The Greetery {Bushels of Thanks}

Hello friends! It’s that time of year when we’re wrapping up the school year and many thanks are in order! When it comes to thanking teachers, apples are always in season, wouldn’t you agree? I had so much fun creating this card using the darling BotaniCuts Apple Die paired with a few other favorites to bring this scene to life!

To begin, I die cut the greenery for the edge of the focal panel using the A Side of Greens Die from thick white cardstock and then colored it using twisted citron, mowed lawn, and rustic wilderness Distress Oxide inks and a finger dauber. This is a very delicate piece, so be gentle. If you’re worried about it being too delicate for your project, simply cut it an additional one or two times and glue it together. I’ll share my tip on how I handled it for this project in a bit!

I die cut quite a few apples, stems, blossoms, and leaves using the BotaniCuts Apple Die from white cardstock. The leaves are colored using the same ink as the A Side of Greens piece, the apples are colored using twisted citron, abandoned coral, festive berries, and Lumberjack plaid Distress Oxide inks. The stems are colored using gathered twigs. I pushed the stems into the opening at the top of the apples and then secured them using a small piece of Scotch tape.

I used the Bushel Basket Die and Rustic Cream cardstock for the basket. I added some antique linen Distress Oxide ink to the reinforcers and label backing, and black soot for the handles.  I used liquid glue to adhere the basket. The ‘picked fresh’ sentiment is from the Market Basket Sentiments and is heat embossed on True Black cardstock using detail white embossing powder. I then die cut it using the die and slid it into place and secured it with liquid glue. I added it to the Bushel Basket using foam squares for dimension.

For the background, I cut a panel of white cardstock measuring 4 by 5 ¼ inches and then stenciled it using the Tartan Builder Diagonal Stencil Collection. I concentrated the stenciling in the center and let it fade out using speckled egg Distress Oxide ink and a blender brush. I only used two of the stencils, omitting the other two; I just wanted something with a country feel and nothing too fussy or distracting; I love how it turned out! I also added some ink splatter with the same ink for added interest and detail.

Now the fun part….putting it all together! I gently laid the A Side of Greens piece exactly how I wanted it on the focal panel; I needed to give it a little nudge in the right direction(s)! ha ha! Once it was exactly how I wanted it, I used a piece of Glad Press n’ Seal wrap over the top, gently pulled it up and then added liquid glue to the back, making certain to add glue to those small points that I didn’t want poking up. I laid it BACK over the focal panel and pressed down until I felt confident I would be able to remove the Press n’ Seal wrap. Have you tried this technique? I don’t use it often, but I love it for times like this!

I added the basket using foam squares, but made certain to leave enough room to tuck the apples down inside. I added them using additional foam squares and then added the leaves here and there using liquid glue. I couldn’t resist using another apple and apple slice outside of the basket; there is a die for the tiny apply seeds on the slice, but I just used a fine tip brown marker to color them in. There are impression lines so it’s really easy to do! Now, I could have used a thank you sentiment on the basket itself, and let that be enough, but I knew I wanted to add another sentiment to the top, so that’s why I chose ‘picked fresh’.  I used the All Occasion Script Sentiment Stamp/die set. I added it to the top using foam squares! The entire focal panel is added to a top-folding A2 Kraft Gray cardbase (Betsy used it on one of her Seagrass baskets and I just HAD to get it myself) using foam squares. You’ll notice that It’s lined up edge-to-edge on the right-hand side; this made the most sense visually so it didn’t give a floating illusion to the greenery on the side. I love how this card turned out; perfect for a teacher, but not too teacher-y! ha ha! Thanks for fluttering by!