Pretty tulips for two cards...

 I love tulips; they're such elegant flowers and come in so many wonderful colors. We have quite a lot of them planted in our yard, and it's always exciting to watch them bloom in the spring.

I recently purchased a die set that cuts a bouquet of tulips, and it is quickly becoming a favorite--especially when I need a quick card.

I had a scrap of cardstock on my desk that had been stamped with a lace design. It was a pretty scrap that had been given to me, so I decided to use it. I layered it onto some dark purple cardstock, and glued them both to a white card base on which I had adhered a panel of DSP in several shades of purple.

The sentiment was in my stash and was popped up with a thin foam strip.

I first cut the entire tulip image out of green cardstock and then did a bit of shading on the leaves and stems with some darker green ink.

Then the tulip blossoms and the bow were cut from lilac cardstock. I gave them a little dimension using a small blending brush and purple ink before gluing them to the green stem background.

I glued the bow and stems directly to the lacy-looking cardstock, but popped each tulip head up with a small dimensional.

On the inside I added a leftover strip of the purple DSP and stamped an open-font "Thank You." I used light and dark purple Prismacolor pencils to color the letters and give them an ombré look.

This card features the same tulips, but in blue. The front of the green-patterned card base was 1/2" narrower than the card back, so I added a strip of blue cardstock to the inner right side.

I cut a scalloped edge rectangle to frame my tulips, which were cut and colored using the same process as was used on the first card. This time, however, I didn't pop up the flower heads; I simply glued the entire bouquet to the white rectangle.

The "thank you" was stamped before I glued the tulips down.

I plan to make a multi-colored tulip bouquet in the near future. It will be a great way to use up some scraps of colored cardstock.

I stamped a simple sentiment on the inside to finish the card.

Both of these cards were put in my own personal card stash, as I had run out of thank you cards. I get so caught up in making sure I have enough cards to donate to the thrift store that I forget to make sure I have enough cards for me, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl