September Stamping Project: Sunflower Blessings

My brother is finally seeing the results of all his careful tending of his sunflowers this summer - bright, beautiful blooms. I was thinking of him when I designed this card since we're both autumn babies. Fall itself, despite all its splendid colours, tends to get lost between back to school, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Of course I'm partial to the new designer series paper in the 2017 Stampin' Up holiday catalogue and couldn't wait to order some. In this card we can take advantage of the watercolour look of the Painted Harvest set and do some two step stamping.


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Supply list for two cards

• Very Vanilla 8.5x11" cardstock (2 sheets or 1 sheet and scraps)
• Painted Autumn DSP (green striped sheet)
• Early Espresso ink
• Crushed curry ink
• Daffodil Delight ink
• Sahara Sand ink
• Garden Green ink
• Wild Wasabi ink
• Leaf Punch
• Mesh stamp from Best Birds
• Sunflower stamps from Painted Harvest
• Sentiment stamps from Count My Blessings
• Adhesive, Stampin' Sponges and Stampin' Dimensionals plus scissor snips

1. Score an 8.x5x11” sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock down the middle. Do not fold. Cut in half to make 2 4.25x5.5” card bases.
2. Stamp all over the front of the cards with the mesh stamp from Best Birds in Sahara Sand ink.
3. Load up a Stampin' sponge with Sahara Sand ink and sponge around the edges and towards the top of the card front.
4. Cut one 3.25x8.5" panel from the green striped sheet from the Painted Autumn DSP package and cut in half to make two panels sized 3.25x4.25". Adhere each panel to the card front aligned to the bottom centre of the card front.
5. Stamp the "When I count my blessings" sentiment stamp on the inside of each card in Early Espresso ink.
6. On another sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock or a large scrap piece, stamp the "Thinking of you" sentiment stamp twice from Count My Blessings in Early Espresso.
7. I freehanded the banner shape - draw very lightly around the sentiment and cut out. Sponge around it with Sahara Sand.
8. Here's where you can really utilize your Very Vanilla scraps - we all have that box of them! Load up the more solid leaf and stem shape from Painted Harvest with Wild Wasabi ink and stamp 7-8 of them. Then load up the other leaf and stem shape with garden green and carefully stamp on top of the other stamped image. Punch each one out with the Leaf Punch.
9. Again on Very Vanilla, stamp the more solid sunflower shape with Daffodil Delight ink six times. Load up the other sunflower shape with all the petals with Crushed Curry and carefully stamp on top of previous image. Stamp the centre with Early Espresso. I used a brown marker to fill in the centre more, by the way. Fussy cut out each sunflower with scissor snips.
10. Time to assemble the rest of the card. Adhere the punched leaf shapes at the top of the green striped panel and save one for below the sunflowers. Adhere two sunflowers side by side and then use one or two Stampin' Dimensionals for the flower on the middle. Then adhere the banner down and you're done!

Well, winter's chill is on the doorstep, so stay tuned for some wintery greetings next time!