Floral Wreath

 When I am creating pretty flowers with Susan's Garden Notes dies, I don't have to think about all the snow outside.  Today I had fun creating Lilacs, Cosmos and Peonies.  Susan's Garden Notes Square Grapevine Wreath was die cut twice and layered.  The flowers were arranged around the left side of the wreath.  A few pieces of the Elizabeth Craft Designs Leafy Branch were tucked in behind the flowers.

Els van de Burgt Stitched Oval was used to stamp Susan's "Gardeners" Seeds of Thought.  Before taking the die cut out of the die,  Spun Sugar Distress Ink was sponged around the edges.  The oval was attached with dimensional tape.

One of Susan's CountryScapes Nantucket Picket Fence die cuts was tucked back behind the flowers and under the stamped oval.  Several Butterflies and Ladybugs were die cut, using dies from the Garden Notes Bugs & Butterflies die set, and attached to enjoy the beautiful flowers.  The family's black cat was die cut from the CountryScapes Country Critters 1 die set.  On the upper right corner, one of Els Small Butterfly die cuts was added. 

I thought I would show you how I complete the inside of my cards.  Unless you purchase a very heavy card stock, it is hard to get a card to stand.  I use 100 lb card stock then cut an additional square to glue to the inside of the card, to make it stronger.  For a decorative insert, I like to use Els van de Burgt's largest Stitched Square, but you can just cut a piece of card stock, slightly smaller than the size of your card, and attach it to the inside.  When you create a card, you usually have more than one layer on the front of the card, which makes it strong, so by adding the additional piece of card stock on the inside, your card will have plenty of strength to stand up for display.

The following products are from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

1134 - CountryScapes Nantucket Arbor & Picket Fence
1140 - Garden Notes Grapevine Wreath Square
996 - Garden Notes Peony
1136 - Garden Notes Cosmos
1017 - Garden Notes Lilac
1011 - Garden Notes Bugs & Butterflies
RS027 - Seeds of Thought  Gardeners
989 - CountryScapes Country Critters 1
1072 - Small Butterfly
1033 - Leafy Branch
1113 - Stitched Ovals
1118 - Stitched Squares
1158 - A Way With Words Dream