Tag Archives: card-making

This week I pulled out Flower Garden, an early Papertrey Ink stamp set. In my Evernote inventory, I had noted that I hadn’t used it very much, which is usually a sign that a set might be headed toward the donation pile.

When Flower Garden was first released, the sample cards leaned heavily into repeating patterns and fuller backgrounds. The designs were cheerful and decorative, with lots of layered elements and sentiment labels.

Instead of trying to recreate that original style, I simply started experimenting.

For the first card, I masked off a section of the card and blended a bright yellow. Then I stamped the flower outline across the panel to create a simple black pattern.

Keeping the rest of the panel mostly black and white helped that single flower become the focal point. A small sentiment strip finished the design without competing with the pattern.

Keeping the graphic vibe going, I stamped a single flower to create a background. The design relies on white space and a limited palette rather than a busy pattern.

This approach gave the stamp set a surprisingly modern look and showed how well the line art works when it has room to breathe.

For the third card, I returned to a repeating pattern, but with a softer palette and simpler composition.

Using peach tones with olive leaves created a vintage textile feel.

This card felt like a bridge between the original style of the set and the simpler designs I tend to gravitate toward now.

The final card is the quietest of the group.

A single white flower heat embossed (twice) on kraft cardstock, paired with deep green leaves and tiny gold glittery drops in the center, lets the design stand on its own. I chose to leave the front sentiment-free so the flower could remain the focal point.

In fact, a friend saw the card sitting on my desk and immediately picked it out to send. That’s usually a good sign that a design is working.

Final Thoughts

Working with Flower Garden again reminded me that good design is simply good design.

The stamps themselves didn’t change. What changed was how I approached them.

When I first bought this set years ago, I probably felt like I needed to use every element and fill the entire card front with pattern. That was the style I saw in the original samples, and it’s easy to assume that’s the way a set is meant to be used.

But revisiting the set showed me something different.

The same images can create bold graphic patterns, soft calico-style florals, modern minimal designs, or a single simple botanical. Once I stopped trying to use the set the way I originally saw it, it revealed far more flexibility than I had given it credit for.

Sometimes an older stamp set doesn’t need to be replaced. It just needs to be seen again with fresh eyes.

In my effort to use what I have, I have been revisiting older stamp sets and look at it again with fresh eyes. Sometimes my style has changed, sometimes I see new possibilities in the images, and sometimes it simply reminds me why I kept the set in the first place.

This week I revisited Papertrey Ink’s Peaceful Garden, an older botanical set that includes bamboo, grasses, and a few sentiments. Instead of trying to recreate ways I have used it in the past, I experimented a bit and ended up making three very different cards.

For the first card I stamped the bamboo along the right side of the panel and added a simple grassy foreground. To give the scene some energy, I splattered blue and gold ink across the panel. I am currently obsessed with Tim Holtz Distress Spritz!

The splatter softens the bamboo and adds a light shimmer. I finished the card with a sentiment from a Honeybee Stamps set that happened to be on my desk.

For the second card I returned to the grass stamp and was dreaming of spring. I added a simple bunny silhouette and a row of tiny layered flowers to suggest spring in miniature.

This one is more playful than the first card. The yellow card base adds warmth and the little flowers give the scene some dimension without overwhelming the simplicity of the design.

For the final card I wanted to try something quieter. I heat embossed the bamboo in white on soft gray cardstock and paired it with a masked “peace” sentiment from the set.

The white embossing gives the bamboo a soft, almost carved look against the gray background. Leaving plenty of open space keeps the card calm and minimal, which felt like the right direction for this image.

Revisiting older supplies like this is always a good reminder that sometimes a stamp set doesn’t need anything new—just a slightly different approach. It was fun to see how three very different cards could come from the same set. Already looking around for what set to pick next!

Supplies

• Papertrey Ink: Peaceful Garden
• Honey Bee Stamps: Inside Kindness sentiments
• Impression Obsession: Rabbit Set
• Poppystamps: Wildflower Patch
• Impression Obsession: Tiny Flowers
• Impression Obsession: Tiny 6 Petal Flowers
• Tim Holtz Distress Spritz

The Papertrey Ink Garden of Life set has been sitting in my stash for years.

