First, a shoutout to Jennifer McGuire. I saw a card of hers from years ago and I mimicked the colors and style. I believe it used Altenew's African Daisy dies. I don’t have a date or link for that card.

I’ve never made a 3D flower before, especially not one with such detail. While a die set like the Spellbinders Serenity Garden Astrantia* set designed by Susan Tierney Cockburn takes time to build like Susan does it, the process is fun. I am including a LOT of photos of how I put these flowers together with some time saving tips. Susan has an excellent video on YouTube about how to build these flowers. I did a few things differently (some by accident) but I loved my results. I am trying to replicate the look of Astrantia Sparkling Stars Red breed. I couldn't find an unlicensed photo of this to use here, but you can Google the species.

The nice thing about the die set is that each die has a marking on it telling you how many times you should cut it out. I started by following Susan’s YouTube tutorial and her technique of cutting everything from white 80lb cardstock. Both 110 and 110 cardstock will be too heavy for making these flowers.

I took the two big petaled die cuts and colored the top AND bottoms of each with Copic markers V06, V09, and RV29 as shown. I laid down the darkest purple at the tips, then the red over everything, then the lighter purple over the darker purple. 

These two flowers get shaped first by using my Sizzix reverse tweezers by grabbing the petal straight on with the tip pointing to the center, and gently wrapping each petal around the tweezer tips. Next, as Susan showed, I gently grabbed the tip of the petal in the tweezers and twisted to the right. You must do this VERY gently or you risk ripping the petal. And do NOT wet your flowers thinking that will make it easier. Wet paper is much more fragile and things will rip. 

Then, on a sturdy foam pad like the one by Sizzix, with a medium-sized ball stylus, I “cupped” each flower by pressing and swirling the stylus in the center. These two flowers can now be glued together in the center only and offsetting the petals.

The little stems (stamen?) in the center is constructed of 5 (yes, 5) die cuts: 2 large, 2 medium, and 1 coil. I first Copic colored these all using YG61 on top and bottom. Then, still using my foam pad, I pushed a tiny ball stylus into each side of the tip of each stem (it looks like the end of a dog bone). Then I took a tiny ball stylus and ran it down each stem on each piece. I failed to cup the center of each of these, but it worked out okay. Pressing down in the center of each with a small to medium size ball stylus would have been helpful.

Now I come to making the itty bitty flowers (which I just love and included in a different project.) First, because I wanted to replicate the Sparkling Stars Red breed of these flowers, I wanted to leave a little white on those tiny interior flowers. I used my R29 copic marker and scribbled about a 3 x 4” rectangle on some white cardstock, not covering every millimeter. I did this top and bottom. 

Next I took the little die plate that cuts out 70 tiny flowers and ran it through my machine. Then, I stopped and did NOT take it off my mat. With the die and paper still stuck on my mat, I used a fine-tip marker and poked it through each hole, giving me a center dot in each of my flowers.

Then - and you will have varying degrees of success with this (you might be able to do it if you put the sandwich upside down and lift off the mat) - if you can transfer both the die and the paper intact from the mat to the foam pad, you will set yourself up perfectly for the next step. Next, I poked the tiniest ball stylus into the same holes and pressed down. This technique both popped the flower out of the die and cupped it in the middle, making it fold up like the flowers appear in real life.

If the flowers are out of the die before this step, it only takes a few seconds to cup the flowers as they are sitting on the pad. 

I carefully glued these flowers to the stem tips (2 on each) with the cupped side pointing out. Susan does this differently. This makes for using all 70 of those tiny flowers. Whew, the hard part is over.

Now you simply layer these spoked-looking things, large to small, in the center of the other flower you’ve constructed, offsetting each stem. After the glue is all dry, the flower should be sturdy enough that you can fluff or move the interior stems as much as you want. I had no issue with squeezing and pushing the stems around.

After all my flowers were built, I took two A2-sized pieces of Oceanside cardstock. With one, I first spritzed the back with water and then dry embossed it with Simon Hurley’s new Cascading Dots 3D Embossing Folder* and cut the lower portion off at a diagonal. With the second piece, I simply adhered a Hello sentiment from Simon Hurley’s new Big & Bold Sentiment die set that I cut from brushed gold cardstock. I adhered the top cut and embossed piece on top of the A2 flat piece with thin foam adhesive. Next, I added the flowers along the cut panel at the very edge with liquid glue. Then I cut 1 Hello from heavy white cardstock and glued that behind a satin gold Hello I cut from some gold cardstock. I added this sentiment as the final piece to my card front. I will glue all of it on to a white cardbase. This will definitely be a hand delivered card.  

If you’ve read this far, as my dear dad used to say, I owe you a Coke. Here’s your soda. 

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.

What’s the logical thing to do after a 12-day vacation in the mountains of Colorado? Make a beach-themed card! I used the brand new Whimsical Skies embossing folder from Spellbinders and inked one side of it with 4 colors of Distress Oxides: Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers. I used my oldest foam blenders to blend the ink colors together, leaving a bit of white space in the middle so I didn’t create green. I ran it through my embossing folder and cut the piece of 4.25 x 6” to make an A6 card that would work out to 4.5 x 6.25”. I am really enjoying this size, so a big thanks to Jennifer McGuire for introducing me to it.

