Did someone say Garden Whimsy?

The responses I've had so far answering the question of which stamp set from the new Stampin' Up! catalog you feel you can't live with out, the majority I'm reading is Garden Whimsy!

It's been sitting on my kitchen table collecting dust so I thought I'd better break it open and start making cards for you! I received it as a birthday gift from my Stampin' Up! upline Judy.

My first card qualifies for SC139 and the color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers this week. I love this color combination! Old Olive, Pretty In Pink and Purely Pomegranate.

For the tulips I used a post it note to cover the stems on the stamps and inked the tulips with my ink pads, then inked the stem parts with an Old Olive Stampin' Write marker. For the ladybug I inked the image with Purely Pomegranate and used a black Stampin' Write marker over the parts I wanted to color black. I'd never done that before and it worked really well!

Next I stamped the sentiment and sponged Pretty In Pink around the edges of this panel. Matted it with Purely Pomegranate (PP) and Old Olive and set it aside.

For large ink cartridges I had Old Olive and Pretty In Pink so I decided tone on tone for the Whimsey Jumbo Wheel would look nice. I actually used it on the PP panel that's horizontal too but after it dried you really can't tell. Oh well =).

I needed another panel in the bottom right corner and thought the two small ladybugs might be cute there. I inked them with PP and used the Stampin' Write marker over the parts I wanted to be black again, mounted it on Pretty in Pink and set it aside.

In the samples I saw they used ribbon going vertically on the pink panel but I didn't feel mine was big enough to do that so I went the other direction with it on the PP panel. Next I layed everything out and fastened it down. The right upper corner seemed bare so I pierced a trail free hand for the ladybug.

My second card is a sketch challenge from Julee's blog Poetic Artistry, I'm a little late... but that's okay!
I added one color to this card that's not on the one above, Sahara Sand. I inked the Linnen background stamp with Sahara Sand and stamped it on the main image panel. I recolored the Prima with the PP ink pad and still have it all over my fingers. That's okay, my friends know...
I hope you've enjoyed my Garden Whimsy set as much as I have today!