StampinWTiziana: Stampin Friends July Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin Friends Blog Hop!

This month’s theme is Anything Goes! If you are following along the hop, you have arrived from Barbara Welsch's blog.

Be sure to read through my blog, comment below and continue to Anne Marie Hile's blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find a list of Blog Hoppers at the end of each Blog. ENJOY!

So what does this months theme, Anything Goes, mean??? It means we get to pick anything we want to show you!! Yippee, whoo hooo! I love this idea because I am going to bring a blast from the past back to showcase. When this stamp set and dies were originally released, I wasn’t really blogging much. So with the topic Anyhing Goes, I now can showcase one of my most favorite bundles Stampin’ Up! has ever offered, Oh, So Succulent!!!

Succulents continue to be all the rave still! I think this because it is very hard to kill these plants. All you need to do is water them once a month or so and keep them in the sunlight. How hard is that…..uhem…apparently very hard because I have managed to kill a few, lol. Any hoot, this brings me to my projects today.

All non-green thumbs PLEASE SEE/READ THIS!!! Now is your chance to have a succulent plant that will NEVER die no matter how much you neglect it!

I’ll start with my fun 3D project first. In case you couldn’t tell by my name, I am Italian. And the one thing Italians have way too much of is espresso cups. They are given for just about every type of occasion! With this said, I have a stockpile of these. So, I thought I would thin out my supply and make them useful! I thought they would make lovely planters for my paper succulents and cactus. What do you think? Can I pass this off as a real plant??

Here is what I used to make the Succulent filled espresso cup with saucer.

Ingredients

Paper: Two or three different shades of green cardstock; rosy red cardstock

Ink: Rich Razzleberry; Pretty Peacock; Mossy Meadow,

Accessories: Medium size brads; metal rimmed pearls; basic pearls; espresso cup with saucer; floral moss; Spanish moss

Tools: Succulent framelits dies; Oval dies, bone folder

Instructions

I made the cactus by die cutting two ovals; I then cut a slit in the middle half up the oval. I did this for both ovals then I slid them into each other. (see photos for a visual). Before assembling I also spritzed them with a darker shade of green ink.
I adhered this inside the espresso cup with a glue gun. I then filled in the gaps with some floral moss. I also adhered with the glue gun, the espresso cup to the saucer. I filled in the section between the espresso cup and saucer with Spanish moss.
I made the succulents with the dies from Succulent framelits dies. Each flower is made with the three larger dies and some were made using all the dies. The flower on top of the cactus is made with just the three smaller dies.
To give them the “real” floral look be sure to sponge the edges of all the petal pieces. Then adhere them together with adhesive and secure them with a medium brad. For some, I just used a metal rimmed pearl for the center. You also want to curl up the petals using a bone folder.
Once you have your succulents made, adhere them to the espresso cup with a glue gun.
Tada….now you have your succulent plant that will last forever and there is no watering involved.

Here's a cheat sheet in colors when making paper succulents, I borrowed it from laurascreativemoment.

Another great thing about this 3D project….it makes for a wonderful teacher, neighbor, birthday gift! And when you give a gift, it must be accompanied by a greeting card!

Here is what I used to make the greeting card.

Ingredients

Paper: Whisper White cardstock (8 ½”x5 ½” and 3 ¾”x5 ½”); Blooms & Bliss DSP (1”x5 ½”)

Ink: Mint Macaron; Daffodil Delight; Cajun Craze, Sweet Sugarplum and Momento Black

Stamp Set: Oh So Succulent and Dragonfly Dreams

Accessories: Basic pearls

Tools: Succulent framelit dies

Instructions

Fold you whisper white card base in half and set aside.
On the 3 ¾”x5 ½” whisper white cardstock, randomly stamp the outline image of the larger succulent in mint macaron. I also used a splatter image in the same color ink. I then stamped the centers of the succulents with the medium “fill” image in the stamp set by stamping off first with daffodil delight ink. Then in full color, I randomly stamped one of the smaller flower images randomly. Lastly, to fill in any open spaces, I stamped the tiny burst of flowers image in crushed curry.
On a piece of scrap paper, I stamped the “fill” image of the large succulent in mint macaron (3) and Sweet Sugarplum (1). I used the framelit die to cut these out.
I used the sentiment “Enjoy Your Special Day” from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set. This I stamped in momento black ink towards the top. Now we can go ahead and assemble the card.
First, I adhered the DSP to the right hand side of the card front. Then the stamped piece is adhered to the card front towards the left, so a little bit of the DSP shows on the right.
I snailed the mint macaron die cut succulents towards the bottom left and adhered the Sweet Sugarplum succulent with dimensionals.
Lastly, I embellished the centers of the succulents with basic pearls.

That’s all I have for this month and I hope you didn’t mind seeing some retired Stampin’ Up! products. If you do have this bundle, I hope I encouraged you to dig it out again and play around with it!