Spring Fling Day Two: Burst of Kindness, Succulent Singles

Here’s where things start to get nuts. Yesterday we shared the preview of the Natural Beauties set (thank you guys SOOO MUCH for your lovely comments! I am reading them ALL and smiling so big at your reactions, my sweet peeps!). Hold on to your hats, though, because today we’re introducing TWO new stamp designs, tomorrow another TWO, and TWO on Monday, and then a final set on Tuesday when all the Spring Fling stamps will be available to buy in the store! Let’s try not to go cross-eyed during this process, but instead, GET STOKED! Eight new stamp sets (some with coordinating dies, yes ma’am) that will bring you hours of coloring fun, plus, cherished artwork at the end of it all.

Don’t believe me? Dude, I totally spent time coloring these and can confirm the joy. I actually posted on Instagram about it because the feelings derived from coloring up one of today’s sets was so robust. It all started with these beautiful babies...

Sometimes we go a little crazy at the nursery. I know I’m not alone. (Please tell me I’m not alone.) In gathering the SUCCULENT source material to draw today’s sets, which I knoooooooow I could have drawn from photographs or the few lil plants I overwintered in the windowsills, but running out for a fresh supply was too enticing for me to pass up and injected some color into a grey winter’s day. After I sketched everything out, took it to final ink, and had our stamp proofs made, I was able to do a little stamping myself.

Warning: I am the world’s worst stamper, so if you notice little smudged bits or double-impressions, reread my aforementioned disclaimer. Leave drawing stamps to me, and I will leave the stamping to you guys, deal? (Unless you want to draw stamps, too, in which case, go for it!!)

Are succulent plants not still the total and complete rage? I’ve been down with ’em since the early 90s when I first discovered the plant called Sedum, which I needed to illustrate for a plant catalog. Head over heels ever since. So I painted them up with my gouache and watercolors, sitting on my sofa, while watching Netflix. That is living! I continued to add layer after layer of color:

I probably won’t make these into cards, because my new thing is leaving some of the stamps uncolored, and coloring in others. For a cool example of this technique, take a look at this floral fabric I recently saw on Instagram, a print called “Sibylla” from British decorating house Designer’s Guild.

Notice how some areas are colored in, and others are left as outlines? That’s a thing!! Try it sometime using Power Poppy botanical stamps for a cool effect.

Today’s first stamp set preview, which you can see across the social media “landscape” today, our new Succulent Singles stamp set, filled with cute lil mix-and-match plants and four fun sentiments.

This one has our new Coordinating Dies to help you make quick work of layering and throw those fussy cutting scissors out the window. Well, maybe don’t do that, because we only have dies for a few sets. ;) Also, fussy cutting can be kind of cathartic. But still, dies = easy button.

NEXT NEW SET..... !!!

I’m going to segue into this one by sharing a photo of my son, Finn, taken yesterday afternoon. We stopped by my stepdad Steve’s house to pick flowers before the frosty tundra descended upon our Midwestern land. Steve sent us home with clipped branches of yellow Magnolia ‘Butterflies‘, deep pink Magnolia ‘Susan’, flowering Quince (they’re stowed in the backseat), gobs of Hellebores of various provenance, and Daffodils GALORE! Finn had to balance three mason jars filled with plants all the way home in my Mini Cooper. He’s a bloomin’ trooper!

We also grabbed a few splashy Begonia leaves from the greenhouse (later these gems would make it into a bouquet to give to Lulu after her opening night performance at her school musical — she did SOOOO AWESOME, incidentally!! So proud of that kid. (See my IG feed for a pic if you are so inclined. Go Lulu!!)

OK, so I go into all of this because today’s second set is along the lines of the kinds of plants I like to grow, draw, and photograph. I have a fascination with plants that are different. That’s why you don’t see too many daisies or sweetheart roses around here. This world is filled with SO MANY delights for the eye, and I crave the outliers. Meet the new clear stamp, Burst of Kindness.

Many have asked for this one to be available in clear, as it has been in digital format since last March. Now I’ve done it, and it’s a biggie! Four inches across and perfect for cropping in to a favorite zone of the bouquet. You’ll see when you tour the Bloomies’ blogs, so many possibilities! I went into great detail about the origins of this set last year, and upon reflection, I’m going to direct you to that first Spring Meadow Bouquet blog post to see how this bouquet of Lilacs, Bleeding Hearts, Checkered Lilies, and Summer Snowflake came to be. Here’s a peek of what I share in that post, my behind the scenes illustrations showing how the final art came to be:

Now, you can go and grab the bouquet for this set RIGHT NOW if you want it as a digital (It is pretty showstopping for The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge, gotta say). But if the clear is near and dear, you’ll want to grab this beautiful bounty on March 14! It has new sentiments that are filled with kindness and thankfulness. Which actually sum up how I’m feeling right now, thinking about the Bloom Brigade’s cards for today. Are you ready??

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber

Kathy Jones

Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Whew!! Those ladies are CRUSHING IT, do you agree? Yesterday’s cards were incredz, but you are gonna faint when you see today’s.

As a final ta-da for the day, I’ll leave you with a pic of me with no make-up (oh, thanks, Marc, so special) that I took yesterday morning when the light was coming in my kitchen window and I thought, dang, this light really sets off my new highlights! (If you saw my post from yesterday about the cactus, you will know that I needed a haircut somethin’ fierce). Here tis!

Love you guys!! See you tomorrow for even morrrrrre! I know, it’s a lot to take in. Let’s just go with it!