New to the Instant Garden for February: Flowers, Always

Hello, and happy day-after-Valentine’s Day! I’m still full from our special dinner of fish and vegetables cooked “en papillote” — steamed in a pouch made of parchment paper in the oven, it’s so easy and soooo delish! Though, maybe I’m actually full from the hot fudge sundaes Doug and I had afterwards. I put in too much fudge the first time, so we had to go back and add more vanilla ice cream, because, as Doug pointed out, “it should all come out even.” It was only after we both sat there will mild belly aches that we agreed that we could have just put down the bowls and let the extra hot fudge just “be.” But... who does that?

So! Today we have a ALL NEW digital stamp set for you! It’s a close relative to a clear set that we’ll be showing off later this week in our February Clear Release, so if you like this vibe, know that more is a-comin’!

Folks who’ve been following me for a while may have heard me talk about my Grandmother Bonnie and her hooked wool rugs. She was a thrifty — and dare I say, crafty — crafter who would buy up wool coats from the Goodwill, dye them a myriad of shades at home, then trim into the tiny strands she needed to make wool for hooking. I have some of her marvelous heirloom rugs (we used to have them on the actual floor, but after we had kids and I saw a few too many sippy cups and Play-Doh canisters near them, we decided to roll them up to bring back out when its a bit safer) and they are a delight to the senses with their beautiful floral designs and creative borders.

I will have to share photos of these rugs another time (SORRY!) because they are inaccessible for me to get to in our storage area. Arrrghhh. But, I did find some really cool, but much more primitive designs that were definitely inspiring to me. I just love the rustic, folk art style that many of these old hooked rugs have... the shapes are more simple because in many cases they had to be.

Here’s an example of rug that you will see was a big inspiration to me. I found this one on Pinterest, and I thought it was so fabulous, I created a design that echos it in a lot of ways! But I included several plants that I am fond of. Take a peek... doesn’t this make you want to take up a new hobby and start hooking rugs?! Who’s with me??

It was thinking about these rugs (as well as Jacobean crewel embroidery, which I will get into in a post later this week!) when I was working on our next clear stamp collection, and to be honest, I drew the image we are sharing today to be a part of that. But it was SOOOO WIDE, I was worried it wouldn’t even fit on the clear stamp canvas, much less on an acrylic block. So we are releasing it as a special digital offering, and I hope you love it! Introducing: Flowers, Always.

BOOM! See how beautifully broad it is? I ended up cropping off two of the sides just to make my graphic for today. Hehehe! But if you want to see the whole thing, you can hop around to the Instant Gardners’ blogs, and you won’t miss a tiny detail of the image. Truly, this is the beauty of digital stamps. You can enlarge. You can shrink. You can crop in and focus on any aspect of the design.

Come take a look at how our talented designers interpreted Flowers, Always today! Then afterwards, come grab one for yourself! It’s really a lot of fun to color in, and because it’s a fantastical menagerie of flowers, fruits, and leaves, you can color it in HOWEVER YOU WANT! No need to stay true to what things might look like in “real life.” Keep it fun, and keep it interesting for yourself.

Cheryl Scrivens

Rhea Weigand

Broni Holcombe

Barb Walker

I really hope you will come back tomorrow... we are kicking off five days of new clear stamp sets with the Bloom Brigade. This is a release we’ve been looking very forward to sharing with you!

Have a great day, and hugs to all my peeps!