Perfectly Soft Breeze of Hope

That is definitely NOT what we are experiencing weather-wise here in central Minnesota today. At one point on the drive home from work the visibility was reduced not due to blowing rain, but blowing dirt! It had to be extremely windy in order to blow dirt today, as our ground is so saturated with moisture that many of the farmers around us are still unable to get their field work done.

So, if you're guessing that the title has to do with the color scheme, you'd be right! When I saw this color challenge of Perfect Plum, Soft Suede and Baja Breeze on splitcoaststampers, I couldn't imagine how they could work well together - so I decided to take the challenge! I thought I would have a struggle on my hands with this one, but the card came together very easily - and on the first try, a rarity for me! I'm sure what made it so easy was this beautiful stamp set, Strength & Hope, which is in the Summer Mini Catalog. For each purchase of this stamp set, Stampin' Up! is donating $2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which is dedicated to preventing breast cancer and finding a cure in our lifetime through funding clinical research worldwide. So what are you waiting for? Just go to my Online Store, purchase this set, and help make a difference!

Recipe

Stamps: Strength & Hope

Paper: Whisper White, Perfect Plum and Baja Breeze cardstock

Ink: Perfect Plum, Soft Suede

Accessories: Oval Scallop Frame die, Big Shot, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Ticket Corner punch, Whisper White 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Basic Pearls, Paper Snips, Stampin' Dimensionals

First I used some temporary adhesive to adhere the Oval Scallop Frame to the white card front piece to serve as a mask for the words. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to repeatedly stamp the word image in Soft Suede inside the mask, and after removing the frame I had a nice oval shape filled with inspiring words. I stamped the H and butterfly in Plum and then trimmed them using the Paper Snips. If you look closely, I inked up the word "hope" and cut it out separately, adhered it behind the H, and then popped it up with dimensionals. You also have to look closely to see where I used the ticket corner punch; can you spot it? I used the beautiful pearls to finish everything off.

I can't wait to use this stamp set again! Check back here on Saturday to see more of this wonderful set, and hope you have a sweet time stamping this week!