Flower Pot Meets Easel Card: Blooming Spectacular!

Get Well Card

A friend of mine was recently hospitalized for knee replacement (see more at bottom of the post). I was told by another friend of hers that she wanted flowers for her hospital room. I decided right there and then that I would have to give her a bouquet in a card! The first card that came to mind was a flower pot card. I've seen so many beautiful examples by my fellow CTMH consultants but had never created one. I found a tutorial on  Splitcoast Stampers. But as soon as I cut it out I knew it was going to be too small. It was then I decided to combine this pocket card with an easel card. Not only would that enlarge the size of the card, it would also allow for it to stand up so my friend could see it from her hospital bed. Perfect!

 Blooming Spectacular!

 Close to my Heart paper packs make this so easy for all the colors to go together flawlessly. This one is a retired paper called Florentine. No matter, any pack you choose would work beautifully!
The flowers were cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge. Which is my personal fav!
TIP: To make sure that flowers layer and don't just frame, cut 1/2 inch increments! Or do what I did, and look at a coordinating stamp set: Hooray Bouquet!

I really didn't plan to use the stamps since I was cutting on boarder and texture paper but I loved the shapes and knew those were the cuts I wanted. Having the cut sizes right on our stamps just shows we live up to our motto of making it simpler!  I did stamp one of the Hooray Bouquet's flower centers on scrap twilight blue card stock in Denim Blue ink and attached it the right flower. I also edged all the flowers lightly with a sponge in the same color. One flower has a sparkle brad from my stash and the last one is embellished with a Pewter Badge Button. I think these added just the right touch to the flowers.  Foam tape was used to pop up the layers of the flowers. I also slightly bent the petals of the flowers to give them more dimension.

Art Philosophy Cuts

All my cuts are done on Cricut Craft Room so I have some strange numbers. You can easily round if you are using your machine only!

Front left flower: cut at 2.75, 2.194, & 1.25 inches

Front right flower:

Background flower: cut at 2.25, 1.75 & 1 inch

Tag: cut at 2.056 

Before attaching the flowers to the slider panel for the flower pot, I glued them together using Bonding Memories glue in just a few overlapping places. Then I glued it to the front of the slider. Don't glue down the bottom petals of the flowers to the slider! Or you won't be able to have it slide all the way into the pot. I made sure I slid it into the pot a couple times and drew a line on the front of the slide to note where NOT to put any glue.
I've included a picture of the back of the slider just so you can see it. You could always add some stamping or paper to finish it more if you like.

Card front

After creating the flower pot, I covered it with our paper.  Using cut sizes from the easel card tutorial I cut a square of twilight blue card stock and stamped it with a wood plank background from our Universal Background stamp set. I used Denim Blue for the ink. The flower pot was then adhered to the card stock. I attached the tag using our foam tape after stamping Thinking of you from Casual Expressions stamp set. That set has fabulous sentiments for all types of cards, gifts, and scrapbooking. Oh, I forgot to mention how I decorated the top of the pot! I used the zip strip from the paper pack. I'm always amazed at how many ways those little bonus designs can be used!

Slider and inside of easel card!

The cool thing about this card is you can include several sentiments. On the slider I used three different stamp sets: A Blossom for the phrase, For Every Occasion has GET Well, & Words of Comfort for the petite flowers and where I got the inside Love and Hugs sentiment!  

Since I did stamp in this smaller space, I used the inside of the easel for my friends and I to sign our get well messages! 

In the photos below you can see that I also added some coordinating paper from the pack to make it a bit more finished on some of the folded areas. 

To hold the easel up you must attach some ribbon, card stock or dimensional. I choose to continue the flower theme and add our fantastic Colonial White Rosette Ribbon. Our ribbons are such a great value at 5 yards for $7.95! 

All of the card sides were edged in Denim Blue ink. This card was bigger than your typical A2 card so plan on making your own custom envelop.

More than just a hobby!

My friend, Shirley is now in rehab. She is overcoming a wound infection and working with her OT and PTs to soon Kick up her Heels! Your prayers for her continued healing would be appreciated.
She tells me she has had lots of compliments on the card and shown it off to her medical team! While the compliments are great, I am reminded how our crafting can add so much joy and support to those around us even when we can't be there with them. What a great hobby we all share!
~Sharon

Free Idea Book

Close to My Heart has just launched its new Spring/Summer 2013 Idea Book! There are great ways to save time and money by purchasing our coordinated papers and kits! 

Want one? Purchase $50 from online shop and I'll send you your very own Idea Book for free!

Purchase $70 and you can pick out a free ink pad or marker set. Just email me your choice of colors.

Have a fiesta with paper and celebrate your friends and family in your crafting! Check out our great new products or purchase a few old favorites from my online shop:

Idea Book

Sharon's Paper Fiesta online shop

Don't forget to like my Facebook page!