Naturally Inspired Stamp of Approval Blog Hop

Welcome to the first day of the Naturally Inspired SOA blog hop! You were most likely completely wowed by the fabulous Maureen Merritt, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Catherine herself.
       

If you're not familiar, the Stamp of Approval box is a collection of products which are all exclusive to Catherine Pooler designs, so you won't be able to purchase them anywhere else. They also are only available as a whole collection and won't be offered individually for several months. If you need to start playing with these goodies soon, I would recommend that you subscribe to the wait list at Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval so you're the first to know when it's available. You don't have to pay anything to subscribe, you're just billed if and when you decide to buy the collection. Historically, the collections have sold out rather quickly. 

Since this collection is called "Naturally Inspired," we thought it would be fun to all share what naturally inspires us. For me, it's TEXT text TEXT text TEXT! Preferably vintage text. I have pieces in every room ...

In the Kitchen, porcelain jars recovered from English garbage dumps

In the Craft Room, lots of vintage supplies and potential embellishments, if I could ever use them!

In the Hallway, my favorite, a 100 year old mileage sign from a local gas station.

  
I really could have shared dozens of photos here. This was an easy question for me to answer!

Now let's check out the projects!
  

And the first one, coincidentally, is all about TEXT! There is something about the proportions on this thin-lined block text from Simply the Best that just pleases me to no end. I could look at it all day long. Then you combine it with the scripty "best" and the heart-piercing arrow ... swoon. As is typical when I get a design that I love, I leave it on my Misti and end up stamping several more panels.

All that's needed now is the colored "best", the heart, and a general design. I make a few more versions of this card with a background of medallions, and then decide to stamp the text on the actual card base for some one-layer designs.

For this one I drew an oval (by putting the ink lid on top of the sentiment) in pencil and then randomly stamped florals from the Wild Garden stamp set making sure the tops of the florals did not cross the pencil line.

 It's so fun to try out different designs on these cards, knowing that you have nothing invested in them. If something goes wrong, just ink up the Misti and start over! Love looking at all these different designs with the same sentiment.

Are you ready for a 3D project, that can also serve as a card? As soon as I saw the lattice frame die I thought: lantern/candle holder.

And it turned out just how I imagined! After cutting four sets of these lattice panels and frames, I joined them together with a copy paper hinge inside, and lined the insides with vellum.

Now when the candle is on (battery-operated, NOT real flame) the vellum creates a nice glow along the sides. I used the Best die to extend the sentiment beyond the candle holder, and then hung "wishes" from it.

As always, it easily folds flat for mailing. You may notice the embellishment on this one is different ... I wanted to also make a version that did not pass the top of the candle holder so it would fit better in an envelope.

The last project requires an entire sheet of stamping, which was a pleasure because I'd been dying to see how the Medallion Mix-up set stamped. I certainly got several chances to mix them up, as the set name suggests! And what better to mix with than all the amazing Catherine Pooler Inks?

So why the full sheet?

To make a quick set! Cutting the sheet into fourths gives you four unique panels for four cards. 

It's always surprising to me how well designed these turn out, when they were not at all individually planned. One tip is to stamp through the middle of the sheet on a diagonal. Then you're sure to get enough stamped images on each panel. You never know what you're going to get!

A simple sentiment embossed in gold on black paper doesn't attract too much attention from these beauties.

I did add a few sequins for some sparkle. Just love the detailed patterns in these medallions. This, along with the amazing coverage from Catherine Pooler Inks, makes for one heck of a card!

BLOG HOP PRIZE

One winner will be chosen at random from each day's comments across all the blogs in the hop and announced on June 9th on Catherine Pooler's blog. The winners will win their own Naturally Inspired Stamp of Approval box! No worries if you already bought it, you will be issued a Gift Certificate worth $100 towards a future purchase. Yay for prizes!

Your next stop is the lovely Jen Carter!

Don't forget to stop by Catherine Pooler's blog over the next two days for MORE blog hops! Yes, there is no shortage of talent for this release! The release date is Wednesday, June 7th. 

1. Catherine Pooler 

2. Melissa Miller  

3. Lisa Harrolle

4. Maureen Merritt  

5. Kelly Griglione  <--You are here

6. Jen Carter  

7. Ardyth Percy-Robb