Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday!
When you get a present, say for Christmas or your birthday, do you like to know what it is before you open it? Or do you like the surprise? Me personally, I like the surprise. I *love* the surprise. It makes the tearing off the wrapping* and revealing the gift all the more exciting.
*okay, I don’t tear off the wrapping. My OCD wouldn’t allow it. But I carefully and neatly peel the tape away one piece at a time and carefully unwrap the package, and then fold the paper neatly away. What can I say. I party on the wild side.
Aaanyway.
The reason I’m prattling on about how you like your gifts is because the Stamp of Approval Collections from Catherine Pooler evoke that Christmas Morning/surprise gift feeling. Every. Single. Time.
If you’ve not heard of Catherine Pooler’s Stamp of Approval then you are in for a treat. It is a completely curated box of exclusive supplies delivered right to your doorstep! Amidst the gorgeous box and hidden in that pretty wrapping is an *awesome* collection of not-yet-on-the-market stamps, dies, and maybe even a couple of other surprise goodies too – all expertly designed and selected for each box to match, coordinate and amaze. The products in each box are only available as an entire collection and won’t be offered for individual sale until several months from the Collection’s release date, so they’ve got that whole exclusivity thing going on. AND just like that Christmas Morning/surprise gift, the first time you see the entire contents of the box is when you unwrap it for yourself! How fun is that?!
Oh, and one more thing. These babies sell like hot cakes. Fresh from the oven. That’s right. If you want to be the first to the cake aisle then I recommend subscribing to the Waiting List at Catherine Pooler’s Stamp of Approval site so that you’re notified when the collections go on sale, and so you won’t be left staring at empty cake shelves. No-one wants that.
And now I want cake.
Right. Before I digress into some kind of Christmas Morning Cake Fantasy, I better tell you the reason you’re here! The latest Stamp of Approval Collection is being released TOMORROW and it’s called The Perfect Reason. And man, is it one perfect collection. Catherine has been sneaking peeks of the contents of The Perfect Reason Collection on her blog last week, and the past couple of days have seen the amazing Design Team (and some special guests!) show off just what some of the items in the collection can do! I’m helping to bring up the rear for Day 3 of 3 Blog Hops (saving the best ’til last? Or am I an awkward embarrassment? Let’s go with ‘best ’til last’. I’m jesting either way, of course) to show off this *truly* amazing box of goodies with a couple of cards, and of course there’s a fantastic giveaway as well where you can win a box of your own too!
Let’s get to the cake. I mean, cards.
For this beauty I played around with the stamps from the Perfect Reason stamp set, stamping the blooms with Tutti Frutti and Midnight inks. I snuck in a couple of stamps from the Paisley Peacock set too!
I love the sense of movement in the card. It really feels like the blooms and leaves are blowing in the wind.
I added a sentiment from the You Did It stamp set, nestled nicely in amongst the foliage so it doesn’t break with the flow. Little design details like that make me happy.
For my second card, I could not have departed more from the clean and simple look:
I can’t lie. I am seriously, completely, totally and utterly, head over heels in love with this. LOVE!
This was a complete labour of love but so, so worth it. I used 34 individual stamps on this card, and they were all stamped multiple times! It took pretty much all day. But, just look at it!! Doesn’t it look just like a store-bought notecard that you might find at a high-end stationers?! Swoon!!
So, some details.
I laid out all my stamps (from the Perfect Reason and Paisley Peacock sets) roughly on my panel of cardstock to work out where they’d more or less go. I then disassembled it all and started with the peacock body, as that’s the focus of the card. I stamped the body using white pigment ink (about 3 times to get an even and opaque coverage. Thank you, MISTI!) then overstamped it with the Party Dress ink, a couple of times. I continued, patiently, building up my overall image in the same way, one stamp at a time.
Each stamp stamped around five times. Many, many stamped images. If you want to do the maths then you’ll be here a while.
Instead, how about some detail shots.
Perfection.
Apart from the white ink every single ink is one of the Catherine Pooler ones. Just look at how vibrantly they’ve stamped, even on white ink on dark cardstock!! I could not be more in love.
Giveaway!
So I bet you’d like to win one of these amazing collections for yourself, right? Read on!
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is leave me a comment – and then make sure you visit the other hop destinations too to check out the amazing inspiration and increase your chances of winning by commenting there too!
Here’s your Hop line-up for today!
Catherine Pooler
Lisa Harrolle
Lydia Evans
Chrissie Tobas
Ingrid Blackburn
Taheerah Atchia
As I mentioned, this is the third of three Blog Hops – and each day’s Hop has a box to give away! That’s three boxes up for grabs for three very lucky winners – and the more you comment the better your chances, so be sure to comment on every single stop of every single hop! You can head back to Catherine’s blog to get the list for the other two days!
You have until 9am EST on Thursday 9th February to enter. Good luck!
And don’t forget that The Perfect Reason Stamp of Approval Collection goes on sale tomorrow! In fact, I’ll be back with another post tomorrow to remind you!
Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies
You Can Do This Floral Card
Peacock Notecard
Your cards are very pretty! Loved the Tutti Fruity one at the top! I think your colorful envelopes take your cards over the top! Thank you for sharing!
