Rosette Card

 Three sizes of Tim Holtz Rosettes

Top rosette is on one die

Second and Third are both on a newer rosette die

I have been busy helping Joan, Joan's Gardens, with some fun summer activities and also designing some fun projects for her workshop next month.  If you would like to attend her workshop, I believe she still has a few opening, so contact her soon.  There is no charge to attend and everyone has a great time learning new techniques and creating fun projects.  I didn't have time to create a card to post yesterday.  


 Everyone is having fun creating rosettes.  Joan's Gardens has had the larger rosette die and now she has the new Tim Holtz Alterations mini rosette dies in stock, which has the two smaller rosettes on one die.  It is fun to have all three sizes. I have created a card using all three sizes so you can see the different sizes.   In the center of each flower is a Webster's Pages button. For the larger rosette, I stacked the largest rosette with the larger rosette of the mini set.  I could have stacked these three high, but the smallest is placed in the Spellbinder "Fancy Tags Two".    The larger rosette was placed over the Heartfelt Creations, Bella Rose Flourish.  The design paper is from a Jubilee paper pad collection.  The three butterflies are Cherry Lynn Designs "Mini Butterflies".   You can see all the different sizes of the beautiful butterflies at Joan's Gardens.  On the body of each butterfly, green flock was added to give them a fuzzy look.   Four black Dew Drops were added to each corner to complete the card.

 My oldest granddaughter will be graduating from high school and I need to create a graduation card.  I have no ideas at this time but better try and work on that this weekend.  I am very proud of her.  She is graduating not only from high school but has also earned her AA degree with a 3.9 GPA.

Have a great weekend.

Blossom Four Tutorial

Today I have a combination of products from Joan's Gardens that I am using.  I have had several people ask me to do a tutorial on how to create a flower with the Spellbinders Nestabilities "Blossom Four" dies.  The process to create this flower is very similar to the post I did a few days ago on the Peony Tutorial.  I have photos below to show which dies I used and the process of shaping them.  The amount of each size flower will depend on how many layers you want need to create the look you want to achieve.  I always prepare a lot of layers then stack them up without adding glue to decide the exact look I want.  You can always save the extra pieces to create more flowers later.

For this card I used a piece of design paper from a  new paper pack Joan now has in stock called "KaiserCraft "Chapter One".  This pad is 6 1/2" square and has gorgeous pages - some which are flocked.  I know you will love it.  For the background for the flower, I used the Cheery Lynn Designs "English Tea Party" doily.  Joan's Gardens has a large variety of these beautiful doilies for you to choose from.   My card is 6" square so in order to have room for everything I wanted to add, I cut off a small portion of the doily and lined it up with the left side of the design paper.  I had to use my favorite flourish, which is from the new Heartfelt Creations "Bella Rose" collection.  I used the die to cut out the flourish using white card stock.  I then stamped the "Bella Rose Leaves PreCut Set"  with dark green ink  The colored leaves were cut out and  used over the white leaves on the flourish. Two rose buds from the Heartfelt Creations "Classic Bella Rose PreCut Set" were stamped and cut out with matching dies then added around the large flower.

I have used the mini butterflies from Cheery Lynn Designs before but Joan's Gardens also carries the small and large butterflies.  This is one of the small butterflies from "Exotic Butterfly Small" package.  There are three beautiful butterflies in this package.  Can you see the glitter on the butterfly?   I die cut the butterfly using black card stock.  It is so delicate and lacy.  I wanted to add glitter to the openings, so I used a piece of two sided tape and cut around the outside of the butterfly.  Fine purple glitter was spread over the butterfly and the glitter stuck to the sticky tape that covered each of the openings in the butterfly.  This is a much easier way to add glitter than trying to add glue to each of the openings and then adding glitter.  A few purple rhinestones were added to complete the card.

Here are pictures of the dies and mini tutorial on how the flower was created:

 Blossom Four Dies used for this flower

 Each flower was cut between petals to help with shaping and edges sponged with a darker purple ink

 Each layer was shaped with the tools from the Flower Tool Kit

 Please refer to the Peony Tutorial for complete instructions.

