Want To Go To The Painter’s Garden Party?

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on January 23, 2023February 25, 2024
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3 Cards made from the Painter's Garden Collection in Spellbinder's January Release

What is the Painter's Garden Party? It's fun making realistic 3D floral cards with the latest Spellbinders Painter's Garden Collection.

Oh my goodness, are these fun to make! You can't be in a hurry when making these cards, but look how beautiful they are. @Spellbinders offers a huge array of die sets designed by @SusanTierneyCockburn that produce lovely life-like flowers made from cardstock. The Painter's Garden collection adds five new flowers to the collection. And in addition, they have included a beautiful bamboo trellis embossing folder.

We use three of the floral die-sets for our Painter's Garden Party: Spellbinders Bird of Paradise, Pansy, and the Zinnia.

This is a very long article. But, it's chock full of tips and techniques that I hope you will find helpful in creating your own realistic flowers.

Painter's Garden Videos

@SusanTierneyCockburn has made a video for each of the die-sets in her collection. I strongly recommend that you watch them before you get started. In fact, I like to watch them while I am making the flowers too. She includes wonderful hints that help to make the flowers more realistic. And, she teaches all about the flowers themselves as well. You will find links to each of the videos for the flowers we create for our cards below in this article.

Painter's Garden Bird of Paradise Card

Cards made using Bird of Paradise die set from the Painter's Garden Collection in Spellbinder's January Release
Cards made using Bird of Paradise die set from the Painter's Garden Collection in Spellbinder's January Release

Elegant Background Options For Painter's Garden Bird of Paradise Card

The background of the card in the photo uses a stencil and white pigment ink to create a dimensional dotted effect. I received the stencil from Spellbinders during an event last year, but it doesn't seem to be available online. Their All the Stars stencil might be a good substitute.

Similarly, the Dazzling Dots embossing folder creates the exact same pattern as the stencil I use on my card. So, you can create almost exactly the same effect by embossing the gray cardstock and then lightly blending white pigment ink over it.

Just spray a little water on each side of your card panel. And then, put it inside the folder and run it through your die-cutting and embossing machine.

Set the card panel aside to dry while we work on our die-cutting.

Alternatively, there is also a Glimmer hot foil plate, Dazzling Diamonds, with the same pattern which would give you the same glam without the dimension.

Background Focal Point

I use a fancy oval die to cut out an oval centerpiece for my card from light teal cardstock.

Creating the Painter's Garden Bird of Paradise

I use Susan's video to create my Bird of Paradise:

I try to duplicate what Susan accomplishes using the products that I have in my stash. I die-cut the floral images from watercolor cardstock and use colored pencils for this card. The watercolor cardstock is not easy to manipulate. And as a result, if you look closely, you can see the fold lines in the cardstock. And it doesn't do a good job of holding the shapes you create.

Then, I color the different parts of the flower and leaves with water-reactive colored pencils. And then, I work on varying the tones and adding some texture by blending with Distress Oxides.

Assembly

To put the card together you just attach the stenciled, embossed, or foiled cardstock to an A2 (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) card base with a glue runner. And then, do the same with the oval. Next lay out the flower pieces so that you can decide where to put the sentiment. Once you have, go ahead and stamp the sentiment onto the card front with black ink.

And lastly, we'll put the flower together following the advice that Susan gives in her video.

Supplies

The following list may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something by following a link on this page, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog.

Have You got All The Things?

Full Disclosure

I am a “have to have all the things” kind of gal. But, every once and a while I try to use what I have in my stash before I make the big jump to buy. And, that is what I did with the Bird of Paradise card. Why am I telling you this? Well, I want to share with you what I used on the card and as a result why I decided to go ahead and “get all the things”.

Hopefully, it might be helpful to talk about some “things” that you might find helpful in creating this special type of card.

US law requires that I tell you that the products discussed in this article may contain affiliate links. And, if you purchase something by following any of them, I may receive a small commission – at no extra cost to you. But, if you do Thank You for supporting my blog!

