Planning a Garden Wedding

I’m Sharyn Sowell, the Spellbinders artist whose designs are all snipped freehand using only a simple pair of scissors. I’m delighted to share another sneak peek at my new Flower Garden collection that will be released very soon.

This collection was snipped in English cottage garden and the garden just beyond my studio window, and each piece is designed with all the irregularities of art snipped freehand with a scissor, so your finished projects will achieve an artisanal hand made style.

Because these dies are so intricately designed, they go together very quickly, with the dies themselves doing most of the work so you don’t need to spend a lot of time with lots of extra pieces (unless you want to!), a definite advantage when planning to make the large quantities needed for a major event. The Tool ’N One and the teflon coating on the dies makes for fast cutting and cleaning.

Cut two 5” X 7” panels from card stock and two of the floral gatefold dies for each card and fold at the score line. Using a tape gun or your favorite method, stick the floral gatefolds to a plain panel. The remaining panel will be laid on top of your printed invitation inside to hide the print.

Notice how the delicate shadows play with the light as the card is opened, making the card extra special. Nobody will suspect how easy it was!

Choose two contrasting solid colors of card stock and cut two of each piece for the dragonfly or butterfly. If you’re using a metallic paper as I am, you’ll want to flip the paper over so that you have a right wing and a left. You need to cut one pair of the outer wing with the inner detail layer and one of the outer wing only, to layer behind it. I love detail and layers; this adds so much dimension and richness effortlessly.

We’re experimenting with various ribbons and trims; right now liking a fine silk cream ribbon but you can also attach the butterfly or dragonfly directly to one side of the gatefold.

Cut a rectangle slightly smaller than the card itself as shown above, big enough to allow you to add the fancy die cut Card Creator Floral Panel Card die cut. This will hide the seams on the back as well as giving you a pocket which will hold RSVP cards, reception map, and whatever else you like. Assemble the fancy die cut as shown, using contrasting colors of paper. Use a tape gun to stick the edges only of the finished pocket to the back of the card.

Since we want the special feeling to carry over to the envelopes, too, we’re using Corner Floral die and the word “Love” to embellish them. Cut one of the word “Love”, one rose, and two of the leaves from Corner Floral die. Glue to envelope as shown. A simple swipe of the glue stick is plenty to secure them to the envelope.

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S2-284 Corner Floral
• S2-287 Botanical Dragonfly or S2-286 Botanical Butterfly
• S4-846 Rose Bird Topiary
• S4-847 Card Creator Floral Panel Card
• S5-334 Floral Gatefold
• PE-100 Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine
• T-001 Tool ’N One

While we’re planning a garden wedding using the Flower Garden dies, they work just as perfectly for birthdays and other festive occasions as well as decorations for home and garden.