Did you know that in Canada the second Monday in October is Thanksgiving? The timing coincides perfectly with the end of harvesting and the changes autumn brings. Lots of people decorate for the season and sunflowers are a big part of that. On my drive from town the other day I noticed a large field of sunflowers, all different sizes and colours. So when I was thinking about a project for my blog today they immediately came to mind. This was the card I ended up making. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

LAYERED IMAGES

I’ve had the Celebrate Sunflowers Stamp Set since it was first released and love the large flower image so that’s where I started. In fact I stamped it four times in all. First I cut two 4″ x 5-1/4″ pieces of Very Vanilla Card. Then using Soft Suede ink I stamped almost the whole sunflower in the bottom left corner. Next I stamped the sunflower on the other piece, but this time only stamped about one quarter of the image. After that I did the same thing on the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. Finally I stamped the whole flower onto some Stampin’ Up! Masking Paper and cut it out using Paper Snips.

Once the mask was cut out I placed it over the first sunflower that I’d stamped. Then using Mossy Meadow ink I stamped one of the large leaves from the stamp set slightly overlapping the bottom of the flower. Leaving the mask in place I next stamped the leaf slightly overlapping the top of the flower.

Now I realised I needed to create a mask for the leaf so I stamped and cut that from the Masking Paper. With the sunflower mask still in place and the leaf mask on top of the leaf image at the top of the flower I stamped one more leaf beside it. Then when I removed the masks my leaves looked like they were peeking out from behind the flower. Happy with the result, I repeated the masking and stamping process on the second Very Vanilla layer and envelope, although I only did one leaf above and below the sunflower.

QUICK SUNFLOWERS

With the most complicated part of the design complete I was ready to add some colour. I began with a dark Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends alcohol marker. Using the brush tip I quickly added wide lines from the base of each petal with a kind of flicking motion. I used only one or two lines of colour on each petal and left it at that. Then for the leaves I used a dark Old Olive Stampin’ Blends marker and the same loose technique.

Once all three sets of images were done I decided to add some ‘sky’. This was a quick process too using a Blending Brush and Starry Sky ink in a quick circular motion. On the main panel I made the ink slightly darker, and kept it fairly light on the envelope and second Very Vanilla layer.

That just left the sentiment and I chose “Let’s celebrate you” from the Celebrate Sunflowers Stamp Set. Using Soft Suede ink I stamped it directly into the space above the sunflower on the main panel.

For my card base I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Mossy Meadow Card. I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue I fixed the main panel onto the front and the other Very Vanilla layer on the inside.

Finally I added a few Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels to the front and my project was complete. I hope you like it.

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