Cardstock

Cardstock – The cardstock that you use to make the flowers makes a huge difference. As I mentioned above, the watercolor cardstock that I used for the Bird of Paradise didn't produce as good results as I had hoped.

Susan recommends her Garden Specialty Cardstock because its texture is ideal for adding color with inks, alcohol markers, and pastels. And, it handles being molded and shaped to create beautiful and realistic flowers.

I thought I had some of this specialty cardstock but was mistaken. By the time I realized that I didn't have the right cardstock it was too late. So, I use smooth Hammermill cardstock for the next two cards. But, I have ordered several packs and am looking forward to seeing how it works on my next project.

Tools

Tools – There are a number of tools to use to help shape the cardstock to make the flowers look more life-like, as well as for gluing. Susan's Garden Ultimate Tool Kit includes everything that you need.

Glue, Glue Pod, and Brushes – The glue that you use to put these flowers together makes all the difference in the world! If you use glue that is too runny or doesn't hold quickly you can end up with a big sticky mess. Susan recommends Kids Choice Glue and now I do too.

And then the silicone glue pod she recommends keeps the glue from drying while working on your project. The lid is made to hold your brushes when you're not using them. And then the brushes themselves are fantastic. They hold just the right amount of glue and you can use the other end to hold pieces in place until they are attached. And, it's all easy to clean up with water.

Coloring Media

It is difficult to reproduce the vibrant colors we find in nature. I had originally planned to use my favorite watercolor brush markers because of their beautiful colors. But I changed my mind after watching Susan's video. The colors I create for the bird of paradise turn out ok, but they aren't as close as I had hoped and so I went ahead and picked up a couple of sets of OLO markers to give them a try.

To be honest with you, there are some things I really like about the OLOs and others that kind of surprised me. For example, the color wicked through the cardstock…a lot. So, I am anxious to receive my specialty cardstock to see how they do with it. That said, I used them on the next two cards and am very happy with them.

Shading & Texture

I used Distress Oxides on the first card to get some shading. As a result, I get a chalky look as is classic to them. I am not totally happy with the result so decided to go with Susan's collections of PanPastels; Coloring Kit #1, Coloring Kit #2, and Coloring Kit #3. Oh my gosh! They are wonderful! For example, do a comparison of your own between the leaves on the Bird of Paradise and the other two cards. I will be using these PanPastels on everything from now on!

If you are like me and have to have “all the things” it can be quite an investment. However, if you love or want to make gorgeous, 3D, life-like flowers for your cards then it is worth it in my opinion! Ok, let's go on to the other two cards.

Painter's Garden Pansy Card

Retirement card made using Pansy die set from the Painter's Garden Collection in Spellbinder's January Release
Retirement card made using Pansy die set from the Painter's Garden Collection in Spellbinder's January Release

Oh my gosh, there is so much to love about this card!

Having recently retired myself I know how very special it is to someone who is retiring. So, when I found out that my neighbor is retiring I knew that I needed to make an extra special card for her. Pansies are one of my favorite flowers and I thought that they would make a perfect retirement card for her.

Painter's Garden Pansy Card Background

The background is quite dramatic, however, it is very simple to achieve. To start, we'll spray a piece of dark green cardstock with a little water. And, we do this to keep the cardstock from cracking while being embossed. Then we'll place it inside an embossing folder with a beautiful design, and run it through our embossing and die-cutting machine. Once that is done we'll trim it down to 4″ x 5 1/4″.

Next, we'll trim a piece of gold mirror cardstock to 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and then use a 3 3/4″ x 5″ rectangle die to cut the center out creating a frame. And as a result, we can set aside the centerpiece to use on a future project.