Next, I used Spellbinders cardstock in Tuscan, Saffron and Beeswax to cut out the sun dies in the new Village Companions die set that are also a part of the Whimsical Village new release from Spellbinders. I cut several clouds from white cardstock.

I heat embossed the sentiment from the Whimsical Wishes stamp set by Spellbinders onto a piece of Waterfall cardstock. Next, I used the Sentiment Labels die set from Spellbinders to cut out the label and frame - the frame is Teal Topaz. Finally, I cut the skinny “string” die in the set from white cardstock.

I wanted to add some more color oomph to the card so I ripped a small piece of Teal Topaz and Beeswax to glue at the top and the bottom of the card.

I adhered the label sentiment first, then I used either liquid glue or thin foam adhesive to attach the clouds and sun. I matted the entire panel on an A6 size piece of white cardstock (4.5” x 6.25”).

I am entering this into today’s Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me. 

Simon Hurley’s new Big & Bold Sentiments* die set is a great staple to keep in with your word dies. It includes Happy, Birthday, Thank, You, and Hello. I used the Happy Birthday sentiment and the matching shadows on this cheery card. I also used the fun Citrus Spritz Etched Dies, the Essential Arches dies, and the Whimsical Skies Embossing Folder* all from Spellbinders. I embossed a piece of A2 Dahlia with the folder. 

I die cut the arch from heavyweight vellum first. The flowers are made from white, Tutu and Blush cardstock. The leaves and lemons use Stampin' Up! green and yellow cardstock. I assembled my lemon and flowers on top. I added the Happy and Birthday using white and Dahlia cardstock, and hid all my glue behind the die cuts. I adhered this to a A2 panel of Spellbinders Dahlia. 

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.

When you want to put a real twist on your die cuts, pull out something you already have (but if you’re like me, may have forgotten about). Washi tape!

To make this adorable card featuring Simon Hurley’s new Cascading Dots 3D embossing folder* and the new Whimsical Village Collection* from Vicky Papaioannou and Spellbinders, I took a coordinating set of American Crafts washi tape I picked up years ago at a craft store (craft stores and online retailers still sell A LOT of washi tape in coordinating patterns). I cut a piece of 110 white cardstock to about 4.5 x 7” and carefully laid down strips of washi tape, in alternating widths, from the bottom edge to near the top. It was easy to get the tape straight.

Then I used the 3 Whimsical Houses* outline dies and die cut them out. I made sure the bottom edge of the dies were parallel to the edges of the washi tape for a cohesive horizontal “striped” look. I die cut all the details from colored cardstock and adhered with glue.

I used the Whimsical Blooms* die set for the fun flowers, the Village Companions die set* for the clouds, and Whimsical Wishes* for the sentiment. I ran a piece of Seaside cardstock through my die cutting machine with one of the stitched rectangle dies in Spellbinders Nested Postage Labels and Tag. Then, I took that piece and used the Cascading Dots 3D embossing folder to create the background. This is part of his new Cascading Cornflowers release. The remainder of my cardstock came from Stampin' Up! include Soft Sable, Blushing Bride, Evening Evergreen, and Mint Macaron.

After I adhered everything with glue or foam adhesive, I adhered the panel to a piece of brown cardstock cut using the postage edge die from Spellbinders. I added a sentiment stamped in brown ink on Alabaster cardstock.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.

 

Another fantastic die set from Vicky Papaioannou’s Whimsical Village Collection* by Spellbinders is the Whimsical Blooms* dies. These Dr. Seuss-like flowers work beautifully alone or in a group. They are super simple to assemble. Just find a great color combo you like and put it all together.

Here I mixed Spellbinders Colorwheel cardstock in Sicily, Bellini, Coral, Breeze, Malibu and Acorn to make this funky little garden. I used an A2 panel of the Malibu for the base. Next, I die cut a stitched rectangle from the Spellbinders Nested Postage Labels and Tag die set using Neenah Desert Storm cardstock. I first splattered the Neenah cardstock with Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain in Picket Fence. I cut all my flowers and stems and assembled them using liquid glue and thin foam adhesive on the Desert Storm panel. I put a sentiment from the Whimsical Wishes stamp set stamped in dark brown ink on white cardstock over the stems. This card came together very quickly and was fun to make.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.

Introducing the Whimsical Village* by Vicky Papaioannou for Spellbinders. This adorable collection includes so many fantastic pieces and add-ons, along with a fun swirly embossing folder, and a cute typewriter-style sentiment set.

Here I used heavy white cardstock to do three things. 1. I dry embossed a white A6 panel with the Whimsical Skies* 3D embossing folder. 2. I die cut some adorable little embossed clouds with the Village Companions* die set. 3. I cut 3 cute houses from the Whimsical Houses* die set.

Next, I used 3 colors of polka-dotted paper to die cut the same three houses and glued these onto the white cut outs for support, since my dotted paper was thin. I used gray, light blue, orange, red and pink Spellbinders cardstock to cut the house details.

I used Brutus Monroe’s Alabaster embossing powder to heat emboss my sentiment from the Whimsical Wishes* Stamp set onto a label using the Sentiment Labels die set. The “string” is part of the die set and is just white cardstock. Love that detail.

I adhered everything with foam adhesive tape and liquid glue.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.