A Little Bit Floral - Dahlia

Hi there.  I was asked by a friend to make a card for a lady's 90th birthday, and as the Dahlia is a good Autumn flower - believe it or not I have actually seen some still in flower - and having a rather nice Sheena Douglass Dahlia stamp from a set called A Little Bit Floral.  I decided that was the one to use.  You will see from previous posts that I am a big fan of Sheena's stamps, as they make a good centrepiece little else is needed.                                                                                                                                

For this card I used:

Peachy Pink Pearlescent Card (A4 folded)
Pink Glitter Card
Floral Paper 
Peachy Pink Vellum with a good weight
White Stamping Card
Promarker Pens in Rose Pink, Ruby Red,
Lime Green and Forest Green
Memento Dye Ink -London Fog
Versamark Ink
WOW Silver Embossing Powder
Stamps:  A Little Bit Floral - Dahlia and Docrafts Sentiment
and Numbers 
Xcut Oval Nesting Dies
Nellie's Border Dies
Freebie Embossing Folder with Flowers and Butterflies                
Pinflair Glue Gel
Bone Folder

I started by stamping the Dahlia flower twice, and  the bud and leaves on white card using Memento London Fog and coloured with the Promarkers.  The flower consists of three layers.   As a tip for very mean crafters like myself, for the bottom layer I cut the very centre of the flower and a few small leaves off one image to use as the very top layer, and for the middle layer I used the second image with the outside leaves cut away, so that when layered the cut away piece on the base layer doesn't show at all, which means you don't have to stamp a third image.  I layered the base card with the floral paper and the glitter card which I edged with the Nellies Border Dies, and then cut the vellum with the Xcut Oval Die and embossed it; but unfortunately this doesn't show up in the photo.  I stuck the vellum to the glitter card using Pinflair Glue Gel in the centre so that it can't be seen when the flower is layered on top. The flower was also layered using the Glue Gel and  I curved the flower with a bone folder prior to assembly to give it some shape.   Finally I stamped the sentiment on some of the peachy pink card using Versamark and heat embossed with Silver EP, and using one of the Xcut Oval dies to cut it out, stuck it in place with Glue Gel.

It's always a bit worrying when making a card for someone else to give that they will be happy with the finished result, but flowers are usually a safe option.  Luckily Judith who asked me to make the card was pleased with the result, and hopefully the lady whose 90th birthday it is will like it too.