Now, we'll fasten the embossed panel to a white A2 card base using a glue runner. And then, we'll pop up the frame using foam strips. HINT: Use a Misti stamp positioning tool to ensure that your layers are even with each other when you fasten them together. For example, place the card base into the Misti making sure that it is tight against the lower left-hand corner. Then apply the adhesive to the embossed layer and line it up with the lower left-hand corner and then fasten it to the card base. Repeat with the frame.

Assembling the Pansies

First, we'll die-cut pieces to make three pansies from white cardstock. Then we'll color them using alcohol markers. To get the colors just right, I look for photos online and then select markers that will produce the ones I choose to use. For this card, I use a combination of OLO markers and Copic Sketch markers and am very happy with the results. Another thing you can learn from photos of live flowers is odd little things like the white streaks and edges on the maroon pansy. For example, you can see the white on the maroon pansy on Susan's card in the video photo below and on my card as well.

Be sure to follow along with Susan while you're coloring so that you can pick up on her recommendations and tips. And after that, you'll want to follow her instructions on how to “mold” the flower and petal pieces.

Make the flowers first and then move them around on the card front until you find an arrangement that you like. For this card, I arrange them in the top two-thirds of the card which leaves enough space to draw attention to the sentiment.

To finish off the card we'll heat emboss the sentiment with gold embossing powder. And then pop it up with foam strips.

And that's it for this card.

Painter's Garden Pansy Card Supplies

The following list may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something by following a link on this page, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog.

Painter's Party Zinnia Card

Birthday card made using Zinnia die set from the Painter's Garden Collection in Spellbinder's January Release
Birthday card made using Zinnia die set from the Painter's Garden Collection in Spellbinder's January Release

Our final card features bright and beautiful zinnias sitting atop a basketweave background.

Painter's Garden Zinnia Background

Basketweave Background

To create the card we'll start with the background. First, we'll start by cutting 1/8″ and 1/4″ strips of kraft cardstock. Next, we'll trim a piece of copy paper to A2 size. Now, we'll turn the paper so that it is horizontal. And then, we'll run a glue runner along the edge of the short side on the left. And again, along the edge across the top.

Working from the top left corner of the copy paper, we'll attach the end of one of the 1/4″ strips horizontally a tiny bit more than 1/4″ from the top. Next, we'll attach another 1/4″, but this time we'll attach it at the top a little more than 1/4″ from the left-hand side.

Then we'll attach another 1/4″ strip horizontally right below the first one. At this point the vertical strip should be over the first horizontal strip and under the second one. Now we'll use one of the 1/8″ strips and attach it at the top to the right of the first vertical strip. But before it's fastened down we'll make sure that the strip is under the first horizontal strip and over the second one.

Now, we'll continue weaving and attaching the strips until we have the whole piece of copy paper covered. Next, we'll fasten the ends all the way around with liquid glue. And then we'll trim the copy paper and strips to slightly smaller than A2 size. And finally, we'll attach the basket weave to a white card base using liquid glue.

Die-cutting for the background

We're using the same fancy oval die that we use for the first card. But for this one, we're cutting it centered from an A2-size piece of white cardstock. And then, we're using the “frame” that we cut the oval from to create the frame for the basketweave. We'll save the oval for another project in the future.

To attach the frame we'll use liquid glue again. This will give some extra stability to the basketweave.

Assembling the Zinnia's

We'll create three zinnias using the same products (with different colors) that we do for the pansies and follow Susan's video for the technique.

One thing that I would have done differently with this card is to place the flowers slightly closer to the center of the basketweave.

We'll use a beautiful die to create the sentiment. Because of the delicate nature of the sentiment we'll die-cut the shadow four times from kraft cardstock. And, we'll layer them together using liquid glue.

Painter's Garden Zinnia Card Supplies

The following list may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something by following a link on this page, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog.

Comments Please!

Please leave a comment and let me know if see a difference between the first card and the last two. I'd love to know if you see any improvement with my new supplies.

Want More Card Inspiration?

Check out ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SPELLBINDERS’ NEW RELEASE? and learn how to create cars with foil and rainbows.

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