Cards as Gifts – A Beautiful Floral Gift Set

Hi friends! Today I’m bringing you a different style of post. So often we send cards to others for special occasions or accompanying a gift. What if the card was the gift…or in this case…a set of cards? This year I sent out so many handmade Christmas cards and I got lots of comments about how special it was to receive something handmade from me. So why not give something handmade that can be shared even further? Let’s talk about how to create a beautiful set of cards to give as a gift. This set will focus on a more feminine color scheme with florals but stay tuned. I’ll have a more masculine set to share in my next post.

I created this set as part of my Level 1 Educator Program challenge with Altenew. In this challenge, I am to incorporate at least three techniques from the Level 1 classes I completed and use one recycled element. I have listed the classes and how I was inspired below. My recycled element is the packaging from a card set I was gifted. Now I can use it to share handmade cards with someone else. The circle of crafting. A list of products and supplies used will be the end of the post.

Level 1 Class Inspo:

  • All About Layering 4
    • I used the technique of cutting up my floral images to create different looks
  • Let It Shine
    • I used gold embossing powder to stamp my outline images and sentiments for a little elegance and shine
  • Celebration Stencil Techniques
    • I used a cover die to create a stencil and then used the inked die cut on another card

First, let’s talk about a starting point. Sometimes you can be inspired by a particular set, a technique or a color palette. For this set, I started with stamp sets. I chose two sets with larger images that could be cut apart to create multiple A2 cards. This is a great time saving method. You can stamp and color one image and get two or more cards if you cut wisely. Altenew has some really great large stamp images that are perfect for this. I pulled out my Billowing Peonies and Cheerful Coreopses bundles because these have really large floral images that I can cut creatively to get multiple cards.

Next, I needed to choose a color palette. I sometimes struggle to pick color combos so my Color Cube bundle comes in handy during those times. I knew I wanted to create a gradient of color so I needed colors that would blend well together. Ultimately, I chose a combination of pinks, purples and blues. I pulled the inks that most closely matched the color card in both a light and darker tone.

With these larger stamps, it can be a challenge to use most stamping platforms. This was definitely a job for my Stampwheel 2.0 from Altenew. It’s large enough for these stamp sets and you can remove one of the sides to fit a full 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. That’s exactly what I did here to stamp and emboss each floral image.

  • Billowing Peonies large floral image
  • Cheerful Coreopses floral image
  • Versamark ink
  • Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder

To use embossing powder, you need a clear embossing ink like Versamark Watermark ink. I highly suggest using a stamping platform for this to ensure you get great results because you may have to stamp twice. You’ll notice in my images above that I didn’t get a great impression in the centers of a couple flowers but once I add the ink, it’s hardly noticeable.

  1. Place 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of Neenah Classic Crest 80lb cardstock into bottom left corner of Stampwheel 2.0
  2. Prepare the paper for embossing with anti-static powder
    • This step is very important to ensure your embossing powder doesn’t stick to areas you don’t want
  3. Position stamp on the paper and then pick up the stamp with the flip plate
  4. Ink up the stamp with Versamark, flip the plate and stamp onto the cardstock, pressing firmly across the entire stamp
  5. Remove the flip plate and check your results
    • You may have to pick up the platform and tilt to see the stamped results
    • Ink up the image and stamp again if necessary
  6. Remove the stamped cardstock from the stamping platform
    • Take care not to touch the stamped area
  7. Apply gold embossing powder over the stamped image
    • Dump the excess powder back into your storage container
    • Sometimes it’s helpful to flick the paper with your finger to bounce off any of the stubborn excess powder
  8. Melt the embossing powder with a heat tool
    • Tip: allow your heat gun to heat up for a minute or two before applying heat to your paper. This as well as keeping your heat tool moving over your paper will help to decrease warping.
  9. Allow the embossing to cool before moving forward in the process

Now comes the really fun part. Applying color! Both stamp sets come with stencils to color in the image. Guides are included with each set to help you line up the stencil correctly. I inked the images in Altenew Fresh Dye inks as detailed below with medium sized blending brushes

Billowing Peonies

  • Stencil 1
    • Hydrangea with a very light hand in the upper half of the stencil
    • Rubellite with a very light hand in the lower half of the stencil
      • blend up into the Hydrangea section to create a smooth transition
    • TIP: Pounce your blending brush onto your work surface after inking to knock back some of the ink when you are wanting a lighter tone
  • Stencil 2
    • Rubellite with a very light hand in the upper half of the stencil
    • Pink Pearl with a very light hand in the lower half of the stencil
      • blend up into the Rubellite section to create a smooth transition
  • Stencil 3
    • Blend in the same order as above but with a heavier hand to create a darker tone
    • Blend the sections into each other as before
  • Stencil 4
    • Blend in the same color order but with darker shades of each color with a lighter hand
      • Coral Bliss
      • Razzleberry
      • Andromeda
  • Stencil 5
    • Blend in the same color order as stencil 4 but with a heavier hand to create a darker shade
  • Stencil 6
    • Winter Lake with a light hand
  • Stencil 7
    • Arctic Mountain