Awesome cards. Love how the peacock stamps look on the black. Well worth the time it took you!
Your first card is lovely! Then there’s that peacock card. Oh, wow, Oh WoW, OH WOW!! I never would’ve thought to stamp white first to get the colors to show up on black like that… fabulous!!! Thanks for the tip!
Gorgeous cards, love the peacock
Beautiful card Taheerah. The colours are gorgeous.
The peacock card is PERFECTION and thank you for spending so much time on the card so we could enjoy your creation. Love the first card with the clean and simple style!
Taheerah, your last card is stunning, I was sure upon first look at that card that you used a colored pencil over the white pigment ink, but I LOVE LOVE that you stamped over with CPD inks! I must give this a try! It is gorgeous beyond words!!
Your peacock is a labour of love that turned out beautifully. Taheerah. It is a work of art.
Both cards are amazing!!! But the last one steals the show. A labor of love! PERFECT!
Beautiful peacock that catches my eyes right away – it looks it’s simply sleeping/resting in the night with beautiful flowers surrounding it. The countless layers of stamping looks gorgeous!
OK seriously! That peacock card just glows with happiness. Very stunning card. And I adore the black flowers with the coral accents.
I like how you have gone with darker color blends. It really does look like the blossoms are blowing in the breeze!
Love your cards! The peacock one is a labor of love for sure but must have been fun to do. Thank you for sharing!
Your cards are just stunning! And I love your writing style – you bring a smile to my face … and give me a craving for cake 🙂
WOW, WOW, WOW what amazing talent you have. I love love how you did the last card on black. So much detail, I love detail. What a fabulous idea to use white ink first then stamp on top. Thanks for the inspiration. I am definitely going to become a follower of you
The peacock is amazing!
I love your cards, the peacock looks stunning on the black card
EEEEEK! Gorgeous cards Taheerah! I’m in love with that peacock.
Wow, that peacock card is to die for! I’d have a very hard time ever giving that card away. Thanks for “bringing up the rear” and the the inspiration!
Gorgeous cards!! The peacock is stunning!!
Although I really like the clean first card, the peacock design is over the top beautiful! I can not even begin to imagine all the time that went into planning it out and stamping all those different pieces. It is stunningly gorgeous! I think one of my favorite aspects is how well the colors show up on that black background. I am embarrassed to admit how many times my efforts at using a black background have failed…this is success at its finest! I am in love! Thank you for sharing!
Love your color choices! The cards are just beautiful. Thanks for sharing
Such beautiful cards being shared. Thanks Taheerah
These are beautiful! Love the color combos and that peacock – WOW!
Great job! Two completely opposite designs (one more in line with CAS while the other is putzy) with spectacular results. Oh, and thanks… now I want cake for breakfast!
Very nice cards especially the colorful peacock! Great idea!
Love the black and coral. I don’t have a misti so the other one is a pipe dream for me.
Love your cards! This collection looks absolutely fabulous. Thanks for sharing on the blog hop!!
Beautiful! Love these!
Beautiful cards! Your peacock card is fabulous 🙂
Wonderful cards. Your peacock card is fabulous!
Beautiful cards! Your peacock is fabulous 🙂
I really appreciate the one layer peacock! It is so elaborate and yet faster than using dies all the time! Thankyou!
Wow! That peacock! Amazing how you incorporated so many of the stamps!
I like the simple, but I also like the fully detailed! I haven’t tried stamping on top of the white ink like that, but what a cool effect it gives. Very beautiful!
Love the color combinations and the use of so many different stamps on the peacock card!
Wow! Your peacock card is gorgeous! I think the peacock is my favorite stamp set!
I love the first Card! So clean and soothing! Love love love it!
Oh Taheerah your cards are gorgeous!! You are the stamping queen with that last work of art though, WOW! The design and colors are so gorgeous against the black cardstock. You must have the patience of a saint working with all that pigment ink but like you said, totally worth it!! Stunning!!
Can say wow. Both of your cards are amazing. It might have taken a while, but the peacock card was worth it. The color combo of Tutti fruitti and black looks outstanding together. I would have net just put these together. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, these cards are gorgeous BUT your second card is out of this world incredible. The design and coloring are sensational – You have really inspired me today – THANK YOU!!!!
Wow the second card is so clever I would not have guessed that was how you created that effect. It is amazing and so unique.
I also love the black and orange combo in the first card, that is a beautiful combination.
Thanks for the great ideas.
Holy cow your cards are beautiful! The Tiara and black ink look perfect with that matching envelope. And the second one, well I would want to frame that baby!!!
Perfection is the word for the peacock card, it is beautiful,. How are you ever going to give it away. It would be hard to duplicate so just frame it and enjoy your masterpiece. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Awesome cards, Taheerah!!! Love the last card so much!!!
Lovely cards! So elegant!
It may have been laborious to make but, it’s stunning. So glad you took the time, it was well worth it. I love it.
Love your color combinations and oh that peacock card…WOW!
Beautiful cards! I love the colors you chose for both of them. What a wonderful set of stamps!
Beautiful cards Taheerah! I love the color combination in the first, wouldn’t have thought to do that! And the Peacock – well, fabulous! 🙂