Introducing Fruitful & Sentiments

I am very pleased to introduce two more stamp sets to our June line-up, Fruitful & Fruitful Sentiments.  Both of which are designed by Candice Aguilar.  Fruitful ($24) is filled with several different fruits, each in two sizes for lots of options.  All of the fruit is divided into pieces to that you are able to easily stamp each attribute in a different color.  Fruitful Sentiments ($15) was created with inspiration Candice had while make her own homemade jams last year.  The sentiment set is chock full of fruit names and things you would make in the kitchen with all of them (jelly, jam, preserves, etc…).  I am so heads over heels in love with these sets, I don't even know where to begin!  Well, I suppose a project is ALWAYS a good place to start!!!

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Here is a little ensemble I created, centered around homemade peach jam.  Peaches here in the south have the most wonderfully rich flavor and are so good in my favorite recipes, such as peach pie, peach cobbler and, of course, peach jam. Slipping these two little items in a small basket makes the PERFECT small thank you gift! 

I cut a square of linen fabric with pinking shears and screwed it into place tightly with the jar ring.  Melon Berry Bitty Dot ribbon is tied around it and added my hand-stamped tag.  I used spring moss Bitty Box paper for the scalloped tag background.  I think I love this patterned paper almost as much as Bitty Dots!  And take a look at that sentiment.  I just adore the fonts Candice chose for this set.  Love, love love 'em!!!  "Peach" and "Jam" are two separate stamps, allowing you to mix and match them with the different fruits from the set.

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Here's a closer view of the card.  Rather than layer the "Peach Jam" words over the peach again, I chose a different sentiment from the set, "Handmade with Love".  I think anything that is made from scratch along with fresh, natural ingredients is just FULL of love, and that my friends is why we enjoy giving & receiving gifts like this.  The love put into it is felt every time it is tasted!

Some of you have inquired about the "rock & roll" technique that I refer to often here on the blog.  I thought I would show you how quick and easy it was to get the variegated look I got on my peach image.  First I inked the peach with Summer Sunrise ink.

I then tapped one edge of the peach with a slight rolling motion into my Melon Berry ink.  You can see on the stamp that the darker color is now present.

And this is what you get when you stamp with it.  I think it is such a pretty look with this particular image.  The little extra touch really goes far in making the peach look more realistic.

I did something a bit different with my background paper for this card too.  I cut up a piece of spring moss Bitty Box paper into four sections.  I adhered them all to my card cover and stitched around the edges.  I then was able to go back in with my fingernail and distress and curl up the edges a bit.  It spices things up a bit and provides some extra texture.

The completed peach image was matted with a bit of the same linen fabric I used on the jar lid.  My handy dandy pinking shears were used to trim the edges.  A small scrap of Melon Berry Bitty Dot ribbon is used to make a tab held in place with one of our Rustic Wood Buttons.  I used Rustic Jute Button Twine to tie the button in place, finished off with a small bow.  Peach perfection!

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I don't know about you, but summer seems to be the biggest social season.  Invitations to cook-outs and pool parties abound.  I never like to attend things like that empty handed and this margarita mix is the perfect thing to bring along and surprise a hard working hostess with! 

This classy gift starts with containing your favorite margarita mix recipe (bringing the bottle of tequila separately) in a large mason jar with a little Stitched New Leaf ribbon and a lime stamped tag. You may want to add quantities of mix & tequila needed per drink to the back of the tag so it's easier for the recipient to make individual servings. This gift is quick, easy and inexpensive!  The hostess can choose to break it open that night to share with her guests or save it for later after the party as she celebrates her successful evening!

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The card is SUPER simple, but that's what you need when time is limited during these lazy days of summer! It's just a bright stamped background matted on a Smokey Shadow card base  (love that combo!).  The sentiment, from Mega Mixed Messages, is PERFECT for this card and the accompanying gift!  It's simple stamped in black at the corner of the patterned block.  A bit of new leaf stitched ribbon rounds out the project.

The background was created with these fun lime (a.k.a. lemon or orange too) stamps from the set.  I love the two different sizes, paired with the fact that the outside rind is a separate stamp from the interior section.  I stamped the rind with New Leaf ink and the interior with Chartreuse Palette ink.

After I trimmed it up, I went in with my T1 Copic marker and outlined each lime slice.  I think it really helped to make them jump off the page!

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The fruit contained in this set don't have to be used just for edible gifts.  They work well for everyday applications too.  How about using raspberries to make some pretty patterned paper?

I stamped the raspberries in Scarlet Jewel and the stems in Ripe Avocado.  Notice the two different sizes once again.  After I had stamped the raspberries, I added the script from Background Basics: Text Style in Dark Chocolate ink directly over the images.  It helped to fill in all of the extra white space surrounding the berries.

The heartfelt sentiment is from Friends 'Til the End.  The border  punch used with the ripe avocado Bitty Box paper is called Upper Crest (Fiskars).  Scarlet Jewel twill finishes off the card, with a small rustic wood button tied to the bow's center.

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Last but not least, a sweet baby card using the strawberries from Fruitful. (I had to prove to Beth (a.k.a. Babies in our forum) that Fruitful could be useful for baby cards!)

An easy way to layer the two is to stamp the second stem where you want it, than stamp an entire strawberry on a separate piece of cardstock.  Cut it out WITHOUT the stem, then you can add it to the top of the original stem with a little foam tape.  Much easier than trying to cut that awkward little stem out!  The sentiment is from Bitty Baby Blessings.  I thought the fonts from that set paired well with this particular image.

The patterned paper was created with the small daisy cluster from Vintage Picnic.  The pattern was stamped with ripe avocado ink onto spring moss cardstock.  I think this pattern has such a wonderful, dainty feel to it and I know I will be using it again and again.  Oh, and I almost forgot, how about those Raspberry Fizz buttons!  Gotta love those!

So there you have it!  You have now officially seen it *all* for this month's release!  What do you think of Candice's new set?  Do you make any delicious homemade fruit concoctions that would coincide with her theme?  Or do you happen to just love fruit images and want to use them for everyday projects?  Share your thoughts with us and have a chance to win…

• Fruitful stamp set
  
• Fruitful Sentiments stamp set
  

You have until 11:30pm EST , TODAY, Sunday, June 14th, to share your thoughts here.  One comment
will be randomly chosen to win this prize package!  The winner will
be announced HERE on our June Prize Page, just before the release at midnight.  Please play nice, only one comment per person. 

Thanks
for
stopping
by
today and I look forward to seeing you tonight at the release party!

Visit Becky Oehler's blog today to see hat she has created with Fruitful.

Lisa Johnson has one last peek at Heavenly Medley to share.

Lauren Meader pairs Fruitful with her new templates for the month over at her blog today.

Wendy Sue Anderson, our Distinguish Guest Designer this month, has some projects that she has created with a few different June release sets!

Complete supply lists for all of my projects today can be found HERE.