All products used on this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Blossoming Rose

I'm back!   Well I think I am . . .    I have had either a horrible cold or allergies and my head could not think creatively so I have missed a few days posting.  Today I created a card with the beautiful LaBlanche "Blossoming Rose" stamp that will be released next month. The image was stamped, colored with Copic markers and cut out so I could make each flower dimensional.  I did not stamp a second image and cut out additional flowers, but just cut between the flowers being careful not to detach the arrangement.  I used tools from the Flower Tool Kit to give each flower some dimension.  Yellow Stickles was added to the center of each flower.

I'm not sure, but I don't think I have used this pretty "French Pastry" Doily Die  by Cherry Lynn Designs.  Joan's Gardens has a large variety of these beautiful doily dies in stock.  The stamped LaBlanche Roses were attached over the doily with dimensional tape under each of the flowers.   A double punched border, created with the Martha Stewart "Deco Shells" border punch, was placed on the bottom of the card.

For the embellishment on this card I decided to create a "Blossoming Rose".  It was created with two of the largest petals from the "Super Giant Begonia Petals" punch.  There are two rows of each size in this flower.  The "Medium Sparkle" punch was used to create the stamens.  There are three stacked together.  Each leg of the sparkle was cut down the center to give it more "frill"  Once all the stamens were glued together, I used a liquid glue to add a dab of glue to most of the stamens then dipped it in yellow "Flower Soft".  It gives the stamen that "fuzzy" look you see in  many roses like this and matches the center of the LaBlanche flowers. The two leaves are from the Heartfelt Creations "Distressed Leaves" stamp set and cut out with matching dies.  A pretty double bow and a few pearls were added to complete the card.  The colors do not show up as they do on the real card. (We are having a cloudy day with rain.  The colors really do look much closer in color than shows in this photo.)

I want to remind you this is the last week for the card and tag challenge at Joan's Gardens.  One lucky person will receive one of the beautiful Marianne embossing folders ($30 value).  Be sure to check out all the details at Joan's Gardens.

As you know, all products used to create this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Peony Tutorial

On May 8th, I posted a card with a large flower on my blog and have had so many people request I do a tutorial for this flower. Here is the link to the other flower. The dies used to create this flower are the Spellbinders "Peony" dies. I have used some other new products from Joan's Gardens. The white doily was cut with the "Italian Flourish" doily die; the white flower sprig and the green leaf flourishes are the new Marianne Creatables that Joan now carries. The butterflies are also part of the doily die collection and these mini butterflies come in a set of three. Joan carries three different sizes of these beautiful butterflies. The pink flowers were created with the "Small Blossom" punch. The banner along the bottom of the card was created with the Martha Stewart "Deco Shells" border punch. The sentiment is from JustRite "Elegant Frames". All pieces were arranged and attached as shown with "Art Glitter" Designer Adhesive.  All products used on this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Below is a tutorial on how I created the large flower:

Use Spellbinders Peony Nestabilities.  Cut four or five of each of the four smallest flowers.  Every flower you create will be a little different depending on how many petals of each size you wish to use,.

Cut toward center of each flower to create separate petals.  When you do this it allows the flower to shape and look more realistic.

For my flower, I sponged pink ink on the edges, both front and back, to give it a two toned effect.

Using the black mat and tool from the "Flower Tool Kit", each flower was shaped.  You can get full direction on how to do this in the "Paper Bouquet" book that Joan sells.

For the very center of this flower three "Small Sun" stamens were cut between each point, shaped and glued together.

When I create flowers from punches I always punch a lot of extra pieces so I know I have enough to create what I want and then save the extra pieces for other flowers at a later date.  You can experiment with getting the look you want by stacking the flowers together, before gluing, just to see how many of each flower (petal layer) to want to use for the finished flower.  You can get so many different looks with the same punched/die cut pieces by changing the number of layers, the type of stamen, and the shaping of the petals. I'm sure you know this by now, but I really love creating flowers with die cuts  and/or punches. 

I have been sick for the past three days and hope I have explained this well enough for you to create some of your own beautiful flowers. As you know when you don't feel well, things don't always come out the way they should.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks for visiting my blog.  I always love to read your comments so hope to hear from you.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day.  Today I have assembled a card using all items previously cut out or created.  The background piece was embossed with the Cuttlebug "Textile Texture" embossing folder and the bottom edge was punched with the Martha Stewart "Beaded Arcs" border punch.  The doily die used is the "Italian Flourish" from Joan's Gardens.  The pink flower was created with Spellbinder dies.  The small white flowers were created with the small daisy punch and mini sun punch for the stamens.  The leaf is from the new "Foliage" Spellbinders die. Martha Stewart branches were tucked in around the flower. The butterflies were punched with a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and embossed with the same folder as the background.  The card was assembled and a pink silk bow was added to complete the card. 

