Pines in Plaid

Stampin’ Up!® offers stamp sets and coordinating dies or punches in bundles when they are first released. Buying the bundle gives you a 10% discount on the items. It’s very rare for me not to take advantage of the bundles, but sometimes I think, “Oh, I don’t need the stamps (or dies); I’ll just get the dies (or stamps).” Almost every time I’ve done this, I’ve ended up buying the second product later at full price.

One would think I would have learned my lesson many times over, but one would be wrong. I ordered the Christmas Pines Stamp Set, thinking, “I don’t need the dies.” UGH! Fortunately I have a wonderful friend who did take advantage of the bundled price and let me borrow her Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies. (Thanks, Sandy!)

I used the Buffalo Check Stamp Set from the Stampin’ Up!® Holiday Catalog for the background. I did not use my Stamparatus® (for a couple reasons), but now I wish I had. It could have used one more coat of black ink on the Granny Apple Green Cardstock. Still, I kind of like the faded, weathered look!

The top of the card uses the Christmas Pines Stamp Set. I stamped the pine boughs in Granny Apple Green, then the more detailed boughs in Garden Green on Shimmery White Cardstock. It gives it a little extra sparkle.

I’d love to say that I chose the cardstock because of the word “sparkle” in the sentiment. Sadly, I’m not that clever. I just pulled out a piece of white cardstock that was the right size. Apparently I had grabbed a pile of white paper one day and filed it all together, because I have a separate bin for Shimmery White; it isn’t filed with Whisper White. But this was a happy accident, because I love the shimmer. (The card base is Whisper White.)

After I stamped the sentiment in Tuxedo Black Memento, I decided to use a little Clear Wink of Stella on the word sparkle. My camera doesn’t pick it up well, but in real life, it’s very pretty and has just a subtle touch of sparkle.

The pine cones are stamped in Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso. I added them to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals, then wrapped some Crumb Cake Nature’s Twine around the stamped layer before adhering it to the rest of the card.

By the way, since Christmas Pines came out last year, the bundled price ended with the 2018-19 Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalog, so I don’t feel too badly about missing the bundled price.

Check in tomorrow for Jackie’s, Susan’s, and my Friday Challenge. It’s a fun one – and I inked up a brand new stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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