Strength and Hope

A few days ago I receieved my recent order from Stampin' Up! and yesterday I decided it was high time to get some of the new stuff out to play with.  One of the stamp sets that came is called Strength and Hope.  This is a very special set, not only for the artwork, but because Stampin' Up! is donating a portion of the proceedes from its purchase to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  If you are interested in getting the Strength and Hope set, it will be in the upcoming Summer Mini Catalog that starts May 1, 2011.  

Someone very special to me is an Oncology RN, among other things, and does a lot of work with the American Cancer Society.  I decided that she needed to have a set of cards made with this stamp to use for various purposes with that group.  After playing around with different layouts and designs, this is what I came up with:

I started with a 8.5" x  5.5" based in Rose Red, scored and folded at 4.25".  Then I added a layer of Pink Pirouette cut at 5.25" x 4".  I randomly stamped the butterfly image in the same color to create a background.  Next, I centered the flourish image and stamped it with Pear Pizzazz.  I set that aside and stamped the flourish image again on Whisper White, coloring the red heart with my Rose Red marker.  I punched those out with the scallop circle punch, being careful to center the punch.  After I had 8 of those all stamped and punched, I took out a piece of vellum and stamped the Hope 'H', in Early Espresso, coloring the word, again with the marker. After repeating that 8 more times, I punched it out with my 1 3/8" circle punch.

Here is a close up of the H and ribbon.

To assemble I added a piece of Rose Red seam binding ribbon over the flourish on the pink, then the scallop punch out, being careful to match up the flourishes and popping that out with two dimensionals.  Finally I placed the circle punch out in the middle of the scallop so that the red heart was between the top of the H.  What do you think? 

A butterfly in the inside of the card on Whisper White adds that special touch!

I boxed them up and added the flower and bow to secure the box.  The flower was made with the Build a Blossom Stamp set and Punch, stamped in Pink Pirouette on Whisper White, then glittered with Dazzling Diamonds.

 I just know my special person will love this set!  Sorry if I ruined a surprise if you are reading this, but now you have something to look forward to in the mail!