Inspiration Hop Day 1: "Stately Flowers 2" and "Mountain Wilderness"

Good morning! Hope you all had time to come by the release party last night! Welcome to our first day of Inspiration Hops with the Gina K team! Today we are showcasing two sets. The first, "Stately Flowers 2", is the second in my new "Stately Flowers" series, featuring state flowers from all 50 states. This month, I'm bringing you flowers from four more states: Goldenrod (Nebraska, Kentucky), Camellia (Alabama) and Hawthorn (Missouri).

Today I decided to go more bright and whimsical with the flowers, to demonstrate that just because they are so are detailed, these images don't always have to go elegant/vintage! TIP: I also changed it up a bit by stamping them in gray, it's a little more subtle and looks more like a pencil drawing.

Instead of creating a tole effect by stamping out the flowers several times and cutting layers, instead I stamped it once and snipped the bunch of flowers in three sections after I colored them. (Refer to image sheet above to see how it looks before cutting)

Then I created different levels of pop dots, one for the leaves, stacked pop dots "two high" for the middle section, and then used none for the third, and you really get an interesting dimensional effect! While I was coloring these, (Missouri's flower is the White Hawthorn, although they come in a variety of shades), with the rosy and green round centers and pink tipped stamens I noticed how it cute it would be with this fun polka dot DP that's included in the new StampTV kit! So from there, I needed to die cut some circles for my backdrop and sentiment (lots of pretty ones in this set in for a variety of occasions), then adhere round Pure Luxury buttons to match the DP and image.

Cardstock is Gina K Pure Luxury Bubblegum Pink, Passionate Pink, and Turquoise Sea. I didn't include the state or flower name on this design so this can be sent to any friend, anywhere. :) (It's okay if this card is too crazy for you, it almost is for me, but I can't help perking up looking at it LOL!)

Next up, we have Theresa Momber's "Mountain Wilderness" set. I LOVE all the new animals she included, which will work so well with all the gorgeous backdrop images from all her previous realistic outdoor sets! I had to start with this lone wolf and do a very simple but effective technique I enjoy with silhouettes. I'll show you how easy it is to put him on a mountain top without coloring or drawing.

First I stamped the wolf in black on white CS, and then stamped again on scratch paper. Cut out the area from the scratch piece underneath where he's standing at angle, uneven, to make the top of the mountain. TIP: You can pencil a line, but I just free-cut, you don't want it to be perfectly symmetrical or it won't look realistic.

Now place it over the cardstock and sponge black ink into this area. Remove and you have a large silhouette! I have pulled away so you can see. :)

Die cut a circle from scratch paper to place over the vertical greeting (don't you love these new long greetings?!) so it just fits around the "Thinking", and sponged Fired Brick and Tattered Rose Distressing Inks all around the circle to create a sunset.

Remove circle. Mount on black cardstock. Ta da! Great manly card, and easy peasy!! I don't tend to embellish cards like these because think they resemble gorgeous nature photographs, allowing the images speak for themselves... :)

Now please go have fun hopping with the rest of our team! Be sure to leave comments along the way to give you more chances to win a grab bag of stamps from Gina K Designs!

• Gina K
• Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator Stately Flowers 2
• Theresa Momber – Illustrator Mountain Wilderness
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker
• Giovana Smith
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy

Thank you for visiting today! I appreciate your comments! Have a terrific weekend!