The Front Porch Garden

My card was inspired by the Inspiration Challenge #61 at Always Playing with Paper. I have been following the blog for a while and enjoy seeing Lesley Croghan's beautiful designs but have never before tried any challenges. When I saw the inspiration photo I thought that the rustic cabin must have had a porch on it with half-barrels profusely overflowing with flowers. The colors were inspired by the pink refrigerator, the blue chair and the white flowers on the table. I purposely did not add a sentiment so this can be used as an all-occasion note card.

A panel of blue cardstock was texture-embossed and adhered to the card base. The inside was lined with a panel of cardstock, decorated with a leaf spring and flowers. A panel of white cardstock was heat embossed in a splotchy wood grain using white embossing powder, then sponged with various colors. A small piece of brown cardstock was also heat embossed with white powder. From this piece I cut slats to create the half-barrel to hold the flowers.

Much of the base work is covered but I wanted a riot of flowers. Scraps of pink, blue, white and rose cardstock provided the flowers - about 50 of them - created with a punch after sponging the blue and pink lightly for variance. The leaves were punch-cut from two
shades of sponged green cardstock. This was all assembled onto the wood grain panel, which was backed with craft foam and popped up for dimension. As a final touch, glitter glue was added to the center of many of the flowers and some Perfect Pearls powder was lightly brushed on for shimmer.

Visit the Always Playing with Paper blog for fun challenges and beautiful designs.

Techniques: Die cutting, fussy cutting, punching, stamping, sponging, dry embossing, heat embossing, embossing resist
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

Materials are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise indicated:
Stamp: Hardwood
Inks: Bashful Blue, Pistachio Pudding, Pretty in Pink, Sahara Sand, Versamark
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Pistachio Pudding, Pear Pizzazz, Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip
Punches: Bird Builder (leaves) and Itty Bitty Accents (flower)
Misc.: Studio G glitter glue (clear), Perfect Pearls, white embossing powder, TIEF Square Lattice (retired), craft foam