Shabby Floral Tent Card + a Tutorial!

Hi everyone! I'm back today with a pretty spring project using some of my favorite dies from Karen Burniston and Tim Holtz. Sizzix is having a huge sale this weekend and this Cabinet Card die is one of my favorites. I thought I'd experiment with a new way to use it - a tent card with a window that folds flat for mailing, but expands into a 3D scene. Cool, right?

I also wanted to experiment with making flowers using Distress Oxide ink and coffee filters. I used Karen Burniston's flower dies and I was absolutely thrilled with how they turned out! I took pics along the way to show how I made them (and the card). Read on to see how it all came together.

Begin by cutting the edges off of a cone-type coffee filter and separating the two pieces. Press Distress Oxide ink pad onto a nonstick craft sheet to dispense ink in a small area. Spritz the ink with water and lay the filter into it, spritzing with more water as necessary. Crumple the filter and wipe up all the ink. The filters are super absorbent and take the ink well.

Dry the filters with a heat gun. They'll be wrinkly, but will smooth out later. And don't worry about any texture that might be on the filter - it disappears after the flowers are cut.

 Stack two filters and cut several flowers, using dies from Karen Burniston's Flowers and Bee die set.

Without separating the flowers, stack a small flower on top of a larger flower, punch hole and insert stamens (you can find a tutorial for how I made my stamens in this post from a few years ago). Add a dab of glue to the back and cover with tiny flower. This will keep the stamens intact and hold the flower together. When dry, separate and fluff the petals, as you see in the flower on the right.

To create the tent card, cut a frame from a piece of heavy green cardstock using the small cabinet card die nested inside the larger one. Scrape DecoArt crackle paste over it and let dry. Meanwhile, cut a piece for the back of the card from the cabinet card die (remove the movers and shapers die). Add the decorative background piece (an ATC sized panel from Tim Holtz's Wallflower collection). Trim as needed. Cut a piece of kraft cardstock measuring 3 3/8" x 2" and score every half inch. Also cut a small piece from Kraft cardstock to use as a hinge for the top.

Adhere the accordion scored piece as shown above.

Adhere the paper dolls to the center accordion fold. Rub word band with white Distress crayon to highlight the words and attach to the bottom of the card. Attach the hinge at the top. Finally, add your flowers and leaves and a glittery swallow, cut from glitter paper using the bird die from Karen Burniston's Outdoor Scene set.

How pretty are these flowers?! I just love the softness of the filters and the bold color from the Distress Oxide ink. And they look quite a bit like my inspiration - the forsythia bush in my yard that's blooming like crazy right now.

In My Garden is the theme over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge blog this week, and I just happened to take this picture this morning, which inspired my whole card!

Here you can see that this folds completely flat for mailing. How sweet would this be for a birthday card that doubles as a gift?! I can think of so many fun ways to use this die idea. Feel free to share yours in the comments!

The supplies I used can be found at Sizzix, Karen Burniston, and Simon Says Stamp via the links below. Make sure you check out the other amazing Tim Holtz dies that are on sale at Sizzix this weekend!


Thanks so much