Rudbeckia hirtas...Inspired by Nature!

I hope you're wondering what the heck a Rudbeckia Hirta is, because, in the interest of accuracy in blogging (old habits of former journalists die hard), I had to make sure what the proper genus and species of my focal image was before I titled my post today. No, it's not a code name for some rude girl named Becky that I want to hurt (insert Mom humor courtesy laugh here). It's the scientific name for Black Eyed Susans, and I have a simple, cool technique using the stamped version to share.

While I was unwinding over the holiday weekend, I came across this blog, which highlighted the work of Kim Teasdale for her amazing ability to create dimension using stamps. I loved the idea and was intrigued but a bit intimidated; still, I wanted to try it. I decided to start simple and chose Inspired by Nature.

I inked the entire image in Garden Green and stamped it on Very Vanilla card stock. Then I used sponge daubers and inked up just the flowers in Summer Sun and More Mustard and Chocolate Chip. After stamping them on scraps of VV and cutting them out, I popped them up on dimensionals. I like how the GG serves as a sort of shadow for the flower heads while completing the image as well.

The last element I decided to add to this was the 5/8" double-stitched chocolate chip ribbon. It's FABULOUS!! One of the make and take projects at convention used this, incorporated into the card at the top as a major design element, and I really liked the effect. Now it's gracing a card I designed!

The sentiment at the bottom is another from Heard from the Heart. This works for lots of different occasions, but this is going to be a birthday card. One last thing: when I pulled out my stash of GG card stock, this 7.25" x 8.5" was on top. I was going to cut it down to make it into a standard size, but the more I played with the main image, I decided to leave it. The mat is Summer Sun and I roughed up the edges with my scissors. That's for you, Melissa!

This is MUCH cheerier than my previous post, and I hope you enjoyed seeing another way to use this versatile set. I'm off to take a short nap before heading back to work!