The Greetery Nature Lovers Release Day {Love Never Fails.}

Welcome friends! It's release day for the Nature Lovers Collection at The Greetery Everything will go on sale at 10 am ET today!  First of all, thank you so much for ALL of your SWEET, SWEET comments on both posts! You sure know how to make a girl feel good! Thank you, thank you! As usual, I always like to post some fresh inspiration on release day using the new products! I fell head-over-heels in love with so many of Betsy's projects that I just couldn't resist incorporating them into today's card!

I LOVED her card where she used the Wood Slice Hearts to stamp out all of the "Love Is" sentiments. I knew that I wanted to create something that would allow me to use all of them as well. I think I missed one, but I think this captures the overall feel I was going for.

I also LOVED the way she colored her gorgeous Forget-Me-Nots and wanted to create some in shades of pink. And last, but not least, I wanted to try some watercolors on the Boxwood Heart Detail Dies! 

To begin this card, I first die cut all of the pieces from the Boxwood Heart Detail Dies and the Boxwood Heart Base. I used a blender brush and ink to add a base layer of color. I then used the enclosed assembly guide to help me assemble the wreath. Once it was all assembled, I went back in with some darker green watercolor paint and added the darker detail. 

I used the dark paint to add the extra detail at the base of each leaf as well, to keep it visually connected to the dark frame. When I put the first strokes down, I cringed a little because I thought I may have ruined it, but as I kept at it, I really like how it turned out. I have really been having a lot of fun working with all of these different mediums over the last few days. My fingers have been inky and my heart has been happy!

I die cut the smallest Wood Slice Heart and assembled it using liquid glue and added a little bit of brown ink around the perimeter to give it some additional detail and dimension. I die cut the Let's Have a Word Love twice from white cardstock and once from gold specialty paper. I glued them all together using liquid glue and set it aside to dry.

I die cut all of the Botancuts: Forget-Me-Nots and got to work coloring and assembling them. I shared some tips and tricks for this in yesterday's post, but Laurie also shared a great tip on The Greetery's Instagram Live as well. You can always go back and watch those after they air. I did add some white Nuvo drops to the center of each flower for a dimensional center.

The next step was to create the shiplap background. I always use Betsy's tutorial that she shared a few months ago that is so beneficial!  I did the initial ink blending using Hickory Smoke and Weathered Wood Distress Oxide ink onto light weight cardstock and then die cut the planks. I then adhered them to a 4 by 5 1/ 4 inch panel so that I could add the entire piece to a top folding white card base.

To be honest, I actually hadn't figured out exactly how I was going to incorporate all of the sentiments, but after I got this background created, it just sort-of popped out at me. The different planks provided the perfect space to add each of the different sentiments stamped in tone on tone in. (Hickory Smoke) for a subtle look. I wanted the "never fails" portion to be the stand-out while the others waited in the wings, so to speak! ha ha!

This card ended up being very difficult to photograph....the first photos make it look like the "never fails" portion is crooked, but you can see here it is straight, but the angle I was using must have played off the lines of the planks to make it appear crooked! Darn! oh well! ha ha!

Once I had all of the design elements ready to go, I was able to start assembling the card. I used foam squares behind the wreath and double stacked foam squares for the Wood Slice Heart. I trimmed a bit off of the bottom of the Forget-Me-Not Bouquet and added it to the right corner of the heart using additional foam squares. I strategically added glue to the "Love" word and added that over the top. I stamped the "never fails" portion of the sentiment onto white cardstock and then die cut it using the Sentiment Suite Basics Die. I used the planks as a guide to get it straight (go figure) ha ha! and then added it with foam squares as well!

This card was such a joy to create and I can't wait to send it to the recipient! I hope she likes it! I will tuck it in with some Valentine's Day goodies as well! Thanks for fluttering by!