First "real" post!

Ok, to give you a better example of what I'm doing, here's a card series I've been working on lately that's based on this beautiful sample by Leslie Miller: http://leslierich.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2007/11/26/ruby-tuesday-a-breath-of-fresh-air/

I was inspired by her use of a swirl stamp as a stem and adding little Prima flowers to it. I also LOVED the idea of using puffy paint dots as centers! I have to admit that I was really regretting buying all those teeny Primas because I could never figure out what to use for centers. I mean really - who want to use a ton of those things if you have to put a brad or button in the center of every single one?! I thought the puffy paint idea was just plain genious!! Thanks Leslie!

Now here are my versions (mine are super simple): These first two, I used the entire stamp and the stem extended beyond the edge of the embossed rectangle.

Then I tried masking the rectangle so the stem wouldn't extend beyond the edge. I think I prefer this version better (although the sentiment didn't stamp quite right). I also added her ribbon look by cutting a couple slits so I could give the illusion that the ribbon was going under the rectangle.

Materials used (off the top of my head - I promise I'll try to write things down in the future): Foliage stamp - Fancy Pants; sentiments & organdy ribbon- Stampin' Up!; flowers - Prima; green ink - Tsukineko Brilliance Ink; Nestabilites rectangle by Spellbinders.