Prized Peony - my thoughts are with you

Peonies are one of the favourite flowers in my garden.  Not that I don't love the others, it just that they are special.  Their large colourful majestic blooms are short lived, blooming just as school is let out for the summer.  Mine are blooming now - pictures below.
They are a bit difficult to grow.  Plant too deep and they won't bloom.  Transplant and they won't bloom for 3 years.
When I saw the Peony bundle in the new annual catalogue I knew immediately that set would be one of the first ones I would get.
I started with the stamping first, because all those dies intimidated me a bit.

Here's my first card:

The peony was coloured with a combination of Roccoco Rose and both shades of Flirty Flamingo, the leaves with Old Olive.  It was die cut with  a Peony die and set aside while I made the rest of the card.

The Basic Gray card base has the front embossed with the Ornate floral 3D Embossing Folder.  The top and bottom of the Whisper White art piece is die cut with the Peony Die edgelet die.  The sentiment is stamped on a smaller strip of Whisper White which is added to this art piece. A Square Vellum Doilie was then added to the art piece and the Peony was added on top of that using dimensionals.

To finish the card I added three Elegant Faceted Dots on the card front, and a bow made with the new 1/4" Gray Granite ribbon to the flower stem below the flower. A generous amount of Clear Wink of Stella was applied to the flower.

Supplies Used:
Stamp:  Prized Peony
Inks:  Black Memento, Stampin' Blends (Flirty Flamingo, Rococco Rose, Old Olive)
Papers:  Basic Gray, Whisper White
Accessories:  Ornate floral embossing folder, Peony Die, 1/4" Shimmer Granite Gray ribbon, Dimensionals, Clear Wink of Stella, Elegant Faceted Dots

I promised you a picture of the peonies in my garden- Which burst into bloom this morning.

Thanks a Bunch- Try Stampin on Tuesday #454

One of my favourite creative activities is to make flowers or use 3D flowers on a card.  This goes along with the optional theme with sketch challenge #454 " favourite ".

In order to create my vision I turned the sketch upright.

I've had these Pixie flowers for as long as I have been crafting - about 12 years - and just waiting for the right opportunity to use them. So, they were used to create this vase of flowers for challenge 454 with Try Stampin on Tuesday

Making flowers, using flowers on cards, (even growing flowers) has always been a passion of mine. Normally I would make paper flowers myself, but a painful osteoarthritis of my hands make it difficult to use small punches right now.  So I used these Pixie flowers instead. But I did put my own touch on them.  

On a piece of Whisper White I first stamped a stem using the Beautiful Bouquet stamp set, and then made a vase using the striped pattern from the Well Dressed DSP and the Tailored Tag Punch.  The punchie was cut in half, the edges sponged with Basic Gray, shaped with a bone folder, and added over the stamped stems using dimensionals on the edges.

After the flowers were added, glitter crystal effects and dazzling diamonds was added to each one.

This image piece was matted with Pretty Peacock card stock.  On the left side is added a piece of Mint Macaron card stock die cut with the new Ornate border die.  A 3/8" strip of Purple Posy card stock is adhered on the end of that overlapping left side of the image piece as well.

The art  piece is adhered to the card front using dimensionals.

The base card is Pretty Peacock layered with Whisper white embossed with the Ornate flowery Embossing Folder.  A strip of  the same pattern of Well Dressed DSP edged with the negative piece of the die cut edging  the art piece is added to the left edge.

The sentiment, from Beautiful  Bouquet, stamped with Pretty Peacock, is die cut with the Ornate Frame die and matted with a coordinating die cut in Pretty Peacock.  It is added to the card front at the left side.

To finish the card, some Mint Macaron enamel shapes were added, and a bow made with white Baker's twine coloured with a Pretty Peacock Stampin' Blend , was adhered to the vase.

Supplies Used:
Stamp:  Beautiful Bouquet
Inks:  Pretty Peacock, Basic Gray
Papers:  Pretty Peacock, Whisper white, Best Dressed DSP, Mint Macaron, Pretty Posy
Accessories:  Ornate flowery Embossing Folder, Ornate border die, Tailored Tag Punch, Pixie flowers, Glitter Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Ornate Frame Die, White Baker's Twine, Dimensionals, Mint Macaron enamel dots

A double embossed elegant Mother's Day card - SUO #247

Gold foil combined with Whisper White or Very Vanilla create a very elegant card, perfect for Mother's Day or a card for that special someone in your life.

To make this card even more elegant, I double embossed the background using the 3D Ornate Floral embossing folder, which is available for order now even though it is a new item in the upcoming Annual catalogue, and gold embossing powder.

I will explain how this is done ,but first the card....

Here's how I double embossed the background.  You will need the Embossing Folder, a Big Shot or other embossing machine, a piece of Whisper White card stock 4 by 5 1/4", Versa Mark, and Gold Embossing Powder. Other colours of embossing powder can be used.

