{PREVIEW} August/September 2015 Stamp Club Set - FLORAL BLISS

In less than a week, August will be here. And with the new month comes a new stamp club set. Here's a preview of Floral Bliss.

What, more flowers?!? Yep -- many of our customers (stamp club subscribers and non-stamp club subscribers alike) seem to like flower stamps. When it comes to making cards, flower images are versatile; you can use them for practically any occasion paired with whatever sentiment on hand.

FLORAL BLISS is a 5" by 7" stamp set featuring 6 floral images (zinnia, cosmo, dogwood, larkspur, helenium, and dahlia) I illustrated, 1 large distressed/grunge frame, and 11 word sentiments. I was inspired by vintage seed packets while I was designing this set, so each flower and sentiment (e.g., simply STUNNING) will fit right inside the grunged up frame. You can create a variety of projects with this set: cards, tags, journaling spots, ATCs, toppers, refrigerator magnets, and more.

You'll soon see the STAMPlorations girls feature this set in their spotlight projects. But first, here are four one layer cards I made showcasing this set.

For this CAS card, I brayered Delicata gold ink in the center, used Faber-Castell PITT Artist big brush pen to stamp the larkspur, and then stamped askew the grunge frame in Hero Arts raspberry jam mid-tone shadow ink.

For the second card, I did some a lot of masking. I first stamped the frame in Delicata gold ink, masked it then went to town with stamping the zinnia in gold ink all over the card base. I stamped it again inside the frame and colored with Chromatix alcohol marker. I finished it off with the sentiment.

For the third card, I was still in the mood to mask and I thought I'd do a reverse of the second card. So I stamped and masked the zinnia, dahlia, and cosmo. I colored them with various Chromatix alcohol markers and gave the background a little faux texture by stamping the grunge newsprint and dotty background (from another stamp club set, Mixed Media Grunge) in coffee Ranger archival ink.

For the fourth card, I thought I'd get a little artsy. I must admit that the helenium is my favorite stamp in the bunch. I inked it up with Faber-Castell PITT Artist big brush pen and stamped, masking as I went along and then colored with Inktense pencils. I watercolored the background with both Inktense pencils and Japanese Sai watercolor markers, stamped a few grunge images (again from the Mixed Media Grunge set) in coffee Ranger archival ink, and then finished the card by stamping the sentiment in the center.

Floral Bliss will be available to non-stamp club subscribers starting August 1. Also, larger versions of the flowers are going to be available as singles in the STAMP Lab category. The larger images are perfect for non-card projects.

Right now, however, Floral Bliss is available to current stamp club subscribers; they can pick this set and have it shipped right away when their subscription renews.

Want this stamp set now at a great price with a couple of ARTplorations stencils of your choice and free shipping? Just sign up for the stamp club here. Stamp club subscribers get to enjoy lots of perks :o)

If you're already a stamp club subscriber, thanks so much for your support! If your subscription is set to renew sometime later this month, you can already pick Floral Bliss instead of the current set, The Birds and the Blooms -- it's up to you!

Hope you all have a fantastic week ahead!