My DH and I will be having dinner with my daughter and grandchildren this evening to celebrate Mother's Day.

Relax & Enjoy

Today I am back to working with punches and dies from Joan's Gardens.   The rose was created using the Super Giant Begonia Petals punch.  There are five sizes of petals on this punch and all sizes were used.  I used pale yellow card stock and sponged the top of each petal (front and back) with pink ink.  The bottom (center) was sponged with dark yellow ink.  The tools from the Flower Tool Kit were used to shape each one.

The background is a piece of designer paper from a K&Company paper pad.  The square scalloped piece was created with the Martha Stewart "String Lace" border punches.  The next layer up is one of the new Doily Dies from Joan's Gardens called "English Tea Party".  The second doily layered on top of that piece is the "Italian Flourish Doily".

The sentiment is from the new JustRite stamp set "Butterfly Gardens". I used one of the border stamps only.   It was cut out with a Nestability petite circle die.  All pieces were arranged as shown and attached with dimensional tape.  Two vellum leaves were added as well as Martha Stewart branches.   Pearls were added to complete the card. 

All products used on this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow.

Live Well, Laugh Often

Punches used for Cherry Blossoms

Today my card was designed around this beautiful die cut butterfly from Joan's Gardens.  The design paper is from a new paper pack called "Butterfly Garden Collection".  Isn't this beautiful paper!  Down in the corner is a picture with a branch of cherry blossoms, so I decided to create some dimensional cherry blossoms for my embellishment on this card.  The punches used for these flowers are the "Large Splatt", "Medium Blossom", "Small Cosmo" and "Mini Sun".  The branch I used is cut using the "Birds & Branches" Sizzix die. All the information for making these pretty flowers are in the Flower Book you can purchase from Joan's Gardens.  I love working with this book because it has so many pretty flowers and the instructions are very easy to follow.  The flowers were shaped using the Flower Tool Kit.  When you have the right tools to work with, it sure makes creating flowers very easy. 

The sentiment is from the new JustRite "Signs of Life" stamp set.  This set has a lot of beautiful frames, corners and sentiments.  The  pretty butterfly die is a Cheery Lynn "Oriental Butterfly" doily die.  The pretty design paper is backed with black card stock.  To finish the card, black Kaiser Craft pearls were added to each corner and on the body of the butterfly.  The sentiment was attached with dimensional dots.

All products used on this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

This morning Joan posted a lot of new dies that I'm sure you will like.  Be sure to check them out at Joan's Gardens.

Tomorrow is Tuesday so I will have a tag for the Joan's Gardens Weekly Tag Challenge.

A Warm Hello

Punches used to create these daisies

Today I have created a card using a new JustRite stamp set "A Warm Hello".  There are nine sentiments and nine frames in this set. The sentiment was die cut using the smallest Spellbinders "Labels Two" die. I built this card around using the new Cheery Lynn "Lattice" die from Joan's Gardens.  I love cards that have a lattice on them and this die is so perfect for creating all types of cards.  I decided to create an overlay for the lattice and die cut an opening with the largest Spellbinder "Labels Two" die.  This piece was then embossed with the Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder.  The lattice was glued to the back of the die cut window.  For the background, I used a piece of designer paper from another one of the new paper pads I just received from Joan's Gardens called "Botanical".  You can see all the new paper pads on Joan's blog.  The lattice was placed at the top of the card then a strip of aqua card stock embossed with an old Cuttlebug embossing border was placed at the bottom of it. 

Five daisy flowers were created.  Each flower has three layers of the punched "Large Daisy" and four layers of the "Medium Sun" for the stamen.   These pieces were all shaped using the Flower Tool Kit.  The leaves are from the Sizzix "Branch w/Leaves #2" die.  They were also shaped before adding them to the card.  The corners are from the new Spellbinder "Floral Doily Accent" die cut set.  A rhinestone was added to the center of each die cut corner.  A pretty silk bow was added to complete this card. 