• Open the Ornate Floral 3D embossing folder, and with your fingers, feel the surface of each of sides onthe inside.  Select the side where the surface feels smooth (usually it's the side that has the Stampin' Up logo on it but not always so it is good to feel for the smoothness of the surface)
• Apply versa mark generously directly onto the embossing folder using the ink pad directly onto the folder
• Add a 4 by 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock to the inside of the folder, laying it against the uninked side.
• Gently close the folder, and insert into the Big Shot and emboss as usual.
• Gently remove the embossed Whisper White piece and add gold embossing powder over entire surface
• Heat set with heat tool.
• Your Whisper White piece is now double embossed.
• Clean and dry embossing folder.

Below is a close up of the double embossed background of this card.

The 4 1/4 by 11" piece of  Thick Whisper White card stock is scored at 5 1/2" to form a top fold base.

After double embossing a  3 3/4 by 5" piece of Whisper White, it is trimmed to 3 by 4 3/8" and addedto a 3 3/4 by 5 1/8" gold foil stitched frame.  This frame was made by die cutting 2 sizes of Stitched Rectangle dies together.

A 3/4 by 3 3/4" strip of gold foil was die cut with one of the Ornate Layer dies and added to the center of the card. Some 3/8" gold metallic ribbon, bunched at the middle, was added to the top of this die cut and the ends adhered  around the back. A double bow was added at the left end.

This completed layer was then adhered to the card front using dimensionals.

The sentiment, from "Strong and Beautiful" was gold embossed, die cut with the Ornate Frame die and added to the card front with the lower end abut the die cut ribbon layer. Gold foil leaf stems (3), die cut using a Jubilee Beauty die, were added around the top of this piece.  Three hand made flowers were added above the bow.

Flowers:

Six flowers were punched in Whisper White using the small blossom punch, spritzed with alcohol, and bunched up.  After they were dry, they were shaped slightly, and two were adhered together to form one flower.  A small gold foil flower was added to each center.

Inside:

The outside of the die cut center was added to the inside, with a smaller whisper white center added on top of that.

A die cut similar to the one on the center of this card was added to bottom of the inside piece.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Strong & Beautiful

Inks:  Versa Mark

Papers:  Thick Whisper white, Whisper White, Gold Foil

Accessories:  Gold Embossing powder, 3D Ornate Flower embossing folder, Ornate frame die, Ornate Border die, Small Blossom Punch, 3/8" Gold metallic edge ribbon, dimensionals, Jubilee Beauty die

Flower Power Try Stampin on Tuesday #452

The flowers in my garden are not yet in bloom - not even close.  They are valiantly trying to sticking their heads up out of the ground, but it is still too cold.

Yet the drawing power of the garden is evident by the frequency I am drawn there- just to look/see

The card was made for the sketch challenge at Try Stampin' on Tuesday #452, the theme for which was "flower power"

The A2 Terracotta Tile card base is layered with Whisper White embossed with the 3D Ornate Floral Embossing Folder.  A piece of Ornate Garden DSP (multiple terracotta, pink/white flowers) is added on the bottom quarter.

Flowers adhered to die cuts are added to the card front alternating above and below the edge of the DSP.

Flowers:

The small blossom punch was used to punch Whisper White flowers (2 for each flower) the petals of which were inked with Terracotta Ink, spritzed with alcohol, crumpled and allowed to dry partially. After partially uncrumpling them more there were allowed to dry before shaping them a bit. 

Two petals were also punched using the Petal punch.  Old Olive was used to colour these leaves and they were treated the same as the flowers.  The leaves were snipped off the stem to form individual leaves.

To make a flower, two completed flowers were adhered together alternating petals. Two leaves were adhered to the bottom of each flower.

Each flower was adhered to a die cut Terracotta Ornate Frame which was adhered to the card front at the edge of the DSP.

Sentiment:

The sentiment, from Another Thank You, is stamped on Whisper White card stock, in Old Olive ink, then die cut with an Ornate Frame Die.

Another larger, more ornate frame, is die cut in Terracotta Tile card stock, and the Whisper White die cut is adhered to the larger one using dimensionals.

This is then added,centered,to the top half of the card front.

A ribbon, made with a 3/8" Old Olive ribbon (which is part of the Ornate Garden bundle) is added at the bottom of the sentiment.

To finish, some Crystal Effects was added  to the flowers, and while it was wet, some Dazzling Diamonds was lightly dusted over the flowers.

Three Gilded Gems were added to the upper right.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Another Thank You

Inks:  Old Olive, Flowers (Terracotta Tile, Old olive)

Papers:  Terracotta Tile, Whisper White, Ornate Garden DSP

Accessories:  3/8" Old Olive ribbon, Ornate Frame Dies, Small Blossom Punch, Leaf Punch, Crystal Effects, 3D Ornate Floral Embossing Folder, Dazzling Diamonds, Gilded Gems, Dimensionals.