Simple Gifts with the Valley in Bloom Suite

Today the new Stampin' Up! catalogue launched for September - December 2026, and, whilst I'm really excited about a lot of the new products in it, we should never forget the wonderful products of the May - August Catalogue that I adored.

Take the Valley in Bloom Suite. I used that so much for classes and for my own personal projects from scrapbooking to cards, and my team leader dedicated an entire team retreat to it! I adored it, and it seemed fitting then to remind myself that even with a new catalogue, I have products from previous catalogues that I can't forget.

These are a really great QAS card and perfectly match with the Sweetly Sentimental Hot Foil Dies and here is how you make both of them:

Supplies:

Granny Apple Green Cardstock - 14.8 x 21cm and 14.3 x 10cm

Thick White Cardstock - 14. 8 x 21cm

Basic White Cardstock - 14.3 x 10xm and two pieces 10 x 7cm

Valley in Bloom Designer Series Patterned Paper - Lily of the Valley Paper - 13. 8 x 9.5cm - cut 2

Lily of the Valley Dies and Stamp Set

Granny Apple Green Ink

Sweetly Sentimental Hot Foil Dies and Hot Foil System

Cut n Emboss Machine

Paper Trimmer

Glue and Foam Strips

Method:

1. Score and fold both the Granny Apple Green and Thick White Cardstock at 10.5cm

2. Glue the white card panel onto the Granny Apple Green base and the Granny Apple Green panel onto the Thick White Cardstock base

3. Glue a Lily of the Valley panel onto the top of each

4. Stamp the lily of the valley flowers in Granny Apple Green Ink onto the spare pieces of white card and die cut out and then glue onto the card

5. Hot Foil the sentiments from Sweetly Sentimental and pick a couple and add them with foam strips

Seriously simple and gives your old products some new love.

I'll be back with some of the new products over the next few months, but won't be forgetting the old ones either. I do love mixing and mashing! 

I've started so I'll finish...

As with many crafty folks, I have a habit of starting things and not quite finishing them. This dates back to childhood and I've never quite managed to shake it. I like trying things out, but when I come a bit unstuck, or a bit bored with the project I'll leave it. Ask me about a skirt I started making in 2003 that I've still not finished, and is very much unlikely to fit me now!

I very much enjoyed the team retreat in the middle of May, and Kylie is always very good at giving us more projects than we may be able to finish, so I came home with several incomplete. 

I was determined this time to not live up to my usual expectations and leave them languishing in a pile on my desk then move them to a drawer for years on end, so yesterday I finished the last two. They were slightly more complicated than your standard card, so I forgave myself for leaving them until I had brain space to do it.

Here's the first one, this amazing folding box card. The theme of the event was my favourite Valley in Bloom Suite and I loved having some more inspiration - I'm very much getting the most out of mine and welcomed getting some more papers as I'm about to run out of mine!

Looks impressive, but in reality it actually wasn't as complicated as I had initially thought. All I needed was some time to sit down and focus. This folds flat to go into an envelope.

I am thinking that I need to adapt this card for some upcoming classes, so I will get some instructions written up soon.

The final card was this extremely large one that was a 'Sampler' of all the different papers in the set. Being an occasional quilter, a sampler felt very fitting and I enjoyed deciding which papers I should use and where to place them.

I also feel like I've found a nice spot in my crafty basement to take photos finally!

So there you have it, I bucked my usual trend and finished off my projects from the Team Retreat. Now to start working on projects for my next classes - Card Café is coming up on 23rd June!

Procrastination is the thief of time and this time, it didn't win. Happy crafting ;)