Peony and Hydrangea Thank You Card

 

Created for the Elizabeth Craft Designs DT

This is my first card as part of Susan Tierney Cockburn's design team! Her new ECD dies make beautiful flowers.

Making the Card

1. Cut blue cardstock 5.5 x 8.5 inches; fold in half to form a card base. Cut pink cardstock 4 x 5.25 inches.

2. Die cut black cardstock, light blue Shimmer Sheetz, and raspberry Shimmer Sheetz using the Garden Patch 1 1/2 Inch & Mini Petals main die. Die cut Thank You sentiment from raspberry Shimmer Sheetz (use Adaptor Plate). Die cut 2 more copies of Thank You from pink cardstock. Glue the Thank You words in a stack to form thick words, with the Shimmer Sheetz on top.

3. Adhere the black frame to the pink cardstock (step 1), centered at the top (long side) as shown.

4. Emboss square pieces of raspberry Shimmer Sheetz using Bouquet folder; emboss blue pieces using Dancing Leaves folder. Tap/rub StazOn Black ink across the tops to enhance the design. Adhere into black frame using strong tape or glue (I use Glossy Accents), alternating designs. Add blue ribbon around where shown. Adhere stacked Thank You to card over ribbon where shown.

5. Using Hydrangea and Peony dies, die cut stems and leaves from green cardstock, Peony petals from light pink cardstock (cut about 3 sets of the single petal sets), Hydrangea flowers from cream cardstock (2 sets of flowers), and Peony center (stamen) from yellow cardstock (cut 2 copies).

6. Lightly ink all edges of cream flowers with Salty Ocean Distress Ink using an ink blending tool. Watercolor petals of Peony with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink: get each petal wet with a brush and water, add a small amount of color most of the way up the petal, then intensify the color at the base. Watercolor the leaves using Mowed Lawn Distress Ink: darker green in shaded areas (base of leaves), let dry then use a small brush to add veins. Add green shadows to the stems as well, along one side.

7. Shape the leaves and petals: rub the middle of the Hydrangea flowers with a small round stylus. Run a stylus around the back edge of each Peony Petal (including the ones that form the base), flip and rub with a large stylus or end of a die pick from the base about half way towards the tips - choose about 6 petals to shape the opposite way to go around the center and on the Peony bud (one very small and one small for bud), i.e. these will curve inwards while the others will curve outwards.

8. Cut the yellow stamen stalks (filaments) down the middles maybe 2/3rds of the way down. Add glue along the bottom edge of one, roll tightly along the bottom edge. Add glue to the other and roll it around the first. Spread the filaments out a bit with your finger.

9. Add a small dot (e.g. with toothpick) of Baby Blue Liquid Pearls to the centers of each of the Hydrangea flowers. With a large stylus or end of die pick, rub the back of the round Hydrangea base (top of stem) to form a cup. Add something to the cup to give it support from behind - I used a large enamel dot but you could fill it with Glossy Accents, Silicone Glue, or even dimensional tape (cut in circle). Glue the flowers to the outside. You may have to adhere a few on opposite sides then let them dry before adding more so they won't shift on you.

10. For the Peony bud, find the base (one with embossed lines), glue the small sized then the very small sized petals you reserved, as shown in photo. For the main Peony, rub the petal base in the center to give it a bit of a cupped shape (e.g. with the end of a die pick). Glue the stamen to the center. Glue the petals reserved for the center around the stamen then fill in the other petals.

11. Assemble and adhere stems, leaves, and flowers as shown. Don't be afraid to trim a stem and/or move leaves to create the look you want. I cut an extra leaf for the Hydrangea (bottom) and glued it on top of its matching leaf, along the bottom edge, to make it pop out. Make a double bow with twine and adhere where stems meet.

I used the left-over pieces from the first card to create the background for this card.

Supplies

ECD Supplies

• 1001 Garden Patch 1 1/2 Inch & Mini Petals 
• 788 Thank You
• 994 Garden Notes - Hydrangea
• 996 Garden Notes - Peony
• E106 Dancing Leaves
• E121 Bouquet
• SS 0230 Shimmer Sheetz, Light Blue
• SS 0224 Shimmer Sheetz, Raspberry
• 803 Adaptor Plate

Second Card, Extra ECD Supplies

• 1000 Garden Notes - Tulip
• 998 Garden Notes - Rose 2

Other

• Cardstock: Blue, Pink, Light Pink, Black, Green, Cream, Yellow
• StazOn Ink: Black
• Distress Ink: Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry
• Liquid Pearls: Baby Blue
• Blue Ribbon
• Blue/Brown Twine
• Strong Adhesive (e.g. Glossy Accents)