The Greetery Sending Warm {Sunflower} Thoughts

Hello and welcome friends! It's my turn for this week's T.G.I.F. {The Greetery Inspiration Friday}! I'm over on The Greetery Blog and I'm sharing my cards here as well! I love this time of year when all of the Sunflowers start to bloom EVERYWHERE!!

They're so cheery, don't you think?  My BotaniCuts Sunflower Dies have been a bit neglected so I thought it would be the perfect time to pull them out! I love mixing previously released products with new, as I have done on today's cards! 

There are so many ways to bring these BotaniCuts dies to life; watercoloring, ink blending, colored pencils, etc. The list goes on and on. For today's Sunflowers, I started with yellow cardstock and simply added some extra ink around the edges using a darker ink. The leaves, however, were die cut from white cardstock and then I added the color using ink and a blender brush. The Sunflowers also got a bit of brown ink splatter for some additional detail.

I fell in love with Betsy's "faux shiplap" technique she used during the release! I've been dying to try it myself, so I added it as a background detail behind the stamped Halfsies Oval portion of the card. I also added the woodgrain texture that the Create-a-Crate dies include. I just felt it really gave the card some extra texture and detail.

This technique is really easy to do, and in fact, used less of the panels than I originally thought! There is only one full panel and the rest are cut in half to look like two, since the other half isn't showing! I added the full panel directly in the middle using liquid glue and then just added them above and below in a straight line.

The sentiments from theWritten in Ribbons stamp set worked perfectly to accent this card, but also allow the fun background to show as well! Who knew how nice a gray/licorice bow would look? The rest of the sentiment is heat embossed in white for some added contrast!

There's something magical that happens when the watering can images from the Sprinkled with Kindness stamps all come together! The realism is amazing and accent the Sunflowers perfectly! I was a little worried about the scale of the blooms, but I have grown some seriously large Sunflowers, and I think they look perfect tucked behind the watering can! 

Both of the sentiments are from the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You stamp set.  I heat embossed the one at the top and just stamped the one on the tag using black ink! They are die cut with the Sentiment Suite Basics Die. I normally don't use two sentiments on one card, especially with the wording on the watering can, but I felt like this particular arrangement really worked! Sometimes you just have to fuss and fiddle until you strike that balance!

 The little tag on the watering can is all tied up with twine for an extra touch! I have a random tip to share with you, but it really does come in handy on little bows like this! For some reason, they always look SO much better when I tie them upside down. I simply turn my card or project upside down and tie the bow that way. I don't know if there is a science behind it, but it really does work! ha ha! Give it a try and see if it works for you, too!

These cards were such a joy to create and embrace the beauty of the season perfectly! I can't wait to pop these into the mail to bring some summer cheer to a deserving recipient! Thanks for fluttering by!