Explosion Sunflower Card

I found a terrific tutorial to create an explosion card - there are lost of projects using that name but that is how Nicole Wilson titled her card tutorial. 

A link to that tutorial can be found here on Nicole's blog. 

I used the Sunflower Sympathy stamp set and stamped and coloured 8 sunflowers. That took a LONG time! The flowers along with a few leaves were die cut and then the work began on the interior. The sunflowers had to be adhered together in a very specific way and I am the first one to say that although I followed the directions exactly, I had problems. Once the flowers are adhered, they are very tight to open. I had to do a mock up using printer paper (as suggested by Nicole) to see just how tightly they fit together. I was able to separate most of mine as I didn't want to have to stamp, colour and cut any more of them. I adhered them together a second time. They are tight inside and that is expected - the card opens only about half way to accommodate the flowers. 

I used some of the papers from the new Timber paper pack (available in July) for the inside lining and the front of my card. An extra flower was stamped, coloured and die cut, along with some leaves. I brushed the petals with the Gold Shimmer Brush and added a few sequins. I added some gold Stickles inside each of the sequins and around the centre of the flower. The last step was to stamp a sentiment inside and add a piece of cardstock to the back for a spot to write a message. 

This was fun to create but very time consuming with the extraordinary amount of colouring that had to be done. It's such a neat card when it is finished! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart: 

Paper: Timber Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Espresso Cardstock, Saffron Cardstock, Toffee Cardstock

Stamps: For My Beautiful Friend, Sunflower Sympathy

Inks: Intense Black, Toffee, Espresso

Accessories: Sunflower Sympathy Thin Cuts, Basic Banners Thin Cuts, Tri-Blend Markers, No Worries Sequins, Goldenrod Stickles, Gold Shimmer Brush 

Enjoy,

Alyson