I am fairly certain I bought it secondhand. Probably Facebook. Maybe eBay. Five years ago? That sounds about right.

I remember trying to use it once. I made something, did not quite know where to go with it, and quietly put it away.

Today, I pulled it back out.

I had been watching a YouTube video by Prairie Paper & Ink, and she was watercoloring florals from a new Simon Says Stamp set and her colors were inspriring. That sent me digging through my own stash to see if I had anything with some similar shapes.

It was that mum in Garden of Life that caught my eye. The first card leaned into pattern and layering. I let the flowers fill the space and added a bold die cut sentiment. It felt cheerful and generous.

Once I started looking more closely at the set, I went down a little rabbit hole and found an old video of Nicole Heady from Papertrey Ink. She had stamped one of the florals on fabric and sewn it into a bag. Seeing it used that way shifted something for me. It reminded me that this set was designed thoughtfully.

From there, the cards began to evolve.

I focused on the fuller florals and created a more joyful get well card with layered blooms and butterflies. Same set. Completely different mood. At some point I consulted Chat GPT regarding what color to use on the flower centers to help it feel more spring like- the answer aqua. Brilliant.

Then I tried something completely different.

I stamped the graphic outline flowers in black on white and left a lot of breathing room. One small aqua center dot became the only pop of color. Suddenly the set felt modern. Crisp. Intentional.

That little aqua accent started to show up again and again. It became the thread tying the cards together.

Next, I played with white embossing on kraft using one of the more open graphic flowers. Cropped into a smaller square and mounted on a white base, it felt like a tiny art print. Clean. Graphic. Contemporary.

I used to think this set felt a little old fashioned.
Now I see that it was simply waiting for me to catch up.

The stamps were always well designed. They stood the test of time.

What evolved was my eye — my sense of balance, my comfort with restraint, my willingness to let white space do the work.

Sometimes rediscovery isn’t about the supply.
It’s about the maker.

We all have design ideas we return to again and again. For me, the grid is one of them.

I love how a grid works on a card. It’s orderly without being rigid, calm without being boring, and it gives every element a moment to shine. When I’m unsure where to start, a grid almost always gets me there.

This card was inspired by a The Stamp Market floral grid I saw on Instagram. I loved the simplicity of the repeated flowers and the way the design felt both sweet and modern. Using that as a jumping-off point, I put my own spin on it with products I already had in my stash from The Stamp Market.

One of the things I’m trying to be more mindful of is using what I already own. The flowers on this card come from The Stamp Market Easter Egg Shaker Die, which I originally bought specifically for this daisy. It wasn’t sitting out on my desk, but it was there waiting in my stash, and this felt like the perfect moment to bring it back out.

Rather than filling the panel completely, I chose nine daisies arranged in a 3×3 grid. That small decision made the card feel more intentional and a little more grown-up, which felt right for the scale of the flowers. I did cut a quarter inch off the bottom of the card to keep the spacing. I also added just a few leaves to gently break the repetition. I was briefly stuck on the top row until I shared a photo to Chat GPT and got the suggestion to use only one leaf there. Sometimes the smallest change makes all the difference.

The flowers are popped up slightly for dimension, but that’s where I stopped. No bling. No front sentiment. I wanted the flowers to do all the talking. This is one of those cards that came together quietly and confidently, and it’s honestly one of the sweetest cards I’ve ever made.

Thanks to the original Instagram post for the inspiration. I love how seeing someone else’s work can spark something new, especially when it encourages me to look back through my own supplies and see them with fresh eyes.

Supplies Used

• Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 110 lb
• Ink:
  • Papertrey Ink Fresh Peony
  • The Stamp Market Golden (flower centers)
  • The Stamp Market green paper (I believe it’s Cactus)
• Dies:
  • The Stamp Market Easter Egg Shaker Die (flower and leaf pieces)

Some supplies were pulled from my stash. Exact ink and paper shades may vary.