Floral Fancies

I said I'd be back with Concord and 9th again today and I am - I love this new release.  I'm not normally drawn to floral stamps but this big blousy peony just screamed use me - and I have!

First off I made a big bold card.   Starting with a 5x7 base card and I cut a frame from green card using my largest nesting dies, which weren't long enough so I used the partial die-cutting technique (cut half way, move the dies down, turn around and cut the rest) to make it the size I needed.

Then I stamped 3 flowers in yellows, peaches and pinks to get 3 different coloured blooms using the 3 layers of the stamp to get the shading.   I used Concord and 9th inks mostly but added a couple of paler yellows from Altenew as Concord only have one yellow in their range so far.   I used the Concord inks to stamp all the leaves and the buds then went about die cutting them all.  It's then just a case of paper flower arranging.   I started with the 3 flowers, poked the leaves behind and glued in place then glued the flowers down last.   Finished with a sentiment from the same stamp.

I also thought the peony would be perfect to stamp as a single image on some make-up bags/pencil cases I have, so dug out my Altenew Multimedia inks in pinks and greens and greens which are great on fabric (and can be washed once heat sealed with an iron) and stamped using the die cuts from thin paper to mask so I could get the leaves behind.

I'ts quite easy to stamp on fabric and you'll find lots of "blank" things online that come ready to stamp on (canvas bags, aprions, t-shirts etc) or have a rummage round your wardrobe for old stuff that could use a face-lift.

It can sometimes be tricky to get a good "print" from inks on fabric, but these inks (which are on sale btw) have been forumlated to stamp on many surfaces and you can see here, they really get good detail even on this uneven weave fabric.

I think anything that doesn't move in this house is going to get a peony on it!

NEWS FROM THE STORE

• We have a large delivery from Altenew just arrived on Friday and will be getting it in store asap and have another order to place with them for the current (and upcoming early May) release.

• We have also received our first delivery from Purple Onion Designs - we're the sole UK stockist of this range so are really excited to bring it to you when it's released in a few days!

• There are new releases coming in May from Avery Elle and Lawn Fawn but we can't say more just yet.....

• We may also have some more exciting news to share in a few weeks but it's under wraps for now so watch this space!