Celebrate Summer with Fabulous Florals

Hello there!  It’s Lisa Tilson here with you today on the Spellbinders blog. I’m delighted to be here to show you some ideas using the latest collection from Susan Tierney-Cockburn. This collection is called Nature’s Botanical Garden and it features five floral die sets, a beautiful 3D embossing folder, and a BetterPress Sentiment Set. I think the embossing folder may be my favorite embossing folder to date! All Susan’s collections are of course stunning and this one is no exception.

Believe

My first card is a shaker card. I love to make shakers and I thought that it would work well with the Nature’s Botanical Wreath 3D Embossing Folder.

I began by taking a 4.25” x 5.5” panel of Fog Color Essentials Cardstock and die-cutting an oval window into the center using the Essential Stylish Ovals Etched Dies. Next, I spritzed the panel lightly with a little bit of clean water and then placed it into the Nature’s Botanical Wreath 3D Embossing Folder. I made sure to line it up so that the wreath detail was set equally around the oval window. I ran it through my Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine and then let it dry. It’s an incredibly pretty folder!

Once it was fully dry, I added some Hero Arts Unicorn Pigment Ink over the raised areas using a Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool. The effect is very subtle and almost impossible to see in the photos, but the pigment ink leaves a light white sheen and a bit of texture on the raised areas. Once the ink had dried, I added a piece of acetate to the back of the oval opening.

I thought it would look pretty to have a branch of flowers sitting over the oval opening and the Flowering Quince Etched Dies fit the bill perfectly. I cut the flowers from 80lb white card, the branch (twice) from Neenah Desert Storm 80lb card, and the leaves from Peridot Color Essentials Cardstock. For extra interest, I blended some Mowed Lawn Distress Ink onto the leaves and some Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink onto the branch. The two branches were adhered together using Bearly Art Glue.

To add colour to the flowers, using small blending brushes, I blended Saltwater Taffy, Abandoned Coral and Dried Marigold Distress Inks onto the petals and then I used Susan’s Garden Ultimate Tool Kit to shape them.  I assembled the branch and petals and adhered it across the embossed panel and then I added two layers of thin foam tape all over the back of the panel in preparation for creating the shaker.

For the shaker element, I placed a white A2 panel down onto my desk and added a mix of silver and clear sequins into the centre. So that the sequins would not stick to the foam tape, I ran an anti-static powder bag around the edge of the foam tape on the embossed panel, blowing off the excess before I removed the backing tape and pressed it down over the sequins, trapping them inside. This was then adhered onto an A2 horizontal white 110lb note card (8.5” x 5.5”, scored at 4.25”)

To finish, I pressed the “Believe” sentiment from Nature’s Botanical Garden Sentiments Press Plate and Die Set. I used BetterPress Black Ink, Porcelain Card and the BetterPress Letterpress System. It was then cut out with the coordinating die and placed onto my card using some foam tape.

For a bit of sparkle, I adhered some Smoky Topaz Color Essential Gems into the centers of the flowers. Having the sequins shaking away behind the flowers adds such a special effect!

Live Life In Full Bloom

My second card is no doubt the simplest of the three cards but I thought I would show you how you can use just one flower and a few leaves to create a pretty card. This can be a great way of kickstarting your creativity if you are struggling for ideas. Plus, it’s great to give some love to the little dies!

I started off by taking the Forsythia Etched Dies and cutting the flowers from Pink Sand, Fruit Punch, and Sunkissed Color Essentials Cardstock. I then took the leaves die and die cut it many times from Peridot cardstock. I then adhered the leaves behind the flowers using Bearly Art Glue. For a bit of variation, I added either two or three leaves behind each flower. Once everything had set, I added a tiny piece of foam tape behind each flower and put them to one side.

For my sentiment I used the Nature’s Botanical Garden Sentiments Press Plate and Die Set and this time I foiled my greeting onto a white card using Champagne Glimmer Hot Foil and the Glimmer Hot Foil System. I love that you can foil press plates, it really helps to extend their use and they foil really well! I then cut the sentiment out with the coordinating die and cut a couple of extra layers. All three layers were adhered together with glue to form a small stack.

Next, I took an A2 panel of white card (4.25” x 5.5”) and trimmed it down slightly. I glued the sentiment into the center and then arranged my flowers around it. I eyeballed this part and I think it worked out well! To help me line things up, I started by adding the two flowers either side of the sentiment and added the rest from there. As the flowers have a little bit of foam tape behind them, there is lots of lovely dimension to what is essentially a very clean and simple card.

I finished by adding a white glossy pearl into the center of each flower and then adding some thin foam tape behind the panel and adhering it onto a top folding A2 110lb white note card (11” x 4.25”, scored at 5.5”).

Happy Blooming Birthday

For my last card, I used the Hydrangea Etched Dies. Hydrangeas are one of my favourite flowers so I was excited to use these dies!

I started off by die-cutting the Hydrangea Etched Dies floral die several times from Purple Mist and Raindrop Cardstock. I always cut too many but it’s good to have spares! I then die-cut the leaves from Peridot and Fern cardstock. Using small shader brushes, I blended Dusty Concord Distress Ink onto the purple flowers and Prize Ribbon Distress Ink onto the blue flowers. To soften the colours, I then blended some Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink over the top. I love the variation that I got with the addition of the white ink. It was an experiment but it turned out great! The flowers were then shaped using Susan’s Garden Ultimate Tool Kit. Using small brushes, I blended Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness onto the leaves to add some extra interest to those.

Next, I die cut the hydrangea base layer from Raindrop and Purple Mist cardstock and I adhered the flowers onto the base using Bearly Art Glue.

The background is just a simple white A2 panel cut with a scalloped edge die using 80lb white card and the Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops Etched Dies. The hydrangeas were added on top using thin foam tape and then I adhered the leaves behind using Bearly Art Glue.

The birthday sentiment is from Nature’s Botanical Garden Sentiments Press Plate and Die Set and it was pressed using BetterPress Black Ink onto Porcelain Cardstock using the BetterPress Letterpress System. I cut two extra layers, adhered them all together and then added it onto my white panel.

To finish the card, I glued the scalloped panel onto an A2 Fog Color Essentials panel and then onto a top folding A2 white note card (11” x 4.25”, scored at 5.5”). I added some silver gems into the centers of the flowers and a few around the outside.

So that brings us to the end of my cards for today. I hope that you like them and they give you some ideas of how to use this pretty collection. If you would like to see more of my cards, I would love to have you join me over on my blog, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube. In the meantime, thank you so much for joining me here on the blog today. I hope that you have a great day!

Spellbinders Supplies:

Other Supplies

Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 80 & 110lb card, Neenah Desert Storm 80lb, Distress Inks Saltwater Taffy, Abandoned Coral, Mowed Lawn, Dried Marigold, Brushed Corduroy, Rustic Wilderness, Dusty Concord, Prize Ribbon, Acetate, Anti-Static Powder Bag, Tim Holtz Mini Blending Tool, mix of sequins, white glossy pearls, silver gems, mid green cardstock from stash, Hero Arts Unicorn Pigment Ink, Tweezers, Thin Foam Tape, Embellishment Wand, Waffle Flower Grip Mat, Waffle Flower Shader 0 Plus Brushes