This hop is now closed.  The randomly chosen winner is Martie Rollin from Marie Gamber’s Blog.  Thanks for hopping!

Heartfelt Creations Sweet Peony All Occasion Card for the April 2018 Blog Hop

Hello, Friends!  Welcome to the Heartfelt Creations April 2018 Alumni Blog Hop!  The hop starts here.  You’ll find the complete hop list at the end of this post.  My grandmother had the most beautiful flower garden I have ever seen.  My favorite blooms were always the peonies. I can remember tip toeing through the garden with my mother, gently lifting those fragrant, heavy blossoms to inhale the scent.  So I just had to add the Heartfelt Creations Sweet Peony Collection to my crafty stash!    This Spring Garden All Occasion Greeting card is perfect for Mother’s Day, Birthdays, Weddings, or anniversaries.  I just loved making these bodacious blossoms!

Springtime in the Garden with Heartfelt Creations Sweet Peony

The papers in this collection are especially lovely with beautiful soft pastels and pops of pink, rose and yellow.  Here are the steps I followed to create the card.

• Begin by cutting a 4 7/8″ x 6 7/8″ panel from the floral cluster page in the  Sweet Peony paper collection.
• Next, use a distressing tool to lightly rough up the edges.  You can also use the side of your scissor blade to to this; just be careful not to cut yourself!
• Once you have distressed the edges, stitch around the perimeter of this panel, using ivory thread.
• Now lightly sponge the edges with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.
• Use 1.5″ wide pink gingham ribbon to create a belly band.  Wrap this around the panel, securing with Scor-Tape or your favorite adhesive.
• Next, cut a 4″ x 6″ rectangle from the soft pink background paper. Repeat the above steps, omitting the stitching.
• To add dimension, back this panel with foam tape, waste chipboard or old cardboard packaging.  Then center and adhere to the first panel.

Heartfelt Creations Sweet Peony All Occasion Card: Creating the Card Focal

Heartfelt Creation Dies make quick work of creating this card focal.  Here’s how I did it:

• First, cut the peony image from the paper collection using the Eyelet Oval Die. I used just the 3.25″ x 5″ oval die for this. Ink the edges very lightly with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
• Next, from white cardstock, die cut the doily frame using the 4.5″ x 6″  Eyelet Oval Die frame.
• To add dimension, back the Eyelet Oval Frame Die cut with foam tape, etc.  I sponged a very light layer of Worn Lipstick Distress Ink to the center of the die cut.  Don’t add ink to the scalloped frame portion.
• Center and adhere to the card.
• Adhere the die cut card focal.
• Fussy cut the pink label from the cut apart page. Back with dimensionals.
• Die cut the sentiment ticket with the Luggage and Tags Die.  Adhere to the pink label and then to the card.

Heartfelt Creations Sweet Peony All Occasion Card: the fun part!  Making the Flowers

There is something so relaxing and rewarding about making flowers!  I tried some new techniques when making these gorgeous Sweet Peony blooms.  Here’s how I did it:

• Remove the soft pink background page from the Sweet Peony Paper Collection.  Cut it into two 6″ x 12″ panels.
• Using the Colorbox Berrylicious Ink Pad,  stamp the Small Sweet Peony Cling Stamps all over both panels.  Then heat emboss with Clear Embossing Powder.
• Before die cutting with the Small Sweet Peony Die, use sponge daubers to apply Colorbox Guacamole Chalk Ink in the center of each flower layer.
• Stamp the leaves onto white cardstock, also using Guacamole Ink and heat embossing.

• 
• Once all the different sizes of Sweet Peony flower layers  have been die cut, place them in the appropriate sections of the 3-D Floral Basics Flower Shaping Mold and emboss the flowers following the product directions.
• Assemble the flower layers, then add stamens.
• Turn the flowers upside down and spray liberally with Alpine Ice Rose,  Bougainvillea Spray Mists.  Spray some in between the petal layers as well, to cover over the back side of the patterned paper.  Set aside to dry naturally, or gently heat dry.
• If you would rather not use mist, then sponge the back side of the petals with Berrylicious Ink before assembly.
• As a final step, apply Antique Linen Distress Ink to the petal edges, and to the edges of the card layers.
• When everything is dry, arrange the flowers on the card as seen in the photos.

Heartfelt Creations Sweet Peony All Occasion Card: A Peek Inside

Line the card interior with more designer papers.  Create a pocket and a gift card pocket, if desired.

This is an old, retired gift card die that I have in my stash.  You could create a substitute for this by cutting down a small envelope and covering with designer paper.

To create this elegant Tea Bag Wallet insert, I die cut the Sweet Lilac Scroll and Cage from White Cardstock.  Then I backed it with one of the images from the cut apart page and fussy cut around the top edges.

This makes such a fun card, gift and home decor combo!    Giving a unique gift like this is such a lovely way to shower the people you love with love!

On With the Hop!

The April Alumni Team Hop starts at 8AM EDT on Friday, April 27th and closes on Monday, April 30th at 11:59PM EDT.

One lucky comment will be randomly chosen from a mystery blog from those participating in the hop, so be sure to visit and comment at each stop along the way.  The randomly chosen winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to shop at Heartfelt Creations.  To claim this prize, the winner will e-mail socialmedia@heartfeltcreations.us with “Winner of the April Alumni Hop” in the subject line.

Cheerio,

kathy