Painted Lavender Bouquet

Hello, hello.  I can't believe the sun is finally shining again after several rainy days in a row.  I've had more than enough rain this winter.  Of course, in the middle of a dry, hot summer I'll be praying for some of that rain, won't I?  And instead of whining about the excessive rain, I should be thankful it wasn't all snow!!  Seems like we're still adjusting to things down here, but certainly loving it.  Thinking ahead to spring, I was ready to make a card with the Painted Lavender Bundle.  These pieces make a up a bouquet in no time at all.  

I haven't made a gatefold card in awhile, so that was my plan.  For a summery feel, I chose a card base of Garden Green.  This measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", and it's scored at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8".  Folding these two sides in should give you a nice gatefold card as your base.

There are two pieces of Soft Sea Foam cut to layer onto the sides.  These measure 2" x 5 1/4".  To add some interest to these panels, they were embossed with the Softly Sophisticated Embossing Folder which is one of the Sale-a-bration items.  I love the delicate design on this embossing folder.  Can't tell you how many times I've used it already!  After embossing, the panels were attached to the card front using "green glue" making sure they lined up top and bottom.

Next, the Basic White panel was die-cut with the Perennial Postage dies.  I used the 2nd largest die, but it was still too wide for what I wanted to do.  Taking the largest die, I placed it over my die-cut piece and lined up the postage edge cutting off about 1/2" from one side.  This worked out pretty well.  I used two bits of washi tape to hold it in place while cutting.  A second piece was cut and left the full size to go inside the card for the sentiment.

On the trimmed down die-cut piece, first there is some Soft Sea Foam ink that is added to the center of the white using a Blending Brush.   The leafy stem was stamped with Garden Green ink in this area of the card at least twice and several times using 2nd and 3rd generation stamping to fill in a bouquet shape.  This gives a good base for all the die-cut stems that are coming next.

The die with the two flower stems was used to die-cut most of the pieces.  Stems were cut from Gorgeous Grape and Fresh Freesia cardstock.  There were also a set of stems cut from the Soft Shimmer 12" x 12" Specialty Paper in the Bubble Bath color.  A smaller die was used to cut stems from Highland Heather cardstock.   A Granny Apple Green Blender Pen was used to color the stems in-between the flowers.  

They were layered up in this order: 2 Gorgeous Grape stems, 2 Fresh Freesia stems, 2 Bubble Bath Shimmer stems, and the one Highland Heather stem last.  They were all staggered as they were added so they weren't lined up like soldiers. The stems were attached only on the bottom two-thirds of each stem using "green glue".  This kept the tips of the flowers looser and more natural looking.  After all the flowers were added, the stem ends that were off the card were given a trim with Paper Snips.

Butterflies from the Painted Lavender set were stamped with Gorgeous Grape ink on Basic White cardstock.  They were die-cut with the matching dies from the set and attached with Mini Dimensionals.  The sentiment from Darling Details was stamped with Gorgeous Grape ink onto a Basic White strip.  The smallest Perennial Postage die was used to cut it out.  

The left half of the lavender bouquet label has two strips of Tear & Tape added to the length.  Then it's attached to the center of the card front.  Make sure there is no adhesive on the right side of the label, or it will be glued closed.   And you don't want that!  The birthday label is attached with Dimensionals under the left side only so it's free on the right edge.

The 2nd die-cut label has a faint blush of Soft Sea Foam ink added to the center with a Blending Brush.  Now it's ready to stamp.  I used a sentiment from Everyday Details stamp set.  It is stamped with Gorgeous Grape ink.  Those butterflies that were used earlier are now stamped inside the card with Highland Heather ink, so they are lighter than the sentiment.  The layer is attached in the center of the card with "green glue".

The final touches on the card are the Purple Fine Shimmer Gems.  These are so pretty and there are three different colors of purple in this set.  I used one of each of the colors on my card.  They all matched with the multiple purples I used for the lavender stems.  Can you find them tucked in the design?  There is also a double bow made from Linen Thread.  It's attached with a Mini Glue Dot.

That's my first attempt at creating with the Painted Lavender set.  It's kind of funny that there's almost no stamping on the card, but still a lot going on.  I'll have to try stamping those gorgeous lavender stems the next time around.

Thanks for stopping in to see what's new.  If you're looking for a demonstrator, I'd love to fill the position.  Don't forget the month of February is almost half over so that means Sale-a-bration is almost over too.  I don't want you to miss out on one of the fun Sale-a-bration items for you to earn free.  If you don't know how that works, feel free to contact me.  I'd love to help.  

Hope you enjoyed and were maybe inspired to give this idea a try.  It was fun creating with all of these purple shades on one card, and I love how they look together here.   Today was definitely a creatively fun day!

Have fun stamping and creating,

Sharon