Well today’s project came as a total surprise to me. When I first saw the Nature’s Harvest Dies I could have sworn there was a wheat die. However this time after I used the die I saw something completely different. Lavender! So I changed my plans and created this card with a scented bonus.

A BUNCH OF LAVENDER

I began by cutting two of the wheat/lavender pieces from Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. Then using Water Painters I painted the two pieces with clean water followed by coloured inks. To do this I pressed onto my closed ink pads to transfer ink from the pad to the inside of the lid. Then when I opened them I could use the lid as a palette adding a drop of clean water to dilute the ink a little.

For the stems I used Soft Succulent ink with the first layer of colour quite watered down. As that was drying I coloured the tops of the lavender with watered down Fresh Freesia ink. When they were almost dry I added more Soft Succulent ink to the stems. However for the flowers I changed to Highland Heather and created darker areas near the centre of each stem. Once I was happy I set the two pieces aside.

While the painted pieces were drying I started to think about the rest of the card. I wanted something quite dark to contrast with the flowers. In the end I found a dark wood pattern in the In Good Taste 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) Pack.

I cut one piece 3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″ and using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) mounted it onto a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Highland Heather Card. Then I cut a second piece of DSP 3/4″ x 5-1/4″ and glued that down the right-hand edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ layer of Very Vanilla Card.

My final piece of DSP was cut 2-1/4″ x 6″ and I glued this to the flap of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. Then with Paper Snips I trimmed off the excess paper using the edge of the flap as a guide.

LAVENDER SURPRISE

I still needed a sentiment and for that I turned to the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set. I chose “A reminder to never forget how much you mean to me and so many others”. It’s spread over 3 lines of text and sadly there isn’t a die in the Harvest Dies to cut out this one. That wasn’t a problem, I simply pulled out one of my favourite die sets, Ornate Frames. I found the ideal die and was ready to continue.

Using Early Espresso ink I stamped the sentiment onto Thick Very Vanilla Card, then die-cut it with my Mini Cut & Emboss Machine. I could have left it there but instead I had an idea…

I found some wide mesh ribbon in a scrap box (it may have been left over from some Christmas decorations), and cut a small square. Next I prepared the edges of the mesh with Tear & Tape Adhesive. Then I opened up a bag of dried lavender and placed a thin layer onto the centre of the mesh. With that done I removed the backing paper from the adhesive and sealed up the pouch. Finally with a little more Tear & Tape Adhesive I fixed the pouch to the back of the die-cut sentiment.

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Now I was ready to finish putting my card together.

First, using my Paper Trimmer I cut and scored some Thick Very Vanilla Card. I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create a card base.

On the inside of the card I used liquid glue to fix the Very Vanilla layer with the DSP along the edge. Then the main layered DSP panel was added to the front using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Taking the two lavender sprigs I layered them on top of each other then pushed the bottom of some stems over so they gathered together. Then I wrapped Linen Thread a couple of times around the stems before tying it in a bow. With that done I used liquid glue to attach the flowers to the background layer.

Finally I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to attach the sentiment and my project was complete.

Well this project certainly was a surprise all round. From turning the ‘wheat’ into lavender, to adding a pouch of dried lavender, it was such fun to make. That’s the beauty of crafting with an open mind, I never know what I’ll come up with next.

If you missed my earlier project using the ‘wheat’ from the Harvest Dies you’ll find it in my blog post Harvest Dies and a faux wood box. It was only as I looked back that I realised I’d used exactly the same wood patterned paper! Oh well.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set and coordinating Harvest Dies using a single bundle item number. That meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included links for both options in case you want to explore this further.