Winter Florals

The countdown to Papertrey Ink's October release continues today with a stunning collection of winter floral stamps and dies. I know many paper crafters rank floral images up there among their very favorite stamps to create with. If that describes you, you'll definitely want to make room for today's beauties!

Today's featured products, along with the rest of the October release, will be available at 10 pm EST October 15 in the Papertrey Ink store.

We have so much to share today, starting with Spruce and Sprigs by Dawn McVey.

This set was generating much buzz just from the small peek Nichole showed last week. No wonder, just look at those gorgeous images! 

My favorite part of Christmas decorating is arranging all the holiday greenery, tucking little bits of this and that into all of my garlands and wreaths. Spruce & Sprigs is the same kind of fun, with endless options for making holiday and winter arrangements.

Here, I've created an arrangement to top one of Papertrey's Plain Pint Containers. I covered the container in an aqua pattern from the Pretty Pastels paper collection using the Pint Size Wrap dies. The circle for the top of the container was also die-cut using the Pint Size Wrap dies. I sponged on some Aqua Mist ink then spritzed it with water to get a watercolor look.

The greenery is all stamped with Spruce & Sprigs imagery and die-cut with the coordinating Spruce & Sprigs dies. I sponged some Pinefeather ink onto the two evergreen branches to give them more depth. For the rest of the images, I used Copic markers to add shading. 

The sentiment was done with stamps and dies from Christmas Cheer.

Stamps: Spruce & Sprigs, Christmas Cheer

Dies: Spruce & Sprigs, Christmas Cheer, Pint Size Wrap

Ink: Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Scarlet Jewel, Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Pinefeather, Encore Metallic Gold

Paper: Pretty Pastels Paper Collection; White and Ocean Tides card stock

Other: Scarlet Jewel satin ribbon. foam adhesive, jingle bells, ivory linen thread, pint container

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Next is a wintry creation using Botanical Blocks III by Nichole Heady. The set includes an anemone image and an amaryllis -- both perfect for winter occasions.

First I stamped the anemone image on watercolor paper in VersaMark ink and heat embossed in white. Next, I watercolored the image using Zig watercolor markers. I cut out the floral block using the Botanical Blocks dies, and layered onto a Basic Bookmark 3 die-cut (also from watercolor paper, so the layers would match).

I added a white embossed sentiment, and layered onto a Smokey Shadow + Sheer Basics Vellum background and card base.

Stamps: Botanical Blocks III

Dies: Botanical Blocks, Basic Bookmark 3

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Smokey Shadow card stock, watercolor paper, Sheer Basic Vellum

Other: white embossing powder, Zig Real Brush Clean Color watercolor markers, Smokey Shadow satin ribbon, ivory linen thread, foam adhesive, sewing machine

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Last for today is a beautiful new cover plate, the Winter Florals Cover Plate. 

I die-cut the cover plate from watercolor card stock, then did a loose, messy watercolor using Gansai Tambi watercolors. I layered the Winter Florals layer over another piece of watercolor paper that I lightly splattered using some of the same mixed colors that I used for the cover plate. I also lightly sponged the perimeter of the underneath layer with Aqua Mist ink. 

Those of you who have trouble with ink blending should give it a go on watercolor paper. Oh my, the ink blending is dreamy! I used Strathmore 140-pound cold press Series 500 paper, and had absolutely no issue with splotchiness or lines from the blending foam.

The sentiment is from Dawn McVey's Tucked In: Holiday. I stamped it in black onto a Fillable Frames #11 die-cut (from watercolor paper, too), then did some ink blending in Ocean Tides to help it stand out.

For a finishing touch, I added a length of Scarlet Jewel satin ribbon, tied off and adorned with two tiny silver jingle bells.

Stamps: Tucked In: Holiday

Dies: Winter Floral Cover Plate, Fillable Frames #11

Ink: True Black, Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides

Paper: 140-pound cold-press watercolor paper

Other: Gansai Tambi watercolors, brushes, ink blending tool, Scarlet Jewel satin ribbon, ivory linen thread, mini jingle bells

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Visit the Papertrey team for lots more Winter Florals inspiration:

Nichole Heady

Ashley Newell

Betsy Veldman

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

Lizzie Jones

Melissa Phillips

Thanks for visiting!