Sweet Succulents and a Color Challenge

There have been so many great sales this season.  It turns out that crafting supplies, tools, and irresistible goodies have been no exception.

What started out as an order for one set of unique dies for my Big Shot turned into a couple of orders for some fun stamp and die bundles. (In my defense, it was on sale and they sent me a free die with each order!)

I decided to put my new goodies to use right away and participate in a color challenge on the My Favorite Things Challenge and Inspiration blog at cardchallenges.com.

 

I couldn’t resist the Sweet Succulents stamp set.  The color scheme may seem unrealistic, but I can promise you that my succulents are this exact color at the moment.  They looked beautiful in the full sun of the deck over the summer, but they are a little worse for wear since they’ve been moved into the house.  I’m not taking care of them as well as nature did over the summer!

 

While I do not have MFT inks, I matched them as closely as I could with the inks that I do have.  It was kind of fun to stamp with a color palette I would not have chosen for this stamp set!

 

 

I also ordered the Tag Builder Blueprints 2 Die-Namics set and decided to make a few very quick gift tags using only card stock from this color challenge and the dies.  (I did add some of the tinsel ribbon as well.)  This is a quick way to make tags.  You can add the tag outline die and the candy cane die and cut it all in one pass!  Add a little white topper die cut and your ribbon and it’s done.

Crazy colors for Christmas gift tags but believe it or not, my wrapping paper bags are very colorful this year and these will work!

The die set had 3 different tag shapes, 2 topper shapes and several little die cuts to add to the tags.

I had never ordered dies from My Favorite Things before and one of the nice things about them is that they come on a magnetic sheet.  How great is that?!

Well done My Favorite Things!  Nice touch.

You will notice that the dies are attached to each other and you do have to cut them apart.  I actually found that gently bending the dies back and forth allowed them to come apart easily.  I did use a pair of fine tip wire snips to snap off the small pieces over a damp paper towel so they would not remain behind on my craft table.

I’m storing the stamps and dies in  the Avery Elle clear plastic pockets that I have started using to organize my non-SU stamps in.

I can guarantee that I will use this set of dies all throughout the year for gifts and even for scrapbook layouts.  These will be perfect for titles and for journaling.

I am also looking forward to stamping some cute cards and scrapbook pages with this stamp set.  The sentiments are adorable and quite frankly, appropriate since I have been a little on the cranky side of late.  I’ll probably need to make a big stack of these and just hand them out over the holidays…prickly indeed!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

I hope you are  having a wonderful holiday season!