Garden Green is such a popular Christmas colour . . . I would be guilty of never using it any other time of the year for anything else.

And that is what I LOVE about this Colour Creations Showcase I am participating in with the Art With Heart Stampin' Up! team. It makes me think about Stampin' Up! colours that I rarely use, or that I only use in one way and I am trying new ways of using them.

For Garden Green this week, I selected the Rooted In Nature Stamp set. I have had this stamp set for a long time, but like Garden Green, it has had very limited use! Shame on me!

Taking my inspiration from a card by UK demonstrator Kate Bolt, I decided to do a Beginner crafters card, a casual crafters card and an experienced crafters card - 3 versions of the same card but stepped to suit different levels of crafters.

The beginners card is a single layer card with the skeleton leaves from Rooted in Nature stamped in Pear Pizzazz, Pumpkin Pie and Terracotta Tile, with the greeting stamped in Garden Green over the top.

My Terracotta Tile ink pad is brand new and very inky, so it ended up a little blotchy even though I stamped it off.

For the smaller leaves on each end, can you see that I inked them first with Pear Pizzazz, then just light dipped one end in Pumpkin Pie for a two-tone image?

For my second card, this is very similar to Kate Bolt's card. Kate used Granny Apple Green which I switched out for Garden Green, and I also added Pumpkin Pie to this card. For the twine I have used the Misty Moonlight and Whisper White Bakers Twine from the Flowers For Every Season Ribbon Combo Pack. 

Some Metallic Pearls added some extra bling.

For the third card, I changed to a Garden Green base card and added a Whisper White window on the front.

There are lots of Stampin' Dimensionals used on this card to pop up the three layers! I have also changed from Pumpkin Pie to Soft Suede, though in hindsight, I think I would change back as the Soft Suede makes the whole card feel a bit darker, whereas the Pumpkin Pie would have been bright.

I really enjoyed challenging myself with a colour that I rarely use for anything but Christmas, and a stamp set which I have not used again since the first time I opened it a couple of years ago . . .

If you would like to see what my talented stampin' buddies have been creating with Garden Green, please pop over to Cathy's blog where you can find all the links to all of their amazing projects.

Also, I would love it if you would leave me  a comment as feedback, AND I also want to say, thanks so much to everyone who ordered today in the Stampin' Up! 24 hour sale! What a busy day!  If you haven't ordered yet - the sale finishes at midnight tonight! Get on it!

See you soon with ink on your fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

Product List

Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [147089] $13.00	Garden Green A4 Card Stock [108605] $15.25	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad [147104] $13.00
Terracotta Tile Classic Stampin’ Pad [150086] $13.00	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad [147086] $13.00	Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad [150083] $13.00
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad [147115] $13.00	Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set [148217] $73.00	Flowers For Every Season Ribbon Combo Pack [153620] $17.50
Metallic Pearls [146282] $12.25	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] $14.25	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $6.00