Guest Designer: Yasmin Diaz

Happy Saturday Yasmin here! Today, I’m delighted to be here as a guest designer for the The Gray Muse’s Blog. So, on today’s blog I’ll be sharing with you step by step on how, I’ve made these two encouragement floral cards featuring the new Happiness Blooms Stamp Set by The Gray Muse.

To begin with, I started by treating one 5’’ X 7’’in Strathmore Bristol Smooth card panel with Embossing Powder Tool. Once, the card panel was treated, I stamped the floral cluster from the Happiness Blooms Stamp Set with Embossing Ink. And, right after the stamping, I cover the stamped floral cluster with Opaque Bright White Embossing and I heat set it until the powder was melted. I repeated these steps twice as, I was white heat embossing both card panels at once.

Once, the heat embossing was done, I tape down the first card panel to a clipboard with masking tape to prevent buckling as, I was going to use my Watercolor Brush Pens and a bit of water to color the flowers and leaves. As, you can see, I made an easy water coloring using; Pinks, Peach, Yellow, Greens, Blues, Purples and Grays hues. So, as soon after the water coloring, I set both card panels aside to let them dry.

In the meantime, I scored and folded the card bases that, I was going to use for these cards. So, to begin with, I started by trimming out a heavy weight card stock a panel that measured W 8 5/8’’ X H 51/2’’in to create the double gate card base. Next, I created a score line using my score board and Teflon bone folder at the 2 1/8’’ mark then, I turned the card stock and, I created a second score line in the other end at the same 2 1/8’’ mark. Lastly, I folded the and reinforced the score lines with the bone folder creating that gates for the double gate card style. As, for the second card base, I kept it simple by scoring and folding a standard A2 size side folding card base.

To assemble the cards, first I fussy-cut the floral clusters out of the Strathmore Bristol Smooth card panels with my scissor. Then, for the first example, I adhered one half of the cluster with strong adhesive to the left gate leaving that side permanently adhered and leaving the other side exposed so the card could open and close without a problem. To finish the card off, I gold heat embossed on a piece of white card stock a sentiment which, by the way is included in the stamp set with Metallic Gold Rich Embossing Powder. And, right after heat embossing the sentiment, I adhered the backing of it to extra pieces of white card stock because, I wanted a sturdy sentiment as half of it was going to be hanging out of the floral without adhesive.

To assemble the second card, first I die-cut a card panel using a Stitched Rectangles Die. Then, I adhered the backing of the second floral cluster to the card panel with foam mounting tape because, I wanted to add dimension. Lastly, I adhered the backing the card panel with double-sided tape to the side folding white card base and, to finish the cards off, I adhered here and there a few Ice Crystal Sequin Mix for a sparkly touch! As, my very last touch, I added lots of shimmer to the entire clusters using; Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen and Glossy Accent on the berries and flower centers for an extra dimensional shiny look. With that being said, I hope these Encouragement Floral cards inspire you to give these simple yet, fun designs a try! Thanks for stopping by, we appreciate your valuable time. By the way… don’t forget to tag us on social media if you create a card or if you were inspired by these designs. Below you’ll find the supply list for the products used on today’s blog post.

Thank you and happy crafting
Best,
Yasmin

Happiness Blooms Stamp Set
Glossy Accent
Ice Crystal Sequin Mix
Genuine Crafts Watercolor Brush Pens
Inkadinkado Embossing Powder Tool
Strathmore Bristol Smooth
Stitched Rectangles Die Set
Cougar 110# Heavy Weight Card Stock
Metallic Gold Rich Embossing Powder
Opaque Bright White Embossing
WOW! Embossing Ink Pad
WOW! Embossing Ink Pad Refill
WOW! Heat Embossing Gun Tool