Magnolia in a Vase, and Some Info

Good morning! Today I have a magnolia from "Stately Flowers 3"(one of my favorite images in the series!) inside a small bud vase from "Buds and Vases". I just love the mix and match possibilities for all my floral sets with these vases and baskets since they are drawn in the same style and scale! Cardstock is Gina K Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, Little Boy Blue, White, and Lemon Drop. Die cut is Spellbinders Labels 20.
First stamp the flower and the vase in black on white CS. No need to mask, top where images intersect will be covered. Just stamp a second magnolia and cut out the petals that will overlap the vase in the front, plus a few extra. This will create so much dimension in the final floral image.

Color the center with Y11 and shade left side with W-3. Use C-3 to create shadows on petals at center and undersides. I just make tiny flicks with the tip. Do the same for the edges of the vases and to suggest water and a shadow underneath. Use a blender to blur lines if edges of gray look too hard to you. that's all you need to fill this clear vase with water!
Now add YG93 to the part of the leaves that are shaded and leave the areas on the outside and toward the middle with no black hatching marks white. I went ahead and colored on of the leaves that will be covered by the popped up flower, just in case you can see underneath form certain angles, but no need to shade as as you do on the exposed top flower.

Here it is layered and mounted on the card.
I added an adhesive pearl on the greeting and embossed both he chocolate and blue layers with Victoria CB folder. TIP: Adhere the brown layer first and then emboss together for a seamless pattern. Hope this card inspires, I adore these two images together!


Before I go, I wanted to address Verna's question from yesterday about loving the flowers, but not really having a use for the state name stamps. I totally get that, Verna, and am sure it has crossed others' minds! (and of course, not all of our GKD fans even live in the US, they are all over the world!) If you look over the sets, however, you will see the state names are really a very small percentage of the total stamps, both by number and square inch of rubber used, here is a breakdown:

Stately Flowers 1-20 stamps: 8 flowers, 1 design element, 4 sentiments, 4 flower names, 4 state names

Stately Flowers 2- 18 stamps: 6 flowers, 5 sentiments, 3 flower names, 4 state names

Stately Flowers 3- 17 stamps: 6 flowers, 3 sentiments, 3 flower names, 4 state names

(If you are worried there is a trend that each set has less than the last, the images just got bigger. And I am happy to report the next Stately set to come out has even more images and greetings than the last few, plus some "winged things" to go with, know you will love! Stay tuned!)
I want to let you all know, if you don’t have any of the Stately sets, that these are some really BIG images! The magnolia, for example, measures 3 3/8” x 2 ½”. That's a big stamp! Your card needs little else to feel complete. Also, I pack these stamps into sets as *tightly as possible* to still allow for cutting. There is very little rubber left. If you compare them to other sets of similar size on the market, these have far more greetings and images. I try not to let a bit of space go to waste to provide the maximum versatility and bang for your buck!

I'll admit, I've bought many a set in the past that has a a few images which never see ink as well as the extreme that I got something for just ONE image ( I know, I know!!), but used that one stamp so much that I felt it was well worth it! I hope these flowers would make you feel the same. They are terrific for patterns and colored focal points, and thought carefully about which flowers I put in each set together, to give you a lot of different looks and hopefully at least one flower that really makes your heart skip a beat. You can probably guess from the amount of use each gets on my blog which ones are m personal favorites! ;) And while I have not yet used the state and flower names myself, I am a lover of "words" and enjoy knowing the names of things. On certain designs, particularly vintage ones, having the name and state gives it very botanical feel, lie it's is from an old book or seed catalog.

Finally all these sets coordinate with so many of my other florals, as I've shown the past two days. Baskets are next! :)

Having said that, here are some ideas for those state names (or any stamps in a set that you can't see inking up) if you don't plan to use them... ;)

• Offer state stamp name as a blog candy or pay it forward

• Know someone in that state? Send them the stamp as a surprise! Even if they aren’t a stamper, they would probably get a lot of use out of that one word for other items.

• Post in a online stamp trade forum, someone might really want just that particular state name!

• Save to use as an adhesive remover! Yes, an un-inked rubber stamps works the same as those adhesive removers you’ve seen for sale. If you have some excess sticky stuff squishing out on your mat, or remove a mat and have a bit of yucky adhesive left over, rub clean stamp over it gently and watch as it peels the offensive stuff off and your cardstock looks good as new! (This does not work if the paper tore off)

• pads under a coaster or a trivet (hee, this last one is a joke! sort of...!)
  

Hope this helps you in making decision whether or not to purchase and what to do with any extra "unwanted" stamps! (Find it a little home, stamps need love, too!!) :) I really need to go back to doing tip sheets for all my sets. Let me know if that is something you want and use! Have a terrific day!!

Tomorrow, bunnies!