Dogwood branch with Robin

Some of the first things you see in the Spring are beautiful Dogwood trees and Robins.  Today I designed my card using Susan's new Dogwood die set from Spellbinders.

This is a slimline card.  For the background, I used the Pinkfresh Slim Diagonal Stripes die.  I die cut it twice and reversed the bottom die cut to create diagonal stripes.  

I love dogwood trees.  I have tried several times to have one in my yard, but so far have not had luck having one that blooms.  The next best thing is to create pretty cards with dogwoods.

Using the dogwood die set, I die cut enough flower petals to create twelve flowers. I used Susan's Specialty cardstock from Spellbinders.   A marker was used to color the small indention in the end of each petal.  Green PanPastel was used to color the base of all the petals then they were shaped using the loop tool that is in Susan's Flower Tool Kit.  The petals were pressed down in the center, on the molding mat, to 'cup' them.  There are two size petals, so they were separated until ready to assemble.

When I was working on the stamens, I decided you might like to see my technique.  I do this different than Susan, who rolls the stamen then dips the tips in glue, then in the Prills.  After using scissors to cut each of the four spokes in the stamen in half, I dip the tips in glue, then in the Prills.  Once the Prills have dried on the stamen, I roll it.  It it now easy to spread the tips out.  In the picture above, I have the Prills in a little bead tray.  By adding the Prills before the stamen is rolled, I found each spoke will stay separated.  When I rolled them, then added the Prills, they ended up being in one big clump.  The flowers look great with either technique.

Here is a closeup to show how the Prills are just on the tips of the separated stamens.

The Dogwood die set has a small branch die but I wanted a long branch for this slimline card.  I decided to use the branch die from Susan's Winter Bough and Evergreen Shrubs die set.  I love using this branch for many of the different flowers you can create with Susan's die sets.    Two branches were die cut and sponged with green and brown inks.  They were attached across the top of the card.  The Dogwood flowers were attached, then the stamens glued in.  The leaves were die cut using watercolor paper, colored, shaped and attached to the branch.

The Woodland Wreath & Feathered Friends die set was used for the bird die cut.  It was colored to look like a Robin, then attached with dimensional tape to one of the branches.  

Susan's Spring Quotes clear stamp set was used to stamp the quote.  It was stamped using black VersaFine Ink and clear embossed. I used a die from my stash to die cut the quote then sponged matching ink around the edges to help it stand out on the white background.  It was attached under the branch, using dimensional tape.