If I Had to Buy Just One!

Aloha, all!

     Today I have been given the challenge to tell you what I would purchase from the new 2014 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog if I could only buy one new product.  Boy, that's a tough one.  But when I stopped to think what kinds of things I would do with that product, along with all the other Stampin' Up! products I already have in my stash, I decided that the Happy Watercolor Stamp Set would be it!

     There is just so much in this stamp set that makes me, well, "Happy"!  On today's card there are three images from that stamp set, and there are so many more in the set!

     I've already used the "thank you" stamp several times, including in the blog post, Circle of Petite Petals, last week.  I've used some of the other stamps in posts to some of my newsletter members, too.  And now that I have the stamp set back out on my work table, I'm definitely going to be using it for my Friday blog post, too!

     There are many other stamp sets in my Stampin' Up! collection that would go perfectly with the images in this set.  The one that comes to mind immediately is Petite Pairs.  With a particular set of colors and the right sentiments from that stamp set, you can make a perfect card for so many occasions – Birthday, Wedding/Anniversary, Sympathy, Baby – even Christmas!!.  Of course there are limits with the Happy Watercolor set as there are with any set.  I'd have to think harder than I have so far to figure out a card that required something playful or silly. But who knows what I might be able to do with those little dots!

     Today's card is actually a CASEd card from the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator magazine, Stampin' Success. As in the original, I stamped the large brushed watercolor image three times with Pool Party Classic Ink in the middle of the card.  Then I stamped the "Happy" stamp with Versamark and embossed it with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.

     The flower is a 4-part effort.  (1) I stamped the image to the left of the watercolor brushstrokes using Smoky Slate Classic Ink.  (2) I stamped the same stamp/same ink onto a scrap of Tangerine Tango Cardstock. (2) I stamped same stamp onto a piece of So Saffron Cardstock using Crushed Curry Classic Ink.  (3)  I cut out the full flower from one of the Tangerine Tango images and adhered it over the stamped image on the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.  Then cut out the top two petals from the other Tangerine Tango flower, curled the edges a bit, and adhered it to the other image using Mini Glue Dots.  And (4), I cut the center of the flower out of the So Saffron/Crushed Curry image and adhered it to the center of the flower, again with Mini Glue Dots.

     Finally I adhered the whole card front, which I'd cut to be 5-1/4" high by 4" wide, to a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" Pool Party Cardstock card base.

     This was really a lot of fun – and I'm getting ready to make the card for my Friday Blog Post right now – and I know I'm going to have as much fun with it as I did with this one!

     What about you?  Have you found your perfect item from the new 2014 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog?  If not, why not consider this stamp set. You can find it right here in my online store and you could even buy it today!