Die Cut Flowers and Sunshine! | Make The Cards Challenge #25

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I have another post here for the Make The Cards Challenge #25!

 If you are not familiar with my blogging, I usually always try to post a process video on YouTube, which I will link below. If you are more of a viewer than a reader, definitely go ahead and watch the video instead. Also, I always decorate my card insides and try to match them to the card front. So if you are looking for card ideas for the insides of your cards, you've found the right place! I'd also like to mention that I do have affiliate links at no cost to you. 

Now let's get into it! This week's Make the Cards Challenge #25 is a 3-2-1 Challenge. This simply means that you show the selected quantity (3, 2 or 1) of the items listed in the challenge photo. In this case, we want to see 3 flowers, 2 lady bugs and 1 sunshine. How very summery!

I chose to do a large amount of die cutting for this card, but you can do whatever your heart desires! I started out with the die cutting and assembly of the 3 flowers. I used the Altenew Craft-A-Flower Cosmos dies in various purple tones of Recollections cardstock. Then to jazz this up a bit I used some Glitter Recollections Signature cardstock.  This set is very easy to use and put together, and so I also cut out the leaves in some green and glitter cardstock. Once assembled, I put these to the side and worked on my background.

I just got the Spellbinders Small Die of the Month for June which has a nice die for a sun so decided to use this with some light and dark yellow Recollections cardstock. I cut out 8 light yellow and 8 dark yellow rays, along with the circle center of the sun. And you don't have to use these dies to do this, since these are such simple shapes that you could most likely cut out on your own, or use any similar dies you may have in your stash. I then placed them on a 4.5" x 6" piece of white cardstock that I did some ink blending on with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Oxide inks to create a cloudy sky. I placed the center of the sun on my card front, off-center, with some repositionable adhesive. I used my ruler to make4 tick marks around the sun indicating what would be North, South, East and West (at each 90 degree mark). Next, I adhered the sun rays using BearlyArt Glue at each of the four marks in one shade of yellow. I then used these rays as guides to symmetrically lay down the rest of my rays in an alternating pattern of light yellow, dark yellow, etc. You don't have to be this accurate but I find it works for me. Finally, to finish off my background, I cut off any overhanging pieces with a sharp pair of scissors.

Then, I arranged my 3 Cosmos flowers around the sun, along with the sprigs of leaves and stems. I used some Press N' Seal to pick up my die cut flowers and greens. I find this method saves a lot of time and helps you keep your initial placement of your die cuts exactly where you want them. Not to mention, this makes gluing down your die cuts so much simpler and less messy. So once I added my glue and adhered all my flowers down, I had to figure out a sentiment. I heat embossed the "You are my Sunshine" sentiment from the Altenew Climbing Clematis stamp set. I used some Hero Arts Detail White embossing powder on some black cardstock. I cut down the sentiment and attached it to my card front in the top right corner with some foam squares. And finally, I added my 2 ladybugs which were stickers from the Doodlebug Lucky Ladies Sprinkles set. And even though this would of been enough, I added some white embellishments using PinkFresh Studios Jewel Mix. 

For the inside of the card, I realized that I have the Altenew Stunning Cosmos stamp set. This matches perfectly with the die cut CAF flowers on the card front. This time I stamped the 3 flowers using Altenew Silver Lake, Wisteria and Hydrangea inks. I also used Altenew Firefly and Grass Field inks for the stems. I chose to use freehand acrylic block stamping for the inside of the card as it wasn't too important to make sure the layers line up exactly, especially since this set only has 2 layers anyways. 

For the sentiment, I used the Altenew Build-A-Flower Hibiscus stamp set (sorry I can't find a link as I think this may be discontinued) as I like the little scripty thank you sentiment. I don't make too many thank you cards and so I thought this was a great opportunity to use it. I stamped out the scripty part in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and the printed "Thank You" in VersaFine Imperial Purple. 

Finally, I adhered the card front to the card base and used some Golden Rod Stickles to create some dots of varying sizes around the cosmos flowers and sentiments. And I also used it on the front of the card on the flower centers. 

And that is my 3-2-1 card for this week! I hope you have been inspired and that you make your own creation to link up to the Make the Cards Challenge blog! Don't forget that you could be chosen to be the featured card creator of the week! 

Have a great day and don't forget to leave a comment, as I love hearing from you!