I must say that I love pansies. For someone who’s a lazy gardener I’m delighted when a pansy self-seeds and saves me the trouble of planting new flowers. What’s more they come back every year in my little area of Canada which is a huge bonus. But indoors I’ve been wondering whether there’s more to the Pansy Petals suite from Stampin’ Up! So I started experimenting. Today’s project is perfect if you’re looking for something a little more tropical.

PANSY PIECES

Yes that really is a tropical-style flower made entirely using the Pansy Dies. What’s more it’s actually very quick to do using just a 3″ x 8-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card.

I began by selecting three dies from the Pansy Dies set; the two leaves that add embossed details, and the triangular-shaped petal that embosses as well. Then using my Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine I die-cut 9 petals and two each of the leaves.

Next I pulled out three ink pads from the 2021-2023 InColors range; Pale Papaya, Polished Pink and Evening Evergreen.

Using a Blending Brush I first coloured the die-cut leaves using Evening Evergreen ink and set them aside. Then I added the Polished Pink ink to the rounded part of each petal. Avoiding the ‘point’ of the petal was easy as I had my finger on there to hold it still as I worked. Once I’d finished adding the pink to the front of the petals I flipped them over and did the same on the back. Finally I added a delicate touch of Pale Papaya ink to the ‘point’ of each petal.

With the inking done, I was ready to put the flower together.

First I added a curve to each petal by pulling the pink edge between my thumb and a Bone Folder. With five of the petals I curved the petals backwards, while the other four were curved inwards.

Next I fixed the first five petals together at the points using a little Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Then I added the remaining four petals on top. The four leaves were also fixed into place with liquid glue, with the smaller leaves appearing to slip between the lower petals.

While I was happy with how things had gone so far, the centre of the flower looked very odd. It needed something but I couldn’t find anything suitable in the Pansy Dies. So instead I abandoned that idea and reached for the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack.

I took 12″ of black twine and wrapped it around my Bone Folder then poked another piece of black twine through the loops and tied it in a double knot. After sliding the twine off the Bone Folder I cut the loops to reveal my custom flower centre. Once I’d fixed the twine in place with a Mini Glue Dot my tropical flower was complete.

I’m so happy with this first attempt at an alternate flower using the Pansy Dies. I used it to decorate a little wooden box I’d bought for my granddaughter Alyssa.

To see a pansy created using the dies as intended, check out my earlier blog post Pansy Dies for spring and summer projects. Now I’m curious… would you be more likely to buy the Pansy Dies if you could use them to make more than just pansies?

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Pansy Dies with the coordinating Pansy Patch Stamp Set (not used today) using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the same two items separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle below in case you want to explore this option.