Sneak Peek 3: A Year of Flowers

As a stamper, it is a beautiful thing to have the opportunity to make the most inspiring and lovely things you find around you into rubber! I have so enjoyed creating images in the hopes of making you laugh and smile, drawing cartoons has always been fun for me and you know I love figuring out silly combinations with stamps for the "surprise" factor! But you might be surprised to know that when I began stamping my first purchases were all vintage stamps, followed by about a bajillion other floral sets! They're always pretty, lend themselves to so many WOW techniques, can be almost any color that strikes your fancy, and are always appropriate to send, for any occasion (who doesn't love getting flowers?) I've had several "two-steps" that allowed some customizing (like adding leaves where you choose etc) but have never really had a realistic-looking flower building set before...I am SO excited to share with you a peek of the floral set of my dreams: "A Year of Flowers"!!
I drew all the flowers in this set from actual blooms, the majority of which were in just one stunning bouquet I saw one day in January that inspired me to create the set. I tried to capture as much detail as possible so that with just a little coloring they will look so real you can pluck them off your cards! With a variety of blossoms you can make your own custom arrangements with a little masking (how many images do you think I used above?), or just choose the one flower that best conveys your message or the season. The card above (I used this week's Sketch and Color Challenges from Splitcoast) uses the new MUST HAVE Peerless Watercolors, and they are amazing!! My new favorite coloring medium, doesn't it look like I've taken a few classes since my last watercolored card? LOL! (I haven't) The pigment is so vibrant and easy to use, you'll be watercoloring like a rock star in no time! (I plan to do lots of posts showing you step by step how to color the blossoms in this set.)
To create the sunbeams, I cut a couple diagonal pieces of scratch paper and placed them over my sentiment(on Vanilla CS). Then I sponged Apricot Appeal over it, concentrating the color the edges, then removed my strips: voila! instant sunlight! The dark sponging on the edges makes it even more atmospheric and provides a beautiful contrast to the light. As you can see, the new popular Cuttlebug Leafy Branch and Floral Screen Embossing Folders work terrifically with this set!!
The quote above is from my second stamp set this month: "Say it With Flowers". With the first set I wanted to include words that would allow you to create the sentiments you'd need for ANY occasion year round (check my new tip sheet for combos, coming soon!), I love this classic looking font with these illustrations and the blend of regular and italics give your greetings a really fresh and modern feel! Gina had the brilliant idea, though, that I should add just a few more illustrations to make "A Year of Flowers" even more year-round, which I was happy to oblige, but then I wasn't going to have enough room for all the greetings options! Her solution was for me to create a companion set with all the ones I originally wanted and MORE (I love that woman!) I searched high and low for the most beautiful and inspirational flower-related quotes I could find to fill out a set of sayings that will be perfect for cards (and not only with my flowers, but any other flowers you have (any "flower stamp collectors" out there?!) Don't worry, though, "A Year of Flowers" does still include some all-purpose greetings!

Now! The following monochromatic, single layer card shows you don't have to spend a lot of time coloring to make these images work and how you can combine two stamps from "Say it with Flowers" to create "happy" "holidays". I scored a double border with my Scor-Pal on the base and another to frame up my greeting, then covered the border with scratch paper and stamped just my new poinsettia in Ruby Red ink around the edge, covering the stamped bloom with a mask I made of the image each time for a layered effect. Some punched fancy corners and a few adhesive rhinestones at the corners and in the greeting and I'm done! This would be a very simple design to mass-produce.

Last, while I have your attention (hee hee!), I can't go without pointing out one of the most exciting features of this set: being hand-drawn, they are asymmetrical, which gives a very natural look and allows your flowers to look slightly different when they're stamped "upside down" or "right side up" (nice to stamp several in a bunch, they look like the same type of flower, yet uniquely individual) but they are symmetrical enough that two of my favorite images of the bunch are a GREAT match for your scalloped punches and Nestabilities!

Leave a rim, a close trim, or add a few snips for individual petals and you've got some very intricate-looking CUT flowers in a snap, I LOVE IT!!

You'll have to check out our release party this evening beginning at 7 PM CST to see finished samples using these (and I hope you'll drop by my blog often because I have a million plans for this set (and a tip sheet, of course!)) I cannot wait for you to see the full set revealed tonight and hope you'll fall in love as I have with these images and the versatility* that "A Year of Flowers" and "Say it With Flowers" offers! Now please prepare to be dazzled with samples from my fellow designers, I am so honored and grateful to have their help in bringing these stamps to life today:

Gina K

Theresa Momber (one of my Guest Designers this month, yay!!!!)
Carolyn King
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Cathy Tidwell

Lee Murphy

Hope to see you tonight! :)

*the large size of these images also makes for great scrapbooking! ;)