You can purchase all the products used to create this card from Joan's Gardens.

Life is like a Butterfly

Punches used for flowers

Today I have a card created with a new flower punch from Joan's Gardens.  It is called the Super Giant Lilacs/Daphne.  I am very excited to get this punch because so many times I want to create small flowers for my cards.  I will be creating some different flowers with other pieces from this punch.  

The design paper used is  called "Sparkling Spring" 6"x6" paper stack.  Joan has a lot of new paper pads with such beautiful paper.  Be sure and check them all out on her blog.  On the top of this sheet there is a little verse; part of it reads . . . The butterfly flutters about as if to say "Look at me, am I not beautiful with my new wings?"   I thought this was perfect to go with this stamp from JustRite.  It is from the "Butterfly Gardens" stamp set.  Rhinestones were placed around the border of the sentiment and the center chalked with yellow.  The doily behind the sentiment is another of the new Cherry Lynn doily dies from Joan's Gardens.  It is called "Canadian Kaleidoscope".  You now can order eight different beautiful doily dies from Joan.  

The design paper I used has small pink flowers in each corner and I wanted to make some of them dimensional.  There are three different sizes of the small flower on the mega punch so I created all three sizes to embellishment my card.  The flowers are a pale pink and the stamens are two punched suns out of a darker pink.  The butterflies were punched using the Martha Stewart "3-in-1 Butterfly" punch.  Rhinestones and Stickles were added to the body of each one.  The border around the card was created using the Martha Stewart "Swirling Lace" punch. 

All the products used to create this card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.  If you don't see something you are interested in, just email or call Joan and she will be happy to help you. She has been working on her new blog appearance to make it easier to find the products you are interested in but she is currently still updating all the info.   Contact information for Joan is on her blog.

This card has been entered on the Embellish Blog for "Square Cards Color Trends Challenge".   Here are the colors to be used:

Thanks for stopping by.    Have a wonderful weekend.

Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge #16

We are back from our trip to Colorado.  My husband's brother passed away and we left on short notice to go back to Colorado to be with family and friends and to attend the funeral.  It is always a very sad time when someone passes away, but we were able to see lots of people we have not seen in years. 

When I got home, I had a package from Joan's Gardens with lots of new "toys".  I have used some of these on my card for this week's challenge.  The lattice was cut using the new Cheery Lynn "Lattice #2" (4.25 x 5.5") die.  I can really see lots of things I will be able to create with this die.  Joan has in stock a lot of new Spellbinders dies.  I used the new "Rose Creations" dies to create the pink flowers.  The leaves are from the Spellbinders Shapeabilities "Foliage" die set.  There are six different leaves in this set and all are going to be very useful when creating cards with flowers. 

The sentiment and frame are from one of the new JustRite stamp sets "Be Happy Borders and Centers".  It was stamped with VersaFine black ink and clear embossed.  Scissors were used to cut around the frame.  It was attached with dimensional tape.  The pretty corners were die cut from the Spellbinders "Parisian Accents" set.  A pretty trim was added along the left side of the card then black Dew Drops were added along with my double, lime green, Martha Stewart butterfly.

I hope you will join us in this week's challenge.  Here is what you need to do for Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge #16:


■Colors Lime Green and Pink
■Lattice (either die cut or create with paper strips)
■Leaves to create a vine on lattice
■Butterflies

I'll be looking for your challenge card at Joan's Gardens.  You can read all about the challenge on Joan's blog.

All products used on my card can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

I seldom post personal pictures but thought I would post this picture of one of the places my sister took look us for lunch.  This was not the restaurant we had planned to go to and wondered if we could go in when we weren't dressed us -- but no customers was dressed up so it was ok.  It is called the Cliff House in Manitou Springs, CO and is a four-star restaurant.  What delicious food we had.  In the picture:  My husband, myself, my sister and her husband.

Spring Birdies

This is another new stamp set from Heartfelt Creations.  This is a 5 1/2 inch square card.  The mother bird and her babies are from the HCPC 3385 "Spring Birdies and Roses Precut Set".  The image was stamped, colored with colored pencils and OMS and cut out.  The background was created with the Cheery Lynn "Italian Flourish" doily die from Joan's Gardens.  A small pendent from the Spellbinders "Floral Doily Motifs" dies was placed in the center.  Two corners from the Spellbinders "Parisian Motifs" die set were added   A few pearls and a piece of trim were added to complete the card.

