My husband has spent his entire career working for a local family business. One of his first assignments over 20 years ago was to help plant over 30,000 tulips at what is now known as the Fitness Farm in Indianapolis. Each year we look forward to spring – and when April comes around, we like to visit the property to see the beautiful tulips (and of course, the animals)! My husband also brings a few tulips home for me before their season is over. I was inspired by my husband’s tulip photos from the fitness farm (it is still freezing here in Indiana as I write this) and pictures all over the internet. I just love how Fosteriana Tulips have beautiful two-tone colors, my favorite being red and yellow. When I stumbled upon a tulip and leaf die at my local craft shop, I just knew this would be my blog post for the month with our gorgeous paper!
Supplies:
- Cardstock Warehouse Cardstock Papers
- 8.5” x 11” Lemon Drop Pop-Tone 100lb
- 8.5” x 11” Black Licorice Pop-Tone 100lb
- 8.5” x 11” Sweet Tooth White Pop-Tone l00b
- 8.5” x 11” Jellybean Green Pop-Tone 100lb
- 8.5” x 11” Foglia Sirio Color 80lb
- 8.5” x 11” Vino Sirio Color 80lb
- Tulip & Leaf Dies or Similar SVG flower file
- Hello Sentiment or Similar
- Die Cutting Machine (Cricut or similar)
- Inks & Blending Tools
- Dye Ink in Faded Brick, Cherry Red, Christmas Pine, Grass Green
- Pigment Ink – Black
- Stamping Block or Platform
- Scissors
- Bone Folder & Scoring Board
- Paper Trimmer
- Paper Sculpting Tools & Tweezers
- Liquid Adhesive
- Double-sided foam squares
- Orange or Yellow gem embellishments
- Paint brush (optional)
To get started, I cut each petal from my Lovely Layers: Tulip die set out of Lemon Drop cardstock. I cut the greenery out of both Jellybean Green and Foglia cardstock. Using Faded Brick dye ink, I ink blended the top portion of the yellow petal, that would become the back panel of the flower. For the next three petal layers, I ink blended the top of each petal with Cherry Red dye ink, lightening the ink application on the outermost petal. I applied Grass Green and Christmas Pine dye ink to one side of the leaves.
Next, I began assembling my flowers and stems, using a combination of liquid adhesive and double-sided foam squares. I adhered the stem to the front of the back layer of the flower petal to add stability. The next petal was added using double-sided foam squares. Liquid adhesive was used to assemble the remaining petals. The adhesive was placed close to the stem, to enable me to curl the flowers later. I used a similar process for the leaves.
Using a paint brush and a TINY bit of water and faded brick dye ink, I painted a few stripes on the petals to add more dimension to the flower. Once the petals had dried completely, I was able to use paper sculpting tools to curl some of the flower petals. I cut the center of the flower out of Vino cardstock and adhered with tweezers and liquid adhesive.
I scored and cut in half an A7 card base out of Black Licorice cardstock (10” x 7”). I also cut a strip of cardstock to measure ¼” x 5”. Next, I cut a panel of Sweet Tooth White cardstock measuring 4 ¾” x 6 ¾”. Using liquid adhesive, I glued the strip diagonally across the card panel. I trimmed the strip and added a bit of greenery to the panel with liquid adhesive on only a few leaves. This allowed me to further layer my card when I assembled my tulip bouquet. Next, I glued the white panel to the card base.
Using black pigment ink, I stamped and die cut the “Hello” sentiment and adhered with liquid adhesive. To complete the card, I layered the tulip bouquet to achieve a layout I was happy with. I then adhered the tulips and additional greenery to the white card panel with liquid adhesive. Finally, I added a few orange gem embellishments to the front of the card.
Here is the final card!
Tips and Tricks:
- Go easy with the glue on the leaves you put on the panel before assembling the tulips. This enables you to tuck any stems on the tulips you don’t want to see!
- Do not saturate the paper while painting with the red dye ink. The dryer the brush is, the easier it will be to see the lines you are creating!
What flower cards have you assembled in celebration of Spring? We'd love to see your creations! Show us your creations on Facebook or Instagram.
Happy Crafting! Traci Selig
IG: @tracicrafty
Blog: Traci Crafty
1 comment
Wow!! So beautiful!!