FLOWERING RAIN BOOTS FENCE TRELLIS

Do you have a flower wall?  I've seen them on some of my favorite HGTV DYI shows, but I have never tried to make one.  

This is the time of year when I start looking forward to filling my outdoor flowerpots with flowers.  I know that by the middle of July I'll be sick of watering them, but as with many things, dreaming and planning is more exciting than maintaining!  Sort of like making the cards to share is more fun than writing the blogs.

Today's card is the flower wall I dream of.  The Night of Navy pots are safely hanging on a trellis mounted to a rustic fence.  There is no concern about the pots crashing down if there is a strong wind or the flowers wilting because I forgot to water them.  These may just be my favorite kinds of flowers!

I have a couple of pots of daisies in Mango Melody and Daffodil Delight and another pot of Merry Merlot Tulips.  The Brushed Brass Butterflies are flitting around, and all are ready for a Happy Easter.

My rustic fence is made with In Good Taste Designer Series Paper (DSP).  Sadly, this beautiful Paper is retiring, but the good news is that it is now available on the Last Chance List for 40% off.  I have used this DSP Collection for so many cards.  It is very versatile and also works wonderfully for masculine cards!

The inside of the card and the front of the envelope each have another pot of daisies.  These were made using the Masking Technique.  Just stamp the flowers first and then create a mask of the lower portion of the flowers by stamping them on a Post-it Note and cutting around the flowers on the bottom of the bouquet.  Place the mask over the flowers and stamp the flowerpot.  It looks just like the flowers are spilling over the pot, doesn't it?  That's how I hope my flowers will look in a couple of months!

If you would like a tutorial with step-by-step directions and cutting dimensions for this card you can download one using the FREE TUTORIAL.

A list of the Products used is shown below.  You can learn more about each item by clicking on the image for more details.

Product List

Flowering Rain Boots Bundle [157691]	Merry Merlot 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146979]	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [119686]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	In Good Taste Designer Series Paper [152494]
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [147110]	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad [147112]	Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad [147093]	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [147094]	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090]
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]	Brushed Brass Butterflies [158136]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

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SCRAPPY PRIZED PEONY

Today I have another Easter Card to share.  I'm slowly working on building up my Easter Card supply.  Good thing I don't need too many, and thankfully Easter comes a little later this year!

I used the Scrappy Strip Technique again for this card.  I first used this Technique on a Card back in February.  Check it out!  They don't look anything alike!  This is such a terrific way to use up scraps of cardstock.  Today I used scraps from Expressions in Ink Designer Series Paper.  This beautiful paper is retiring soon, so rather than hoard it I thought I would use some of it for my Easter cards.

The Hexagon Shape that I used as the backdrop for my flower was made with the Beautiful Shapes Dies from the Jan-June 2022 Mini Catalog.  The gold trim around the hexagon is from the Expressions in Ink Ephemera Pack and it fits the largest Hexagon Die perfectly.

The flower used on today's card is the medium sized flower from Prized Peony.  It was colored with Polished Pink Stamping Blends and the leaves were colored with Just Jade Blends.  I first colored the flower center with Gray Granite Stampin' Blends, but then added just a little bit of strategically placed Basic Black to deepen the color.

I embossed the Just Jade background on the card front with the Tasteful Textiles 3D Embossing Folder.  This embossing folder is on the LAST CHANCE LIST.  It has been my go-to embossing folder whenever I wanted just a little texture, but not so much texture that it took away from the card.  I am certainly going to miss this one!

When I used the Scrappy Strip Technique, I found that I like to make the piece larger than required.  Not only does trimming the piece down to the final size help to clean up the edges of the main piece, but if you plan ahead, you can have a large enough "scrap" to use as a trim piece somewhere else.  I made the piece for my card front about 1" taller than I needed so I ended up with a nice clean 3/4" strip to use on the inside of my card.  Pretty, right?

My sentiments are from a very old, retired Easter Stamp Set called Indescribable Gift.  As I mentioned on Monday, I discovered I don't have any current Easter sentiment stamps, so I went to my retired stash and found a couple.  I have a tough time getting rid of sentiment stamp sets, and this time I'm really glad I had a couple retired Easter sets to fall back on!

If you would like more details on how to make this card, you can download a FREE TUTORIAL using this link.

