Hello there! It's my turn to share some inspiration over at The Greetery, so today I'm sharing something near and dear to my heart! We have some vintage galvanized wash tubs -- one is round and one is more rounded square -- that are vintage tubs that Bart's Grammy used back in the day. We've used them for various things over the last several years and this year, I think I'm going to plant some flowers in at least one of them. More specifically, I should say that I'm going to attempt to propagate some flowers in them!
Did you know that (supposedly!) you can easily propagate lots of things like geraniums, petunias, verbena, marigolds, etc?! I've recently learned this and I'm excited to give it a try! Who doesn't want MORE flowers, especially if they're free?! Haha! We've propagated coleus for years now -- it really is as easy as cutting off a stem and sticking in in dirt! It'll grow roots and settle in, in no time. Amazing to see! But I'm so hopeful that I'll be able to do the same with lots of our flowers that are all growing in pots out on our deck! How fun to be able to multiply the plants that we have without having to go buy more!
SO, back to the subject at hand.....today's card. :) I decided to use the new Garden Tub die and fill it with flowers, much like how I hope our real life garden tubs will look soon!
PRO TIP: Of course you can cut the garden tub from regular card stock and sort of achieve the look of metal with ink blending. But man, using a silver metallic card stock makes it super easy and much more realistic looking! Highly recommend. I dug this silver out of my stash from years ago.
That background. What's not to love, I ask you?! I used my favorite new Woven Cane Background die to add a red layer of card stock over the pinky background. Seriously, so cute!
Next, I pulled out a set that I love but haven't used in a long time. I was just missing doing some good old stamping and this set let me do just that! I die cut and stamped two of each of the flowers from Budding Beauties (roses, black eyed Susans and hydrangeas) and loaded up my garden tub!
Pro Tip: The hydrangea flowers are just two stamps -- the base layer and the detail layer (plus the stems/leaves). To achieve that dreamy multi-colored blue/purple hydrangea that everyone loves in real life, I stamped the base layer with a lighter blue. Then, on the detail layer, I inked the top of the stamp in a blue ink, and inked the bottom half or third of the stamp with purple ink, making sure to overlap the blue a bit. The overlapping of the ink, creates a really pretty blended ombré effect that is just SO pretty in real life! You could achieve a similar look by inking the bottom layer in multiple colors and then stamping the detail layer on top, using just a single color! So...same idea as what I did, but in reverse! Both will achieve some really pretty multi-colored effects!
I also added in some sprigs of greenery using the Large Leaves: Fern die.
PRO TIP: I like to approach "arranging flowers" on cards in the same way that I would if I were arranging flowers in real life. I always like to add in some filler greenery of some sort, to break up the sea of flowers. It helps to create the feel of a sort of "white space" where the eye can rest between each of the flowers. It also allows each of the flowers to really have a moment to shine. So when it comes to card making, I like to tuck in some greenery of some sort and in this case, the new Large Leaves: Fern die did the trick. It's a great choice because you can cut those big sprigs apart and use them in smaller sections, but you only have to do one big pass through your die cutting machine to get all those little sprigs!
The above photo lets you see that silver metallic card stock a little better.
And just like I shared during the release last month, be sure to have some of your leaves spilling out and over the front edge of the tub, for a more realistic feel!
The sign is the Little Labels stamp + cut combo and I used a couple different shades of green there....both of which can also be found in the bouquet.
PRO TIP: Unless I'm using black ink, I always like to use ink colors on my sentiments that are also found somewhere else on the card. It just helps with color cohesion!
PRO TIP: One more tip before I go....It's a common design "rule" to use things in odd numbers to create a more balanced look. Because I stamped 6 individual flower stems (2 hydrangeas, 2 roses and 2 black-eyes Susans), I followed that design rule and created visual balance, by grouping all the black-eyed Susans together. This creates the look that they are all one unit and that gives the overall appearance that there are just 5 floral stems in play here. Also, note that I varied the placement of the roses and the hydrangeas, so that they're not just mirror images of each other. In the case of the roses, one is obviously higher and one lower, one is tipped to the left, one is straight up. For the hydrangeas, one is ever so slightly higher than the other and is tipped more to the right, while the other is tipped left. And even though the black-eyed Susans are in the middle of the arrangement, the roses and hydrangeas on the left, aren't placed exactly opposite the ones on the right. Changing up the angles when creating floral arrangements, helps it to not look like you're using identical elements and gives your arrangement much more balance and visual appeal, as well as a more realistic look.
{Just a Note to Say Hello supplies -- click on thumbnails}
All right, friends....I've got to run, but head to The Greetery Blog for today's post!
Thanks so much for hanging out with me for a bit! Hope you've enjoyed your time here!
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