Cloud 9 Blog Hop - September 2012

Hello,
Today is the 9th of September which means it is time for the Cloud 9 Blog Hop.  I am so excited and honored to be a guest member of the inspiration team this month.  Thanks to the wonderful inspiration team for their support!  I hope you play along with us as you could very well become next month's guest inspiration team member or win some wonderful prizes!

This month Suzanne chose a lovely photo from Pinterest for our inspiration: 

I loved this photo as soon as I saw it!  I was especially drawn to the beautiful flowers on the table!  I also liked the earth tones in the hillside, the dark colored trees, and the grayish blue tone to the sky.  I actually had lots of ideas and possible "jumping off" points for cards.  In the end this is what I came up with using the new Quilts Cuts 1 dies:

 

My card base is Oatmeal cardstock from WPlus9.  I ADORE this cardstock!!!!

  For my background I used the Country Charm stamp set and some versamark ink to make a grid pattern.  I then added the Pretty Patches: Apple gingham heart in grey ink to the spaces in the grid.

I wanted a "country" feeling to the background which I felt went with the gorgeous inspiration photo.

I then made my flowers and placed them each on a lovely WPlus9 "pinking square" die cut made from pink felt.  For those of you that would like to know how I created the flowers I have included a picture tutorial in this post below...if you are not interested please skip to the bottom of this post...

Here are my pictures and instructions for the flowers:

Using the Quilt Cuts 1 Die: Cut the "C" die 3 times and the "A" die 1 time out of your choice of papers.

 Take 1 of the "C" flower die cuts and leaving all of the pieces within the diecut place tape on the back to hold the pieces in place in the middle only.

 Then flip the diecut over and fluff up the petals with your fingers so that the edge of the diecut flower is visible.  (I love this look and you could add a center to it and stop right here if you want to!)

Next use 4 petals from one of the 2 remaining "C" diecuts and stick them to the top of the flower with a glue dot.  I used a "craft-sized" glue dot for this step.  The picture (above) shows another craft-sized glue dot added to the top of these petals for the next round of petals to be added...

 Repeat this step with another 4 petals (or as many as you would like for the "fullness" of the flower).
Here I am showing you a gray flower with 8 petals added so far to the original main flower (the one with the scotch tape on the back or bottom).

 Next take 4 petals from the 3rd "C" die cut and snip a portion off of the petals.  Arrange these in the center of the flower again using a glue dot.

 Finally glue the center circle from the Quilt Cuts 1 "A" die to the middle of the flower after distressing it with your fingers.  Then top with a mini rose flower and fluff all of the petals up towards the middle shaping them with your fingers until you have the desired look and dimension you want.  You can use the end of a paintbrush to further shape your petals if you want to.

 As a final step take the leftover outline from die "C" and glue dot it to the back of the flower alternating the petals so you get a nice look - see photo below:

This is the finished flower.  I will sometimes add ink, glitter or gloss to the flowers but for this particular card I chose a simple look which I felt was more in keeping with the inspiration photo.  After completing the flowers I stamped and fussy-cut the leaves from the "Fresh Picked" stamp set to finish my card.  I also chose a sentiment from "Spring Tags" and stamped it on a tiny tag I had on my desk.  I usually make "dimensional" cards for gifts that I will be delivering in person.  This card fits nicely in a pink paper bag that I ordered from ETSY and it going to a dear friend with a birthday gift.

I hope you join in the fun for this month's Cloud 9 hop!  In addition to the opportunity to become next month's Guest Member of the Inspiration Team, you could also win a $25 gift certificate to Wplus9 donated by the lovely Dawn Woleslagle! 

 I {heart} Papers is also offering up a $20.00 prize this month and they are now carrying WPlus9 products in their store. 

 I am looking forward to seeing what everyone creates this month!  There are always so many wonderful projects to enjoy! 

Thanks again to the Cloud 9 Blog Hop Team!  I so enjoyed being a guest member of the Inspiration team this month! 

Happy Hopping Everyone!

:)  Jill

Supplies: 

Cardstock: Oatmeal - WPlus 9; and blush

Designer Paper:  Kaisercraft

Stamps:  WPlus9 Design Studio: Country Charm, Pretty Patches: Apple, Fresh Picked, Spring Tags

Ink: versamark, gray

Dies: Quilt Cuts 1, Pinking Squares clear cut stackers - WPlus9 Design Studio