Golden Camellias

     A foray into die cuts this time, using dies by John Lockwood. My craft mojo had gone missing but thanks to a good friend and her new dies I found where it was hiding. This card is for my Mother-In-Law's birthday so it's in her favourite colour pallet.

 

     I cut the Oakham die in white and the Camellia flowers too, then cut the leaves  and flower centres in black. I brought them all home and set about assembling the card.
     I was going to mount the lattice on black but it all looked a bit too dark, so I changed it for gold mirri to give it a lift. I had to paint the thin frame with black paint as it was cut out in white, thank fully I had used a strong card so it took the paint well, without buckling.
   

   

     The flower petals looked a little flat just white, so I painted the edges of them gold, the paint gives a slightly distressed look but I prefer this to a pristine straight line. The tiny star centres are painted with the same gold before working the petals and assembling the flowers.
     A small gold half pearl added to the centre really finished them off. I made three flowers but decided only two would go on the card, less is more as they say.

     Sticking the lattice to the mirri was a challenge but my Stix2 PVA glue did the job with very little fuss.
     It was time to mount the panel on the card, as this would be more difficult once the flowers were added. A black mat on a white card set the whole thing off perfectly.
     I cut the greeting in black but it looked a bit lost, then I remembered a conversation we had Thursday night about shadowing greetings, so I cut a white one and stuck them together shadow style. Mounted on foam pads in the middle of the card it made quite a nice card just like that, but the flowers were a must for this card.

     A medium sized gold half pearl in each hole around the centre panel added a little bling and matched the pearls in the flowers.

     All that was left was to add the leaves and then the flowers, I lay these on several times in different positions until I liked the look, then I glued them on with my trusty PVA.

     Once all the glue was dry I tweaked the petals a little so they sat neatly, checked for any stray marks or bits of card and made sure it was clean and tidy. This will be hand delivered so it won't get squashed in the post.

     I think it's high time I got back into making die cut flowers, it's so calming just colouring and shaping, then building all those beautiful blooms.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

As You Like It - Dies or Stencils (love them both but building flowers is fab!)
Craft Rocket - Flowers
Dragonfly Dreams - For A Special Female
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
Southern Girls - Flora and/or Fauna