Birthday Flowers

It's been a while since I've put silk flowers on my cards. When I came across these in my closet, I thought it would be fun to use some on a card again.

Materials needed:

Flower Shop stamp set (SU #130942)

Gingham Garden patterned paper  4 1/4 x 5 1/2"

Primrose Petals ink

Wild Wasabi ink

5 Petal punch

Framelits labels dies

Brads

Sponge Dauber

Stampin' Dimensionals

Birthday stamp

There are lots of places where you can get silk flowers for your cards and other projects. My favorite way to get these is to buy a large bunch of flowers when I can find them for 50% off, usually at Hobby Lobby. When I get them home, I tear them to pieces. I pull all the petals away from the plastic stems. If they have a leaf that I like, I pull some of them off too. I take out any left over plastic bits and throw away the plastic stems. I then put the flowers and leaves in large zip lock style plastic bags. There are other places that you can buy flowers. Often you can find them in packages or bottles at your local craft store. They have some that are beautiful. It just depends on what your needs are for these.

1. Stamp several flower images and cut them out with scissors or with the 5 petal punch. Lay them aside.

2. Stamp your greeting on white card stock. Choose the framelits die that fits over your greeting nicely and cut it out with your die cut machine. Mine is a Big Shot.

3. Using a sponge dauber and Wild Wasibi ink, gently brush the edges of the label die cut. 

4. Place a small silk petal on top of a larger petal to make your flower. Insert a brad in the hole that is in the center of the silk petals or flowers. Punch a hole in the top left and the bottom right corners of your patterned paper. You might want to lay the flowers down on the paper first to see exactly where you will need your hole punched.  Insert the brad through the flowers and the hole. Bend over on the back side. Adhere this to your card base.

5. Place 3 to 5 stamped petals on the card to see a pleasing arrangement. Glue them down.

6. Place Stampin' Dimensionals on the back of the greeting on the die cut. Adhere this over the center of the card and over some of the stamped flowers. 

That's all there is to it. Have fun!

Chervon Thanks

As soon as I saw the Chervon Border Punch in the Holiday catalog, I pictured ribbon running through the cut out. Of course, it can be used in many other ways but that was what my mind's eye saw to start with. I know I'll have fun discovering other ways of using this great punch!

Materials:
Venetian Romance DSP (#130144)
Bermuda Bay cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" and 1 1/2 x 5/12"
Baked Brown Sugar cardstock  2 x 3" plus a small scrap
Simply Sketched stamp set (Hostess #129672)
Pumpkin Pie 1/2" Grosgrain Striped Ribbon (#110715)
Hung Up Cute Clips (#129389)
3/16" Corner Punch (#119871)
Chevron Border Punch (#132154)
Tangerine Tango marker
Gumball Green marker
Baked Brown Sugar In Color ink pad
white cardstock scraps

I have just fallen in love with the Venetian Romance Designer Paper! My romantic side just loves the colors and patterns in this pack!

1. Use the corner rounder to round all 4 corners on the patterned paper. Lay it aside.
2. Punch the Chevron pattern in the Bermuda Bay cardstock. You might want to practice a bit the first time you use this punch. When I first used it, it took me a minute to realize how to line up the cardstock in order to get the punches correct. It's not really hard. It just requires a little more watching than some punches do.
3. Weave a 6" piece of ribbon through the center of the chevron design. Apply adhesive to the back sides of the  punch and to the ribbon. Press this to the left hand side of the patterned paper, leaving about 1/4" of patterned paper on the left.
4. Use the 2 different colored markers to apply ink to the stamp. Give the stamp a "huff" to moisturize the ink and stamp on white cardstock. Cut the flower out close to the stamp edges. Adhere it to the 2 x 3" Baked Brown Sugar cardstock. Place that near the top right side of the paper.
5. Stamp the "thanks so much" greeting with Baked Brown Sugar ink. Cut it out. Adhere it to a small piece of brown cardstock. Cut to have about 1/8" brown border around the stamped greeting. Adhere it to the bottom right of the card.
6. Slide the arrow clip to the bottom right of the patterned paper. Be sure it is pointing the same direction as the chevron.
7. Apply adhesive to the back of the patterned paper and place it on the Baked Brown Sugar cardstock. Put all of this on to your card base.

A Little Birdie

 
When I was a kid and my mom would find out something, I would always ask how she knew whatever it was. Her answer was often "Oh, a little birdie told me." Using that phrase, I made today's card. A little bird could "tell" you most anything so this card could be used for any number of occasions.

I used some of the New In Colors on this card. For the background, cut Summer Starfruit cardstock to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2." The Gumball Green cardstock is cut to 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 and the Tangerine Orange is cut to 2 3/3 x 3 3/4." Cut some scrap patterned paper from the Summer Smooches collection (#125409) to 5 1/2 x 1 3/4."

With the Scallop Edge Border (#119882) shape one long edge of the Summer Smooches and the 2 short sides and 1 long side of the Gumball Green and Tangerine Tango cardstocks. Layer these with your adhesive as shown in the picture.

On white cardstock, stamp the bird from Every Little Bit(#120558) in Midnight Muse classic ink.

With the Scallop Oval (#119856) punch, pop out the birdcage and another scallop oval from white cardstock. Ink the edges with the Midnight Muse classic ink. I love these new, reformatted ink pads! The ink is so much juicyer than with the older stamp pads & it's so easy to ink the edges! (Don't throw away the scraps here.)