All products used on this card plus the new Heartfelt Creations Springtime Cardinal collection can be ordered from Joan's Gardens.

Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge --Cardinal Posy Branch

Joan is using this card for the Joan's Garden's Weekly Challenge #14.   You can read all the details on her blog.   Here are the challenge rules:

• Color challenge : orange, red, and green
• Die Cut circle - any kind
• Design paper with lines
• Use a bird or something from Nature

This is another card designed using the Heartfelt Creations new Springtime Collection release.  You can see and order all the new sets in this collection at Joan's Gardens.

This is a 5 1/2 inch square card.  The design paper is from the My Mind's "Rose Mabel Papers" 6x6" pad.  For the center, one of the new Cherry Lynn "Italian Flourish" doily dies from Joan's Gardens was used on the bottom.  Layered on top of the doily is a Spellbinders pendant from the "Floral Doily Motifs" set.  The sentiment is from the Heartfelt Creations HCPC 3388 "Spring Cardinals" set.  The cardinal from the HCPC 3383 "Cardinal Posy Branch Precut Set" was stamped and cut out.  Extra posies from the Posy Patch set were stamped, colored and cut out with matching dies.  An extra cardinal (from the cardinal set) was stamped colored and also cut out with matching die.  The extra pieces were all attached with dimensional dots then attached on the center pendant.  The stamps from Heartfelt Creations are so realistic and I really love working with them.   A silk bow and a few pearls were added to complete the card.

I hope you will join us in the Weekly Challenge at Joan's Gardens .  Be sure to visit Joan's blog to see the other stamp sets in this new Heartfelt Creations collection.

Die Cut Doily Flower

This card was an experiment.  I wanted to see if I could make a flower out of one of the new doily dies from Joan's Gardens and this is my creation.  I die cut three of the Cheery Lynn  "Italian Flourish" doilies and cut between each one of the scallops with scissors to help it shape up like a flower.  I used white card stock and decided to dilute some reinker and spray it on the doilies to tint them pink.  Using the tools from the Flower Tool Kit, I shaped the doilies so they would curl up like a flower.  A black stamen was created with the large "Sparkle" punch.  For leaves I used the Nestabilities Leaf Border.  The green tag and two green corners were die cut using the new Spellbinders "Parisian Accents" die.  Using the same die, I cut out the long border  and placed it in between the embossing on the top of the card and the portion I did not emboss - it is very hard to even see that border now. 

The sentiment is from the JustRite stamp set "You're so Sweet".  It was cut out with a circle Nestability and placed on top of the green Spellbinder tag.  A pink bow was added to complete the card.

This flower is pretty large but it does lay down flat and you can shape it back up.  I think it would be beautiful on a gift package such as a box or a decorated sack. 

Have A Fabulous Birthday Yellow Posies

Today I have a card created with leftover flowers from yesterday's post and a few other things I had on my desk.  The background paper is from a DCWV paper pad.  There is a lattice border down the middle of the card punched with the Martha Stewart "Garden Trellis" punch.  On top of that is a punched border created with the Martha Stewart Mega "Branch" punch.  The pretty doily is one of the new die cut doilies from Joan's Gardens called "Canadian Kaleidoscope".  I love having the doily dies so I can cut any color doily I need for my projects.  They are so lacy and a great addition to any project.   It was cut out with green card stock.  To give it some added texture, I decided to fold it in fourths and run it through the crimper.  Love how it turned out.  The sentiment is from the JustRite "You Inspire Me" set, and the pretty frame is from the JustRite "Kindness" set.  These were white embossed on turquoise card stock and cut out with scissors. 

The flowers were created using the Martha Stewart "Cosmo" and "Cornflower" punches.  the stamens were created with the sun punch and the tips of each point was colored with an orange marker.   The flowers were arranged around the sentiment and leaves tucked in around them.  A pretty silk green bow and butterfly were added to complete the card. 

I am happy I made a few extra little posies so I could create two very different cards.  This card will fit into a business size envelope.  All the products used can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.