The Maine Stamper

Ornate Thanks Bundle

My deep dive into the early release Ornate Garden Suite continues as Part II, with the Ornate Thanks Bundle review. My previous blog post, Ornate Garden Suite Part I, covered the various embellishments and Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder. Today, I am adding samples with even more stamps from the Ornate Thanks stamp set, in addition to the Ornate Border Dies.

Ornate Border Dies

The dies total 9 in this configuration. They are definitely ornate, as well as floral, so they fit the garden suite theme perfectly.

Two of the dies will cut a floral border, leaving a delicate open pattern to the right and remaining attached to the cardstock to the left. They work well on card fronts to create a peek-thru-to-the-inside effect.

Two of the dies create a lace overlay along the edge of your paper. I used them together on a single piece of cardstock with fabulous results. (See my sentiment example in the So Grateful card below.)

One of the dies cuts a floral border completely out, leaving it free standing. Another die helps to remove one of the floral borders so that it, too, is completely cut out, or free standing.

Also, there are 3 flower dies ranging from small to large in size. These die cut flowers work great in the free-standing floral border. (See my example in the Thank You card below.)

So Grateful Card

My So Grateful Card is made with Blushing Bride and Whisper White cardstock. I have continued the use of the Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder, as can be seen here in Whisper White.

Following are some of my crafty tips:

Flower Border Die

Some of the Ornate Border Dies have tabs at each end to help you line the dies up correctly on your cardstock. If you are die cutting your card base, make sure you orient your die so that it is:

A.) cutting away to the right and leaving the left uncut.

B.) placing top of die to top of card base (in this case, the flowers are top, leaves are bottom).

I also recommend securing your dies with either a post-it note or washi tape to secure it while it travels thru your die cutting machine. There is nothing worse than the die shifting and having to start over.

The Ornate Border Dies are intricate, and require multiple cranks thru the die cutting machine. I also found the use of a shim (in the form of a thin piece of paper) useful. And between multi cranks, I rotated my sandwich base completely around (without taking the sandwich apart).

Regardless, there may be some fine picking at hand for little hangers-on. Be prepared with your die brush and/or piercing tool. And keep those extra leaves that pop out, they are perfect accent pieces!

Sentiment At Hand

For my sentiment on this card, I chose to use both edging borders, one top and one bottom. The dies are long, so my paper matches in length. Even though I don’t need all of it for this card, I can use the remainder elsewhere after trimming to size.

I chose the sentiment, So Grateful, from the Ornate Thanks stamp set. Because my card is entirely pink and white, I felt that black would be overwhelming as an ink choice. Instead, I used Early Espresso, as the rich brown melds nicely with pink but remains bold, to be well seen.

Finishing Touches

Remember those little accent leaves from the die cut above? Here they are, put to good use. After dry fitting the leaves and my sentiment, I remove the sentiment and secure the leaves with Tear and Tape Adhesive. As a final step, the sentiment covers the tape.

Thank You Card

My Thank You card features the Ornate Garden Specialty Designer Series Paper. Complementary colors Early Espresso, Old Olive and Mint Macaron were put into play. I also added So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla and for bright pop of fun, a Poppy Parade cardbase.

This is how it came together…

Free Standing Floral Border Die

I chose to die cut the free standing floral border die in Old Olive. Because the length is closer to 6″, and my card base is 5 1/2″, I needed to trim a bit by hand. This was easily done using my paper snips.

Difficulty Level without cat ‘helping’: 2 out of 5

Difficulty Level with cat ‘helping’: 4 out of 5

Single Flower Dies

I die cut flowers in 3 colors, Poppy Parade (which looked too Christmasy next to the Old Olive, saved for another day), Very Vanilla and Crushed Curry. The latter two made it onto my finished card, as I liked the way they layered together.

Finishing Touches

The Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder peeks in again in the So Saffron Cardstock. The Thank You sentiment comes from the Ornate Thanks stamp set, inked in Early Espresso. Beneath the sentiment flows Old Olive ribbon from the Ornate Garden Ribbon Combo Pack. Lastly, I added Gilded Gems to the flower centers.

So Loved Card

My third and final card today using the Ornate Thanks Bundle is elegance enhanced, showcasing Mint Macaron, Whisper White and Gold.

Here are some details in the making of this beautiful masterpiece:

Double Duty Dies

I used the rose floral border die on this card twice. The first time on the front of the card base, and the second as an additional layer to the card. With my VersaMark Ink Pad, I swiped ink on the outer die cuts of both layers and heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

The front of the card peeks thru to the Whisper White Cardstoc positioned inside. The additional layer is placed over a gold foil design paper from the Ornate Garden Specialty pack.

Finishing Touches

The left-over leaves from the daisy floral border die were so fun to work with in my first card, I wanted to use them again. I die cut a piece of Whisper White just to create the leaves! Left-overs are always saved to be re-worked, so no waste there.

I used my VersaMarker to add VersaMark to the tips of the leaves for gold heat embossing. A good alternative, in lieu of the VersaMarker, would be to place some VersaMark refill liquid on a clear block, then use a blender pen to add VersaMark to the leaf tips. Keep that paintbrush handy to wipe embossing powder off unwanted areas before applying heat.

Ornate Thanks Stamp Set

The stamp sayings, “So Grateful” and “Thank You”, used in the cards featured here, are the large stamps in the set, Ornate Thanks. The stamp “Thanks” is another similar in size.

The remainder of the stamps in this 19 piece photopolymer set are smaller handwritten font (so fabulous!!), in various sayings that pair nicely with the thanks theme. All 3 of the cards shown in the Ornate Garden Suite Part I used the scripty stamps. I adore this font.

For this card, I only wanted “so loved” from the stamp “your kindness is so loved”. Masking part of the stamp before use can change up the way your sentiment reads. I added painters tape to the undesired portion of the stamp image, inked in VersaMark, removed the tape, and stamped. Heat embossing in gold finished the look nicely.

Giving Thanks

There is so much to be thankful for, and just as many reasons to send a card filled with homemade gratitude to someone you know! The Ornate Thanks Stamp Set gives you versatility with what to say, or stamp. The Ornate Border Dies put the fun in fun-ctionality, as you assemble and layer those cards or projects.

Be sure to stop by my online store to add the Ornate Thanks Bundle to your cart today. And for more creative ideas, check back soon as I continue with Part III in this series, with the Ornate Style Bundle. Don’t miss the incredible conclusion!