Use a pencil to write your saying on the blank white scalloped oval. Using a pencil first helps with your size and position of the words you want to put here. When you are satisified with it, trace over with the Midnight Muse marker.

I thought that these ovals were just screaming for brads so I put 2 on the saying and one at the top of the birdcage.

Because I just love, love, LOVE ribbon, I put 2 ribbons on this card! Cut a piece of Gumball Green 3/8" Satin Stitched ribbon(#126848) about 6 1/2" long. Place adhesive on the back and press it onto the patterned paper, wrapping the ends around to the back. Cut a piece of 1/8" Everyday Endhantment Organdy Calypso Coral ribbon(#126060) about 24" long or just leave it on the spool and wrap the ribbon around the card front, tie the bow and then cut. Put a bit of adhesive on the back of the card front to secure the ribbon. Place this ribbon on top of the green ribbon.

Now, let's add some fun to the inside of the card.

Stamp an appropriate saying on the inside of your card in Midnight Muse classic ink. I used this one from On Your Birthday (#111644) stamp set(retired).

When you used the scallop oval punch you had some leftover scraps like you see in this picture. Place adhesive on the back of about 4 of the scallops. I ran mine through a sticker maker machine that I've had for years. Then you can make a border across the bottom of the card with them.
You can add any other greeting that you wish to make the card fit your occasion.

Pennants Birthday Cupcake

This fun birthday card has a secret message hidden under the cupcake.

1. I used the wax paper technique to make the background using Tangy Tangerine and Pumpkin Pie classic inks.

2.Cut a strip of paper from the Well Worn DSP(#122359) to measure 4 1/8 x 4 1/4." Score and fold at 1 3/4" from the bottom. Adhere it to the middle of the card leaving the folded section loose.

3. Stamp a cupcake from the Got Treats(#120627) stamp set, using the brush tip on Really Rust, Tangy Tangerine and Chocolate Chip markers. Cut it out. Place Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)on the back of the cupcake and adhere it to the folded section of the Well Worn paper.

4. Use the Petite Pennants Builder (#122361) punch to cut 3 sets of triangles from Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy cardstock and Melon Mambo patterned paper(from the Brights Collection #117155). Stick the triangles with straight edges to the ones with scallop edges, alternating colors.

5. Punch holes in the background cardstock every 1 1/4" apart and holes in the upper corners of the pennants. Use 4 small orange brads to attach them to the background cardstock.

6. Use the pennants to hold the folded section up.

7. Stamp "let's celebrate" from the On Your Birthday (#111664) set in Tangy Tangerine classic ink. Punch it out with the small oval(#120908) punch. Ink the edges with Tangy Tangerine classic ink and attach inside the folded area. When the receiver flips the section down, he/she will see the message.

8. Adhere this to a card base and you can add another message on the inside of the card to let the receiver know how much you care.

Paper flowers

I do enjoy dimensional things on my cards. Yes, often that will increase the postage or even require a special envelope for mailing, but it can be worth it. These kind can also be hand delivered, if desired. Before my friend passed away after suffering with cancer for 3 years, it was definitely worth spending a few extra bucks to send her a special dimensional card.

Here is what we are aiming for today.  The first picture is taken from the top. The second shows a side view so you can see the dimension.

Because you use a liquid glue, you have to allow time for drying for these flowers before you adhere them to your card. I usually allow 24 hours to dry. I suppose that you could make these with hot glue but I get burned using hot glue with large items. I'm a bit scared to try hot glue on these small flowers but that is up to you.

 For this project, all you need is your choice of colored cardstock or patterned paper. I used paper from the Brights collection from SU!, your SU! circle Scallop (#119854) punch, scissors, liquid glue and a toothpick. If you have some reverse tweezers, they are helpful but not required.

1. Punch 5 Scallop Circles. Cut the first one to the center of the circle.

2. For the second one, cut to the center, like you did with the first circle.  Then count 2 scallops and cut to the center again, like you see in the picture.

3. For the third petal, cut to the center, then count 4 scallops and cut.

4. The next petal, cut and then count 6 scallops and cut.

5.  The last scallop circle, cut in half. You can discard the extra pieces that you have cut away or save them for another project.

6. Using the liquid glue, pour glue onto the first two scallops next to the cut. Pull the paper at the cut so that it overlaps the scallop and press on to the glue. Hold for a few seconds to dry slightly. This is where the reverse tweezers are helpful if you have them.

7. Continue gluing and overlapping on each of the circles. They will get progressively smaller.

8. The last one when you use the half scallop circle, you will want to roll up tight and put glue near the end of the rolled petal. This will go in the very center of the flower.

9. Using a toothpick, roll the scallops/petals backward on each flower part.

10. Start with the largest petal. Pour a large amount of liquid glue into the center of the flower.

11. Place the second largest flower into the pool of glue. Hold for a few seconds. It will not be dry, but it should be fairly secure.

 12. Repeat this step with each petal until you get to the very center petal. This is the one that you rolled tight. You will need to snip off about 1/3 of the bottom of this petal at an upward angle. Place this into the center of the flower into a pool of glue.

Your finished flower should look something like this. You will need to set it aside to dry completely. You may want to make more of these right now so you will have several for your planned project. They can be added to your project tomorrow, after they have had time to dry.

I don't know what kind of flower to call this, maybe a carnation, but I do think they are pretty.