When I first saw the 2020 Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog, the ENTIRE Peony Garden Suite just spoke to me. I adore floral stamps, and I don’t use the word “adore” lightly. I have rarely met one that didn’t make me at least pause. But my breath caught with this one. Did I need another floral stamp set? Umm…no, but there wasn’t one item in this suite that I wasn’t in love with.
The Peony Garden Designer Series Paper (DSP) was unexpected; it’s a mixture of white, grays with a touch of blush from Petal Pink, quite unexpected, at least for me, but I loved the soft palette. It found it to be quite romantic.
Then there is the Prized Peony stamp set, which is labeled as Distinktive, which means “it has a special texture that gives added depth and dimension in a single step, creating photo-realistic images”. As you can see in the image in the cards on this post, there is quite a bit of depth in the shading of the petals. Typically, to achieve that effect, that means using a combination of light and dark Stampin’ Blends. However, as I was coloring these flowers, I found I didn’t need to focus my efforts on creating that shading. The stamp did most of that for me. In the card above and in one below, I used Rococo Rose light and dark Stampin’ Blends to color the flower, light and dark Old Olive for the leaves and light and dark Crumb Cake for the stems.
I used Basic Gray for the base on all three. If you look carefully, you will see the same texture on the second layer, which was achieved using the Dainty Diamonds 3d Embossing Folder, which is part of the suite. However, for two of the cards, I inked the embossing folder with Basic Gray. In the end, I wanted a bit more definition to the beautiful texture, so I lightly ran the ink pad over the surface of the paper. The result wasn’t perfectly even, but I loved it regardless.
For the Roccoco Rose card below, I used the border die from the Peony Dies set, a strip of Gray Granite Shimmer ribbon and half of a Square vellum doily. Both cards below were accented with Elegant Faceted Gems for a finishing touch of sparkle. The “You are so Special” card flowers were inked in Cherry Cobbler light and dark Stampin’ Blends and light and dark Old Olive for the leaves. For the center, I used several layers of Stampin’ Blends colors including Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight and Light Pumpkin Pie.
Image @ Stampin’ Up! 
Dainty Diamonds 3D Embossing Folder Image @ Stampin’ Up! 
Basic Gray – Gray Granite – Petal Pink – Whisper White
Of course, I love curating beautiful examples of creations with this gorgeous suite. I hope you find as much inspiration in these as I do. If you have any questions about this suite or any other Stampin’ Up! products, please let me know. You can find links to all of the products used to create the cards above. I appreciate you stopping by and thank you for your business!
