Thoughtful Branches

You all know what it's like, I'm sure.

You see a stamp set in a catalogue or flyer and you think, "Meh, yeah, I guess it's okay," and you decline to order it.

Then a good crafting friend mentions she bought it, so you figure you should give it another look. You do your usual browsing among creative websites and blogs, or - my personal kryptonite - Pinterest, and you begin to see lots and lots of lovely samples made using that stamp set. You see ideas for using it you never would have thought of on your own and you begin to see it in a whole new light.

You all know what happens next, don't you?

Yes, you order the set. You. Are. Hooked.

Line. And. Sinker.

What's that? Did this happen to me? Puh-lease!

Of course it did. Damn you, Thoughtful Branches, with your many pretty fonts, your variety of branches, leaves, petals, trees and others, and your dies that match up so easily you can make a lovely card in less than ten minutes. Damn you!

Sigh.

Okay, here are the samples I've made so far, and I feel it only fair to point out that these were made yesterday at a play day with my enabling (former) good crafting friend, and that my own set just arrived in the post today - so goodness only knows what I'm going to come up with next!

Love, love, love this set for a softly evocative Christmas card:

Materials used:

• stamps - Thoughtful Branches, Good Greetings
• card - whisper white, real red,
• other - softly falling embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool, Thoughtful Branches die set

Two layers of leaves, one in plain card (mint macaron) and one stamped, make a great canopy for a tree:

Materials used:

• stamps - Thoughtful Branches
• card - whisper white, mint macaron, baked brown sugar
• other - Big Shot, Dimensionals, Thoughtful Branches die set, Sahara sand marker

Here I've tried for the hydrangea look and I don't think it's quite worked, but I'll show it to you anyway. I'm still in love with the woodgrain background stamp - another one I was slow to warm to and glad when I finally caved and got it.

Materials used:

stamps - Thoughtful Branches, Woodgrain

card - Sahara sand, mint macaron, sweet sugarplum

other - clear embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, Thoughtful Branches die set, sponge dauber

If my story and/or samples have finally convinced you to order this set - well, firstly, hurry up because it's only available until the end of this month - and also, I'll happily accept the blame for enabling you. You know what they say - you've got to pay it forward. That's all I'm doing, right?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez