Shopping My Craft Room Led Me to a Welcoming Garden

Hi, Stampers!

Wow, we went from spring to summer in a heartbeat! ☀️ The heat and humidity arrived in full force, so my craft room has become my cool little haven. Between making cards, I’ve been cleaning and organizing, and honestly, that’s been half the fun! Every nook and cranny seems to hold a forgotten treasure just waiting to inspire a new project.

How do you beat the heat?

During my organizing adventure, I rediscovered some wonderful kits that have been patiently waiting for their turn. This week’s creative play features the Welcoming Garden Kit, and as of today, it’s still on the Last Chance list. The three beautiful gate designs completely stole my heart, and I’m seriously thinking about picking up a second kit just so I’ll always have those gorgeous gates on hand!

Whenever I open a kit, the very first thing I do is look at the card bases and ask myself, “What else could these become?” This kit did not disappoint! The soft cloud design against the Pool Party sky was too pretty to cover up, so instead of using it as the card base, I created my own card base and used the printed one as the background for the garden scene. Of course, you can absolutely use the kit exactly as designed, but I love stretching my supplies and finding new ways to use them.

From there, it was simply a matter of mixing and matching the ephemera, adding a few favorite products from my stash, and letting the creativity take over. The best part? Most of the design work is already done, so these cards come together quickly while still feeling unique.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to stroll through the gardens and enjoy the cards I created. If this kit finds its way onto your wish list and you don’t already have a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, you’ll find a link to all of the products at the bottom of my post.

Now tell me…do you use your kits just as they’re designed, or do you love giving them your own creative twist? I’d love to hear!

Welcoming Garden Kit Item #165661

My Secrets!

Create this card using the Welcoming Garden Kit by Stampin' Up! and Debbie Mageed at Secrets to Stamping

Card #1: A welcoming garden awaits you!

This card is the simplest of the three cards. The A2 card base is cardstock, cut to 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 and scored at 4-1/4. I cut one of the card bases to 5-1/4 x 4 and adhered it to the card base.
The front of the gate from the kit I used is dark on one side, so I turned it over and used the white side, which I like more. The foliage that goes with that gate was attached from behind and wrapped around in front of the gate where possible.
Then, I stamped the “Thanks” sentiment in Crumb Cake ink onto the tag from the kit. I popped it up with dimensionals.
Once that was done, I added the flowers with glue dots. The kit doesn’t have any embellishments, so I added the sparkle dots to each of the flowers for some sparkle.

Card #2: Let’s take a stroll in this garden!

My second card, using the second gate and my personal favorite, came together very fast and easy. This gate is large, covering the entire card front. So, to give the card some interest, I added a 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 piece of the beautiful Valley In Bloom designer paper to cover the entire front of the card base. (I did have to trim a smidge off the left edge, so check your papers to make sure they match in size.)
Once that was done, I cut a piece of the kit’s card base (one with the bird house) to just under 2-1/2″ to get the bird house and flowers and glued it to the card base, giving room for the gate, on the right side.
After that, I popped up the gate with dimensionals carefully aligning the gate with the bottom, left, and right edges.
I also added the little flowers in front of the gate and the little “hello” from the kit.
Finally, I popped up the bird house and two of the flowers to add more interest to the card.

Card #3: Wouldn’t you love to go through this gate?

My last card (which is actually the first one I made) is a bridge card, one of my favorites. The card base is white cardstock, cut to 8 x 5-1/2. Then, I scored it at 1-1/4 and 2-1/4 on both sides of 8″ side. (Don’t forget to cut the 1/2″ off the 8-1/2 piece of cardstock!)
I cut one of the card bases to make the layers for this card. The sides are 5-3/8 x 1-1/8. So, I cut one of the card bases to 5-3/8, then began cutting it into four 1-1/8 pieces. Then, the center panel was cut to 2-7/8. Once that was done, I glued them all in place.
I cut the floral piece down to the size of the center panel and glued it in place.
The card just needed some “life” so I stamped the pretty butterflies and cut them out with the coordinating punch. Once that was done, I popped them up with dimensionals and added the white Moody Palette Glossy Dots.
After that, I stamped the fence with the kit’s paper that has the details already there. I would love to say that I stamped the fence onto that cardstock perfectly, but I couldn’t get it right – at all. After attempting it twice, I gave up and just trimmed it to look decent, but it’s better than horrible, as Gina K. says!
Then, I cut a piece of window sheet to 5-3/8 x 1-3/4 and attached it to the bottom of the card, making sure when adhering the second side that the card would lie down flat.
Once that was done, I adhered the gate pieces down and popped up the posts with dimensionals. The “hello” was also glued down.

A Debbie Tip 💚

Before you glue anything down, take a second look at the card bases. Sometimes they make even prettier backgrounds than card fronts! I almost always create my own card base so I can stretch my kits even further. Try this with your next kit!

I hope to share my card with these challenges:

So, what do you think of my card today? I love hearing from you!

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or comments about my project today.

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If you enjoyed my project today, please be sure to…

Firstly, visit my Gallery and Fun Fold Gallery for lots of ideas, and…
Enter the Creative Creases Challenge HERE with any fun fold card!
Also, follow me on Pinterest and Instagram
You can see My Secret Sale HERE

Today’s project supply list

Heirloom Arrangements Kit (English)

[165007]

$23.00

All Aflutter Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167564]

$20.00

All Aflutter Bundle (English)

[167570]

$41.25

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[147116]

$11.00

Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad

[147103]

$9.00

All Aflutter Punch

[167569]

$26.00

Moody Palette Glossy Dots

[167180]

$8.00

Thanks for scrolling to the end!

My adorable five-year-old grandson, Noah, has always been a bit of a mystery when it comes to treats. He doesn’t like cake or cookies—and he won’t even take a bite to try them anymore! There are only a handful of candies he’ll eat, with orange suckers topping the list.

He wouldn’t touch ice cream either…until this past year, when he discovered chocolate ice cream. Now that’s a different story!

Since the temperatures are climbing this week, I thought it would be fun for us to make some homemade chocolate ice cream together. Here he is carefully mixing all of the ingredients before we tuck it into the freezer to work its magic. Our Ninja Creami will do its magic (lots of magic in ice cream!), and we might even do a mix-in or two to make it even better.

I think we found the perfect way to beat the heat…and making memories together is even sweeter than the ice cream.