies. The sentiment is a combo of our new Bold Alphabet dies and the “for you” from the Opposites Attract set. Once again I’m loving the combo of white and cream! I used it on my Wildflower notecards last release, and wanted to experiment with it a little more.

That wraps up my projects and introductions, but now that you’ve gotten to meet all of today’s new products and see them in action, you can “greet” them for a chance to win a special prize! Today’s prize is a bundle that includes a $50 gift card to use now, along with a fun Greetery logo tumbler. Inside the tumbler will be a golden ticket good for 25% off a future purchase. We’ll be giving away TWO bundles – one here on the blog, and one via our Day 1 giveaway post on Instagram.

Read on for details…

Comment here on the blog for one entry (one comment per person).
Comment on our Inspiration Team Members’ blogs for more entries (linked below – one comment per person, per blog)
Comment on our Instagram Day 1 giveaway post
Comments close at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday night, April 27
Winners will be posted at 7am EDT on Wednesday, April 28, here on the blog

The inspiration team has been busy creating lots of beautiful things with these new stamps and dies! Hop along to see what they’ve been up to (click HERE if viewing via email)