Another of the Chinese New Year Challenges was to make a card using Sunflowers. I found myself having to dig into my creative idea box because I don’t have a stamp set with sunflowers. I’m not even sure if I could find one in my stamp library at home. (Retired and non-Stampin’ Up!) Gee…I don’t dislike sunflowers, I even used to enjoy growing an assortment of different varieties, but I can’t remember having a sunflower stamp!

I ended up using the Butterflies and Flowers Layering Decorative Masks. I started with the flower center from Garden Wishes (actually a dandelion) done in Cinnamon Cider, then worked out from there, using the leaves from the Layering Masks to make the petals.

I used a mix of Daffodil Delight and Bumblebee inks. Then added a few Pear Pizzazz leaves. I did find when working with the masks that it was very easy to get ink smudges on my paper both from my fingers and from the masks themselves. I did use several post-it-notes on the masks to cover up the leaves that I didn’t want to use. It might have been better if I had washed the masks a few times while making the card, but as usual I was in a hurry, lol.

I tried to add in some cherry cobbler to the sunflower at the top left, but got the ink too dark. I looked at photos on the internet of sunflowers and many had hints of red in the petals. After doing the three sunflowers, I finished the card off by adding in a few of the other flowers from the masks using Blushing Bride and Calypso Coral.

There is a bit of Faux Suede ribbon wrapped around the card and then a swirl of gold ribbon under it with the greeting on top. The greeting is from the Expressions of Friendship Hostess set. The flagged die cut is from the Tasteful Labels Dies, I just got these on my last order and can’t believe that I overlooked these gems until now. AWESOME!

The Butterflies and Flowers Layering Decorative Masks are an intriguing mix of regular background masks and the layering butterfly and layering flowers. The masks are currently out of stock but should be available again in April so check back again. They are fun to experiment with.

Product List

Garden Wishes Cling Stamp Set [154408] $22.00	Expressions Of Friendship Host Cling Stamp Set (English) [158460] $13.50	Butterflies & Flowers Layering Decorative Masks [158142] $10.00
Tasteful Labels Dies [152886] $31.00	Early Espresso 1/4″ (6.4 Mm) Faux Suede Trim [152472] $6.50	Gold 3/8″ (1 Cm) Shimmer Ribbon [156470] $8.00
Blushing Bride Classic Stampin’ Pad [147100] $7.50	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin’ Pad [147101] $7.50	Bumblebee Classic Stampin’ Pad [153116] $7.50
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin’ Pad [147094] $7.50	Cinnamon Cider Classic Stampin’ Pad [153114] $7.50	Early Espresso Classic Stampin’ Pad [147114] $7.50
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin’ Pad [147104] $7.50	Blending Brushes [153611] $12.00	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] $4.00
Bumblebee 8-1/2X11 Cardstock [153077] $8.75	Cinnamon Cider 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [153078] $8.75	Basic White 8 1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [159276] $9.75