If there ever was a Paper Pumpkin that needed no alternatives, it’s the August 2018 Blissful Blooms. The watercolor flower images are a gorgeous riot of color. The sentiments are varied enough to be useful for a variety of occasions. But, I have promised my subscribers a Christmas card alternate with every box. And I try to always keep my promises.
If you haven’t seen the two cards that come in the kit, they look like this. I used bows instead of nests of twine under the sentiment because I’m rarely happy with how my nests come out.
Pretty, right? The vellum leaves add a beautiful touch of texture. The best part is that these cards come together in minutes. So fast, so lovely. How was I going to build on that?
The first alternative I made was a simple alteration. I used Blackberry Bliss cardstock to make a gatefold card.
This is probably the easiest fancy fold card. Cut a standard piece of cardstock in half on the long side at 5-1/2″. So you have an 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ piece. Score the long side of this piece at 2-1/8″ and then do the same thing at the other end. The two 2-1/8″ panels fold in over the center 4-1/4″ part, like a gate.
Then I cut the back off one of the flower frame cards (above on the right). I trimmed the white backing to 4″x 5-1/4″ to be the inner panel. Add any sentiment to this. The flower face I used for the panels. I cut a 2″ strip from each side – so I had two 2″x5-1/2″ pieces of designer paper essentially. I trimmed a bit off the length – 1/8″-1/4″ as you prefer. Then I adhered each DSP panel to the card base “gates”.
I stamped the banner from the kit and added a bow. I adhered it to one side of the gate – this is the key. If you add glue to both sides, the card won’t open. Not a huge change from the original card, but I like the way the Blackberry Bliss card stock makes the flower pop.
Now for the promised Christmas card. I used Old Olive, Real Red, and Whisper White cardstock to complement a piece of Under the Mistletoe DSP. I used the flower stamp from the kit and a Stamparatus to make a wreath on a 3-1/4″ square piece of Whisper White. (I’ll add instructions for creating a wreath with the Stamparatus to the site in the next few days and add a link here.) The leaves were made from the heart stamp in the kit inked with Old Olive. Then I added some touches of Soft Sea Foam with a flower stamen stamp in the kit. That was mounted on a 3-1/2″ square of Real Red.
The sentiment is from Beautiful Baubles, now available in the Holiday catalog. Gold crystal gems and a bit of twine were the final embellishments. And there you have a Blissful Blooms Christmas card.
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