Concord & 9th—Pretty Petals x Triple Step Hi Card
Happy Tuesday, Crafters!
So sorry for a delay in posting, I’ve been working on some stuff behind the scenes that you’ll be seeing shortly! So please bear with me if my posting is a little sparse over the next couple weeks! I actually had this card mostly finished last week, but was waiting on my order of the new cardstocks and inks from Concord & 9th’s color release to finish it off! Now that I don’t feel the need to hoard cardstock so intensely, I was able to complete this card!
I wanted to play with the Pretty Petals die set from the In the Classroom: Color Edition event again, and I had the thought of using it on the ‘hi’ die cut from the Triple Step Hi bundle. This idea popped in my head when I noticed the shape of the Triple Step Hi flowers in the stamp set were kind of similar to those in the Pretty Petals die set. So I got to die cutting!
I really wanted to focus on color buddies for this card by using colors that I had two shades of. For the pink flowers, I die cut Dragonfruit cardstock with the larger four-petaled, spikey flower, and Carnation cardstock with the three-petaled spikey flower. For red, I die cut the small, tulip shaped flower out of Cranberry cardstock, and the leaves on it out of Poppy. The orange flower was die cut out of Clementine and Nectar, the yellow out of Sunflower and Buttercup, and the green bud out of Sprout and Artichoke cardstocks. The blue flower was die cut out of OGs Peacock and Aqua Sky, and the purple flower was die cut out of Fig and Lilac. All the stems were die cut out of Evergreen cardstock, and all little spikey filler flowers were die cut out of the darker shades of each duo.
I die cut the ‘hi’ out of plain white cardstock and got to fiddling around with floral placement. This layout was a little challenging to achieve since I was trying to make things feel as balanced (in layout and color) and organic as possible. I wanted stems to be coming in at different angles, and for them to alternate between the one with two leaves and the one with four, so there was a lot of rearranging on this element. Once I had a layout I liked, I glued it all down and got to thinking about the background.
After going back and forth on background colors, I decided to stick with a piece of Lemongrass cardstock. This color is so unique, and I feel like it pulls a little neutral here. It allows the ‘hi’ to pop but also complements the colors of the florals. I stacked two extra ‘hi’ die cuts up under the floral layer, and stuck it down on my card front. At this point, I was torn on leaving the card as a ‘hi’ with no embellishments. On one hand, I really liked the simplicity and impact of leaving the card as is. On the other hand, I thought it could use some sparkle. But let me tell you, sparkle was not it haha! I had this trouble when working with the Triple Step Hi before where I found it difficult to place sequins since it’s such a large, impactful sentiment. So, I pivoted.
What goes along with flowers better than bees?! Probably nothing haha. I pulled out the Sweet Bee bundle and created a couple bees with Buttercup cardstock, white cardstock and black ink. These bees are so darling, I love them! However, the only downside to using them was that I was unable to use the cute little bee trails that Concord & 9th included in the die set since I had already glued the ‘hi’ down. I placed the bees in differing directions, popped them up on thin foam squares, and stuck them down. This is another one of those cards where I feel a little insecure about it as a whole. I love the floral hi and the bees are so cute, but I just wonder if it’s ‘too much’ or ‘too plain’. But, I’m all about being vulnerable and sharing things even if I feel uncertain because I’m likely too in my head about it.
Well, that wraps up today’s post! I hope you enjoyed it and that it spread a bit of spring cheer your way! Thanks for stopping by the blog, I hope to catch you next time with more inspiration! 😊