Cheerful Coreopses

  • Stencil 1, 2 and 3 (A, B, A1, B1, C)
    • Hydrangea around the flower center blending darker closer to the center and then lighter as I blended outward
    • Pink Pearl over the rest of the petals as a base layer
    • Rubellite blended into random areas of the petal creating smooth transitions between the other colors
    • Coral Bliss in a few select areas just to darken the Pink Pearl
  • Stencils 2 and 3 (A2, B2, C1, C2)
    • Arctic Mountain
      • Once I removed the stencil, the flower centers felt too dark so I applied Lisa Horton Cloud 9 ink in Solid Gold over top of the Arctic Mountain and that knocked back the color but also gave it a gold shine
  • Stencil 4
    • Winter Lake over the entire stencil
    • Arctic Mountain near the flower petals as those areas would have some shadow

After coloring in my images with the stencils, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out on my Spellbinders Platinum 6 die cutting machine. Then I set those aside to create my card panels.

For the Cheerful Coreopses cards, I took two panels of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock cut to 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 inches. On one panel, I cut a background panel using my Cozy Flannel Cover Die. On the other panel, I used the Cozy Flannel background I just created as a stencil. I used Limestone Fresh Dye ink to create a subtle pattern for the background of my flowers. I cut each panel down a bit to 5 1/4 by 4 inches. This would allow for a white border around the edges when adhered to my A2 card base.

With my background panels done, I needed to figure out how I wanted to cut my floral image so that I got two cards from a single image. I placed the Cheerful Coreopses onto the cover die to get an idea of where I needed to cut. Holding the image in place, I flipped the die over and traced around the die to create a guide for where I wanted to cut. Then I used my Tim Holtz trimmer and cut the image along the pencil lines. This gave me three pieces to work with. I adhered those to my card panels as shown below and trimmed any excess. Then I adhered both panels to an A2 card base of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock.

Now that leaves our Billowing Peonies. I followed the same steps essentially but with a stencil only this time. I chose the Might Corners stencil from Altenew and the same Limestone Fresh Dye ink. The panels are both Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cut to 5 1/4 by 4 inches. For the first panel, I placed the stencil over the cardstock and then the Billowing Peonies image. This allowed me to determine where I needed to cut. I carefully removed the stencil from the card panel taking care not to shift my floral image. Then I flipped the panel and the image over as I did previously and traced where I needed to cut with a pencil. This gave me three pieces once again.

I stenciled the first panel so that pattern would peek out from behind the flowers. For the second panel, I was going to have flowers on the top and bottom of the card so I stenciled the pattern in the center of the card. Once the stenciling was done, I adhered the floral images as shown below to my card panels and then finally an A2 card base.

Obviously these cards are still missing something. A sentiment! I pulled out my Classic Greetings stamps and coordinating dies. I chose four different sentiments and stamped those in Versamark ink using my Misti Stamping tool. Then I embossed with the same Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder as my floral images.

I used my die cutting machine to cut those out with the coordinating dies. Using foam adhesive squares, I adhered those to my cards as shown below. These cards still needed a little something more so I used my Glass Slipper embellishment mix from Trinity Stamps to add some subtle interest.

Whew! Four cards….but if you really want to up the wow factor, you have to jazz up the insides. I always try to pull some element from the card front to the inside. In this case, I gold heat embossed a partial flower and another sentiment to four panels that I would adhere to inside. I used my Stampwheel 2.0 again for this step. You’ll notice I only have a photo of the Billowing Peonies inside card panels. Oops! You’ll see the final product for the Cheerful Coreopses in my finished photos. You get the idea though.

  1. Place the card panel onto the Stampwheel 2.0 platform and apply anti-static powder
  2. Place the sentiment and stamp image on the card panel
  3. Pick up the stamps with the flip plate
  4. Flip the plate and ink with Versamark ink
  5. Flip the plate again and stamp onto the card panel
  6. Repeat if necessary to get a good stamped impression
  7. Remove the panel and apply gold embossing powder
  8. Remove excess embossing powder and then heat the embossing with a heat tool

Once embossed, I adhered each panel to the inside of my cards using liquid glue.

To make this a gift set, I recycled the packaging from a set of cards I was given as a gift. It was the perfect size for A2 cards so I placed my cards inside along with four white A2 envelopes. Then I grabbed some ribbon in a color very similar to Razzleberry and tied a bow around the package. The clear packaging allowed the card design to shine through so I didn’t want to distract too much from that. I can’t wait to give this to someone special!

That’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed these cards and feel inspired to make a set of your own. A handmade gift always feels special to the recipient. Thanks for stopping by today. Now go get creative!

For more photos of the finished cards, keep scrolling to the end of this post. :)

**This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to shop, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps me to continue creating content for all of you. Thank you for your support! All products used in this post were purchased by me.

Products Used:

Supplies Used:

One Comment

  1. I honestly thought you took inspiration from my cards at first, as I’ve shared this exact color combination and technique before with the same set! I was so thrilled—only to scroll down and see you used some color inspiration instead, LOL! Your cards are absolutely lovely, and the added texture elements really elevate the projects. That said, a bit more work on the packaging could have been the cherry on top, though I totally understand wanting to keep it simple.

Comments are closed.