Wishing You Joy

Ellen Hutson's October Mix It Up challenge is to combine one or more products from the Essentials by Ellen line with something by WPlus9. I used the "Mondo Magnolia" stamp & dies, along with the "joy" die from WPlus9's "Seasonal Sentiments." A friend of mine has a birthday tomorrow, so I created this birthday card for her.

I stamped the flower in "Mondo Magnolia" on 90 lb. watercolor paper for the largest section, and 140 lb. watercolor paper for the middle & inner sections. (There was no special reason for the 2 different weights of watercolor paper. I just ran out of the 90 lb.) I used Versafine Onyx Black ink for the 2 larger sections, and a combination of Memento Dandelion & Pear Tart dye inks for the center. Then I die cut each section with the coordinating dies. I also die cut 3 pieces of cardstock for each of the middle & inner pieces, so I could adhere them together to pop the sections up slightly when I layered them.

For the outer & middle sections on the flower, I added some subtle shading with Antique Linen Distress ink, applied like watercolor. Then I glued all the pieces together.

I chose 2 patterned papers from my scrap stash. I cut the green woodgrain paper to 4.25x7", and cut the green leaf piece to fit on the bottom, cutting the top edge at an angle. I adhered the leaf piece to the woodgrain, then die cut the "joy" from the panel. I also die cut the "joy" 3 times from dark green cardstock. I glued those 3 together, one on top of the other, then glued the woodgrain die cut that I'd done on top. After matting the background panel with a piece of kraft cardstock, I glued my "joy" die cut in place. I also glued down the magnolia, letting it hang off the card slightly.

To finish the greeting, I created two .5x3" blank "canvases" in Photoshop, then typed the words on those. I printed those onto a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and cut the strips out. I adhered them to the card front, above & below the "joy." All that was left was to adhere the finished card front to a 4.5x7.25" card base.