ThePowerOfACard: March 2026

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Introducing the Garden Poetry Suite

A new batch of On-line Exclusive products were just released yesterday. Someone compared these releases to the secret menu at Starbucks and I thought that was a great way to look at them! We have three catalogs each year that are in print format and "secret" menu releases that come out every other month! Isn't it fun to check out what treats you can find here? This suite was my favorite and the first thing I wanted to show off!

If you love florals, you will love this suite of products! The pack of Designer Series Paper (DSP) is called Garden Party and it is simply stunning! One side has luscious watercolor flowers and leaves in Berry Burst, Blueberry Bushel, Shaded Spruce, Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Crushed Curry and more. The reverse side has solid-ish patterns to coordinate. Then there is a pack of Specialty Foil paper called Garden Textures (Berry Burst, Shaded Spruce and Blueberry Bushel) - it is so rich looking! The stamp bundle consists of 14 stamps (including four sentiments) and 13 dies (including three labels). There is a hybrid embossing folder with a lovely leaf background (I adore this one!). Finishing off the suite is Berry Burst Shiny Ribbon and fun Garden Epoxy Dots.

Here is 4" x 5-1/4" paper embossed and cut with the die (the hybrid combo) and simply embossed. One thing to pay attention to when using the dies are the edge parts that may get cut off. I simply added a little glue and put them back where they belonged. When you cut a larger piece, as you'll see in one of my samples, less of the leaves get cut off.

In my video, I am making a simple Fun Fold card. My first sample featured the DSP and foil, but in the video, I am making a mono chromatic card with just the DSP. I'm also showing you how to customize ribbon to match your card. Plus, I have lots of samples to share and some more tips along the way. I knew I would love this suite as soon as I saw it, and I think you will too.

Gather your supplies:

Cardstock: Calypso Coral 4-1/4" x 11" scored at 2-1/8", 4-1/4" and 5-1/2"; Garden Poetry DSP 3" x 4", (2) 1" x 4", 1-7/8" x 4"; Basic White 3" x 4", 1-1/2" x 4-1/2"
Stamp Bundle: Paradise Garden
Inks: Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade
Ribbon: Basic Beige Classic Ribbon 11"
Stampin' Blends: L Calypso Coral
Adhesive and Tools, including a Sponge Dauber

I love this simple Fun Fold because it's easy to make and the measurements are simple. Start by scoring your card base and pressing the folds with a bone folder. The section closest to the center fold gets glued together. Add the 1" pieces to the top left side and inside right side as I demonstrate. Open the card and add the 1-7/8" piece of DSP to the section to the left of the fold. Finally, add the largest piece of DSP to the Calypso Coral piece.

One thing that is wonderful about sentiments made out of photopolymer is that you can bend them as you adhere them to the block. I took the Thank You sentiment and bent it to match the shape of the wavy die cut label. Then I inked it in Calypso Coral, added Poppy Parade ink to the bottom with a sponge dauber, "huffed" on it and stamped it on the long Basic White rectangle. I used the die to cut it out on my Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine. I did the same inking technique with the inside sentiment on the remaining piece of Basic White. This panel was then adhered right next to the DSP strip.

While I adore the ribbon that comes in this suite, I didn't feel it was a good fit for my card. Instead, I took a piece of the Basic Beige ribbon and colored it with my light Calypso Coral Stampin' Blend. I colored both sides of the ribbon using the brush tip of the marker. When you color with alcohol markers, it takes a few minutes to dry and usually, the ribbon is stiffer. Before attaching it to the back of my label, I ran it through my fingers a bit to soften it. Then I made a zig zag and attached it to the back of the label with Seal adhesive. As a side note, I used Cloud Cover ribbon and colored it with Shaded Spruce and Blueberry Bushel Stampin' Blends for this sample.

For the final assembly, fold the outside flap back toward the card fold and add glue to this surface. Then add the floral DSP panel so it is evenly spaced left to right. It will extend about 1/8" to the left side of the flap (I show this in the video). My first sample did not extend beyond the flap and if you look closely, you can see that it slightly off center, which annoys my engineering brain! Add the label/ribbon with Dimensionals, centering it from top to bottom. Lastly, stamp a flower in both colors on the envelope.

I have lots of samples to share with you and most of them are self explanatory. However, I do have a few tips along the way. The first card features my favorite paper. The top part of the card is short so that the Berry Burst foil, which is adhered to the inside of the card, shows when the card is closed. For the green leafy card, I embossed vellum for the top half of the card. The label was stamped in Shaded Spruce, then Versamark so I could add clear embossing powder to get an embossed sentiment.

I cut three circles with the Stylish Shapes dies, two from DSP and one from peach Pie cardstock, which was them embossed. I cut each in half and layered them together for the offset circles. For the next card, I stamped smaller images on strips of Basic White to match the color of the 1/4" strips of foil which separated them.

This card used a quarter sheet of paper for the hybrid embossing and has a Blackberry Bliss card base. I think the dark layer underneath helps to show off the lift on the leaves.

Both of these feature the embossing folder - the first one has it embossed and the second one has it debossed. I used a sponge dauber to add Crushed Curry to the inside of the flowers and Poppy Parade to the outside. I also sponged Granny Apple Green and Garden Green on the leaves connected to the flowers. For the blue card, I cut the inner circle with a circle from the Spotlight on Nature dies before embossing. Then from a second piece of the foil, I cut the same circle and the next larger one to make the frame. Because the foil has a white core, I used a sponge dauber to add more ink to the inner edges to hide the white from showing.

https://ThePowerOfACard.blogspot.com Karen Sliwinski ©Stampin’ Up!

Lastly, I have a really fun card design from Southridge Sudio's Facebook page. It is partially embossed and cut so that just a small strip of the top gets adhered to the inside of the card, leaving a gap in the front panel. The flowers and label keep both parts of the front working together as a single layer. How fun is that?? If you haven't seen this one, make sure you watch to the end of the video to see me open it! Again, I used a sponge dauber to add some Bubble Bath ink to the center of the flowers and sentiment.

Thanks so much for watching my video and reading my blog - I appreciate you and hope I've inspired you to make cards with this fabulous suite!

Karen

ThePowerOfACard@gmail.com

Etsy Shop: The Power of a Card

Shop my Store!

https://www.stampinup.com/?demoid=2219347

https://ThePowerOfACard.blogspot.com

Images Copyright Stampin’ Up!®

Find me on Facebook - The Power of a Card or

Join my Facebook Group (The Power of a Cardmaker): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1042676296088278/?ref=share

When you shop, you earn rewards! For any purchase above $20, you will earn 10% in rewards to spend on a future purchase. And you don’t have to use them all at once as you can save up rewards to get something big for free! If you don’t have an on-line account with me as your demonstrator, please go to my store and get one.

Product List