Hollyhocks

Today I designed a card using Susan's Hollyhock die set.  

This is a 5x7 inch card.  Using a white piece of cardstock, I used an old circle die to die cut a circle opening in the top portion.  The Alternew Basic Plaid 3D embossing folder was used to emboss another piece of white cardstock.  A brown ink pad was rubbed over the embossed design, then attached behind the circle opening.  These pieces were attached to the front of the card.

Using the Hollyhock die set, the flowers were die cut using Susan's Specialty white cardstock.  The base of the the petals was colored with a yellow marker.  Next, a burgundy marker was used to draw thin lines up toward the end of the petal making sure to leave the very center yellow.  Next a bright pink marker was used to add color over the burgundy strokes.  As a final touch, a fineline bright pink marker was used to draw very fine lines over these colors.  Using the small loop tool from Susan's Flower Tool Kit, the petals were shaped.  They were assembled using Bearly Art Glue.  

I found a picture of a hollyhock I wanted to duplicate, on the Internet.  I tried to duplicate the stamen.  The Hollyhock die set die cuts the stamen along with the petals.  Since they were white, I needed to color them yellow.  I used my Waffle Flower Media Mat to place all the stamens on and used one of the Picket Fence Brushes to brush on yellow ink.  The mat holds all the stamens down, which makes it quick and easy to color each side.  This is much faster than coloring each one with a marker.

To create the stamen, Bearly Art Glue was added to the bottom band plus each round portion of the stamen.

When the stamen was rolled, the three stamens line up and with the glue on each one, they were pressed together to create just one stamen.

Holding the stamen at the base with tweezers, the round portion was dipped down in glue, then dipped down in the yellow pollen.  This created one large stamen.  

The stems were attached to the front of the card and the flowers glued on.  The stamens were then added in the center of each flower.  The leaves were die cut using watercolor paper, colored, shaped, then added to the hollyhock stems.  A Ladybug was die cut, which is found in the Forget-Me-Not die set, colored, shaped and added to one of the leaves.  Clear Crystal Glaze was added.

One of the sentiments of from Susan's Through The Garden Gate stamp set was stamped using VersaFine black ink, die cut, and attached with dimensional tape.  Pearls and a dragonfly from my stash was added to finish the card.