Experience the Magic of the New Birds & Bees Release!

Featured products of this article are the Aster and Garden Parasol Etched Dies from The Birds & Bees Garden Collection by Susan Tierney-Cockburn at Spellbinders.

The Birds & Bees Garden Parasol

The parasol measures 4.96 x 4.28 in. which is quite large. Therefore, your card needs to be large enough for it to fit on. I go with a 5 x 7 in. And, the die has a pretty, lacy edge which led me to go with a lovely floral patterned paper for it. And, the paper sets the color palette for the card.

There’s one last thing to do with the parasol and that is to attach the handle. I die-cut two of them from brushed silver cardstock. And, to give it some dimension I burnish the back side of one of the handles with the medium size ball from my garden tool set. To finish the handle I layer the two pieces together with liquid glue.

Next, I cut a strip of cardstock 3/4″ x 5″ and snip angles on each side. To get the angles correct I use the parasol as a guide. Hold it over the strip exactly how I want it to look on my card (depth-wise). And then I use a pencil to mark where to cut.

The strip has two purposes: it will hold the sides of the parasol together to keep it from sagging, and it holds the handle centered in the parasol. Attach the strip to the little flaps on the back side of the parasol with liquid glue and then fasten the handle at the center of it making sure that the top of it (opposite side of the handle) points towards the point of the parasol.

Asters and Other Flowers

I like to watch Susan’s videos on her products before I attempt to make them myself. She always explains how the flowers are in nature and what you can do to get your flowers as close as possible to the real thing.

I use Susan’s color recommendations for the asters for my card which are purple, yellow for the center, and green for the leaves. The three asters I created are beautiful however they don’t fill the open end of the parasol like I want them to.

So, I found some pieces of zinnias that were unused from a previous project. They are slightly larger than the asters and have similar petal structures. I think they are a perfect complement to them. But, this is where I went a little rogue. To stick with the color palette on the parasol I colored the zinnia pink with a peach tone in them. And their leaves a pretty gray-blue. Oh, and I left one zinnia white.

A couple of things are helpful when making these beautiful 3D flowers. The most important is the specialty cardstock that is perfect for creating them. And, you have to have the garden tool set. But then, a glue pot and the tools that come with it make it so easy to attach the floral pieces together. And, Kid’s Choice glue has the perfect tack that allows you to work quickly.

Building The Aster Parasol Birds & Bees Card

The inspiration for my card design comes from Susan’s video called Pom Pom Dahlia and Garden Parasol. You can find it over at Spellbinders.

Susan’s project uses a trellis like those that Bibi Cameron makes which gave me the idea to create a white picket fence. I cut six 3/4″ x 6″ strips of white cardstock to make the slats and two 3/4″ x 5″ for the two support members. Then I glue the supports at the top and the bottom of the back of the slats making sure that they are spaced out evenly.

But, unlike Susan’s all-white background, I blend a little green and blue on the card front to create grass and sky. As a result, setting the fence in front creates dimension. And, by doing so I can now hang the parasol on the fence with the handle.

At this point, you can attach the fence to the card front. Lightly apply liquid glue to the back of the supports and set the fence about 1/4″ up from the bottom of the card.

Now you can attach the parasol by adding liquid glue to the tabs on the parasol, the handle, and the little strip. And then hang the handle over the top of the third slat from the right and arrange the parasol where you want it to be.

Finishing The Birds & Bees Aster Parasol Card

Glue the flowers in place at different angles to look more natural and avoid looking flat. And, don’t forget to alter the colors and sizes. Once you are happy with the flowers add in leaves to fill out your bouquet.

A pretty butterfly is the perfect accent to finish off our gorgeous bouquet. And the Brushed Gold die-cut sentiment lets your receiver know just how special they are.

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