Also be sure to check out the LAST CHANCE LIST as some of the products used today are soon going to be gone forever!

The best way to see the most up-to-date Last Chance List is to use this link.  Items on the list are only available while supplies last and some items are already selling out. This link will take you to my Demonstrator store.  Once there click on the Last Chance Banner and you will be able to see pictures and information for all LAST CHANCE items that are still available.

Below is a list of current products used for today's card.

Product List

Prized Peony Cling Stamp Set (English) [152504]	Beautiful Shapes Dies [158046]	Shaded Spruce 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146981]	Just Jade 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [153079]	Expressions In Ink 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [155464]
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100730]	Gold Foil Sheets [132622]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Just Jade Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [153107]	Polished Pink Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [155520]
Basic Black Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154843]	Gray Granite Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154886]	Expressions In Ink Ephemera Pack [155465]	Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Shimmer Ribbon [152156]	Gilded Gems [152478]
Tasteful Textile 3 D Embossing Folder [152718]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

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EASTER PEONIES

This week I am featuring the Prized Peony Stamp Set.  This stamp set does have coordinating dies, but I don't own them, so I will be fussy cutting if I want to cut out the flowers.  If you own the dies, lucky you!  You can use those to simplify the fussy cutting process.

Since I am behind on creating my Easter Cards, I thought I would use the Prized Peony Stamp Set to make an Easter Card today.

I know that Peonies are not the typical flower that comes to mind when we think about Easter flowers.  It's Lilies, right?  Does anyone know why Lilies are associated with Easter?  When I thought about it, I realized I actually wasn't sure of the "why", I just knew they were.  

So, where do we go these days when we have a question or want to learn how to do something?  Google of course.  So, off to Google I went.

Google informed me that "the white lily symbolizes purity, rebirth, new beginnings and hope and is most often associated with the resurrection of Jesus Christ as observed on Easter." 

Well, I guess my card is breaking all sorts of "Easter Rules", because my Easter Flower isn't white, and it isn't a Lily.  But sometimes "rules" are meant to be broken.  I wanted a bright cheery yellow flower for my Easter card.  I don't think that whoever gets it will care, do you?

I decided that my Peony needed a nice frame to set it off, so I used the two largest dies from Stitched So Sweetly Dies to create my frame.  I laid the smaller one inside of the larger one and ran them both through my Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine at the same time.  I like this little scalloped white frame.  What do you think?  I think it draws the eye to the flower.  I placed the frame at a bit of an angle so break up the "squareness" of all the rectangles going on with this card.  Between the black and white plaid from Pattern Party DSP and the rectangular layers, I thought maybe the "picture" should go at an angle.  I'm not actually sure if I like it or not.  My engineering brain keeps telling me "It's crooked."  My more artistic side says, "Get over it!"

For the bow I made a "lazy crafter" bow.  I just folded the ribbon a couple of times and then tied a piece of Linen Thread around its middle.

As I realized I needed a few more Easter Cards, I also discovered that not one of my current Stamp Sets has an Easter stamp in it!  Oh well, I dug out a set from last year (I think) called Welcome Easter.  This card could actually be applicable for many occasions.  It would be suitable for Birthday, Get Well, Thinking of You, Just Because and many others, so if you decide to CASE it, it doesn't really matter that I used a retired stamp, does it?  Choose whatever occasion you want, and use whatever stamps you have!

For the inside, I used the smallest flower in the stamp set to decorate the sentiment panel.

I used Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends to color my flowers.  To give each flower a little more depth, I also added a bit of highlighting with Mango Melody to deepen the shadows.

If you would like more details on how to make the card, I have a FREE TUTORIAL available for download.

The list of current products that I used for today's card is shown below.  Several of the products used are on the LAST CHANCE LIST, including the Prized Peony Stamp Set, the Stitched So Sweetly Dies and the Pattern Party Paper.   It was a sad moment when I saw the dies were retiring.  I love these dies and use them so much!  But new and exciting products are on the way, so I'll get over it!

Product List

Prized Peony Cling Stamp Set (English) [152504]	Stitched So Sweetly Dies [151690]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [159229]	Daffodil Delight 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [119683]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121045]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Pattern Party 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Host Designer Series Paper [155426]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154883]	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154885]
Mango Melody Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154888]	Linen Thread [104199]	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

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