Happy Independence Day to our American readers! Emily here today with a fairly non-traditional take on some projects that would normally be full of fireworks and patriotic sentiments. I started one of those projects… and let me tell you, it did not end well. I’ve learned that, when my creativity is a little stunted, flowers are my most fluent creative language. I don’t decorate at my home a whole lot for specific holidays (Christmas being the obvious exception), BUT I do change up my flowers to suit the season. (Pinks and whites for spring, deep vibrant colors for summer, maroons for autumn, etc.) So, I decided to start with coloring some peonies and see where I got.

My first project most definitely did not reinvent the wheel. I don’t usually go in much for “Americana” colors… I’m just a pastel-y kinda gal. But I wanted to do something crafty to celebrate our country’s Independence Day, and like I said, flowers are my language. I absolutely adore peonies in all colors, and I’ve not colored red peonies in quite a while, so I thought I’d give it a shot with the gorgeous Peony Garden Background. I first embossed with white embossing powder, then grabbed three red Zig markers. I used the two darkest on the large flower, and the two lightest reds on the smaller flower. I added some navy blue background and deep green leaves, then trimmed the panel down to fit an A1 size card. The sentiment, from Graceful Rose, was heat embossed on a strip of vellum, which I folded around the watercolored floral panel. The final finishing touch was two strips of glossy silver glitter paper added to each of the long edges.

Once I had gotten going with the patriotic color schemes, I couldn’t stop. My next card uses the Geometric Lattice Cover Plate die to create a blended background that George Washington would be proud of. (Okay, that might be a bit of hyperbole, but still….) Using your cover plates to create a stencil is super simple: first, die cut as you normally would using some sort of lightly sticky adhesive backed paper or masking paper. (I used Post It paper.) Adhere your masking paper to your card stock, then begin your blending. I used my new stencil brushes to create this super subtle and seamless patriotic blended background with Lipstick Red and True Navy inks. I loved the red peonies from my first card so much that I wanted to color a second peony, this time using the partially closed peony from Loose Peonies. I used my two darkest red Zig markers and a wet paintbrush to create the blending and shadows. Now, time for the sentiment. I don’t really send 4th of July cards…. so I decided to make this one a birthday card in honor of our country’s birthday. “You’re so old… it’s cray cray” made me laugh really hard the other night, and I thought it would be appropriate for our country’s 240th birthday. (It’s okay, you can laugh at my gentle comedy. 😉 Wait, maybe it’s not funny if I have to explain….) The sentiment is from It’s Cray Cray and was heat embossed on a piece of vellum.

After arranging my flowers in the corner the way I wanted them, I adhered my Glass Slippers sequins onto my vellum panel before I adhered the vellum down on my blended card base. That way, I had somewhere to put my adhesive other than behind my peony. I put a few little dabs of adhesive down and left it alone.

I hope you’re all having a marvelous 4th! Have lots of fun, food, and fireworks! 🙂