I will admit to you that when I first saw the Varied Vases bundle in my early viewing of the catalog, I thought it was just okay. Cute, but I wondered how often would I really use it. After seeing some samples and videos of it, especially paired with some of the new colors, I knew I had to order it. It is now my opinion that Varied Vases is the must have bundle of the catalog. The Varied Vases stamp set was inspired by a well known Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, Mary Fish. Last year, Mary reached the Million Dollar sales achievement and a perk, along with a $10,000 bonus from Stampin’ Up!, is to assist the stamp design team in creating a stamp set. Stampin’ Up! decided to design a coordinating punch for this set. To see other sets that were inspired by Million Dollar sales achievers, look for the gold $1,000,000 Sales Achiever icon next to the stamp set title, or click here.
Last night I decided to do some creating with this stamp set and Vase builder punch. Rather than come up with my own designs, I decided to visit Pinterest and enter “Varied Vases Stampin’ Up!” into the search bar. Did you know you can do that? Search specifically by stamp set (or other Stampin’ Up! item) and watch all the examples pop up. Pure happiness. Most times when I go to Pinterest for ideas, I find a card design I like and tweak it to make it my own. There were so many cards posted for this set, you know it’s a favorite of many. I fell in love with many samples that were designed by Mary Fish, and since she inspired the design of the stamp set, I thought I would copy her cards (with little or no changes). On another day I will come up with my own designs and post them here for you to see.
Cards I made Designed by Mary Fish
These top four were shown on Mary’s blog together and she used them to introduce her stamp set at Stampin’ Up!’s OnStage event in April. The only change I made was to use the word “celebrate” instead of “love” (because I don’t have the love framelit). She chose these particular colors because they remind her of her home state of Arizona and the succulents she finds growing. The colors are: Highland Heather, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody and Gray Granite. I love how she calls the Gray Granite the “modern crumb cake”. It’s a beautiful neutral that is going to be used over and over.
It’s funny that I was drawn to this design on Pinterest because it was also designed by Mary, but in different colors. Her colors were Red, White & Blue to celebrate the 4th of July. I chose to match the Navy gingham ribbon I love and the new Pineapple Punch Designer paper. Navy, white and yellow remind me of a happy summer.
More Varied Vases Designs
I saw similar versions of this card on Pinterest and tweaked it a bit to make it my own. Anyone attending my Open House on July 20 & 21 will make this card (& two others using other stamp sets).
Who doesn’t love a little watercoloring? Such a big impact with very little work.
This card was based off the one in the catalog, p. 45, showcasing the Varied Vases stamp set. I did not have the Striped Scallops textured embossing folder they used, so I substituted and used Simple Stripes. The only other difference is I didn’t have the blue Glitter Enamel dots, so I used my Bermuda Bay Blends marker and colored some pearls. You too can improvise and substitute to make cards you like! Here’s the catalog version:
So, are you convinced that Varied Vases is the must have bundle of the catalog? You can order your own set and punch, bundled together saves you 10% right at my online store by clicking this link: I want to order the Varied Vases stamp set & punch bundle.
