With the heat of summer, I was looking to cool things down in my creating. A white crisp card is perfect for this time of year. It's also that beautiful time of year of gardens and flowers so I decided to pair these two inspirations up with some more simple stamping and paper crafting techniques.
The Stampendous Zinnia stamp is one I've been wanting to use since I first saw it. It's a beautiful classic flower stamp and I find good sized flower images to be a stamping staple. There's just so many things and techniques that work with them. With this Zinnia's lovely large size and clearly defined petals, it is a great stamp to try today's technique on.
I'm not sure if this idea has an actual specific name to it. It's really just layering paper piecing. Perhaps paper tole would work as it's very similar to it.
To start off with I decided on three layers of petals which could be easily defined from this image. I stamped the image three times on white cardstock and then chose which petals to keep and which to cut off on each layer.
- bottom layer...the full image
- middle layer...most of the petals except for the very "bottom" ones in the image as in the ones around the outer edge
- top layer...the fewest petals in a circle around the flower center
To do this I marked off each layer by x-ing off the petals to be trimmed away.
Once I carefully cut out each flower image with precision scissors it the layers looked like this.
To take it up another notch and make the flower more realistic I then burnished each layer of petals using the Susan's Garden Sizzix Accessory Tool Kit. You can use these tools for way more than just Susan's Garden dies and it's very useful to have on hand.
Once the flower is adhered together, you get a beautiful dimensional look. I added in color to the flower center using the background inks to coordinate.
Stencils make a very fun, fresh and easy background. By sponging the ink to the card base over a stencil, I've achieve a soft and warm background. I adore these two inks together.
After stamping the sentiment and adhering the flower embellishment, I wanted to add on just a little extra dimension without taking away from the original design. Simply adding drops of Glossy Accents to the flower center and to highlight a few of the background dots finished off the design. I love how they look like dew drops.
Once the drops are allowed to dry (dry your card flat to prevent running), it looks like this.
Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom!
Supplies:
