Spring Flower Card

Every time I use my Make The Cut software, I get so excited about all the things I can do with it!  This time around I knew I wanted to make a floral card, but I wanted it to be something different.  This particular card is going to a school secretary who helped get everything set for our Floral Show last week.  She always goes the extra mile, so I wanted a special card for her.  Here is my finished product:

I left the flash off when I took the picture, hoping you would be able to see the bit of dimension better.  (I just adhered the center of the flowers to the base and popped the petals up some.)  Now unfortunately, I can't share the cutting file with you for this as the floral design is not mine.  But I will tell you how to make your very own!

The floral design itself is from the Lettering Delights Yours Truly collection (design #1).  And as luck would have it, Dollar Days is still going  on, so all SVG sets are only $2!  The circle is just from the basic shapes in MTC.  Now, let me tell you how I did this:

1. First, I "dummied up" a card base, by importing a basic shape rectangle and stretching it to 6" x 12".  I placed it at 0,0 (we're not going to cut this with MTC so it's OK to be outside the cutting area).
2. Next, I imported a basic shape circle and stretched it to 4".  I moved it to be centered between 7 and 11 horizontally, and 1 and 5 vertically.  I selected all shapes on the mat and joined them; this leaves a circle cut out of the rectangle.
3. I imported the SVG I wanted to use in the circle, then I sized it so it would touch the edges of the circle in spots.  I moved it to the bottom of the mat and used break to separate all of the shapes.  I grabbed to bottom piece and moved it back up into the circle, making sure to touch the edges in places.
4. Next, I selected all three pieces on the top half of the mat and welded them.  
5. Lastly, since we don't want to cut out the entire card base, I used break again then selected the outer rectangle only and deleted it.  This left only the circle and floral design in place, so when I was ready to cut I only had to place my 6"x12" cardstock on the mat and the design was cut out in the right place.

After I had the card base prepared, then I was able to separate the flower parts and group them on the mat by my selected colors.  As always, I changed the colors on the virtual mat to make it easier on myself.  To do this, you select the items you want to be the same color, right-click, and choose Change Color/Texture > Select Color...  This really helps me keep everything straight when working with more than a few pieces, and allows me to fit everything on one mat.  It's also great that I can use up my scraps because it's so easy for me to tell exactly what size of each color to place on the mat.

Finally, let me show you a little closeup of the flowers.  I sponged all of the edges with matching stamping ink for added dimension, along with popping up some of the petals.  All of the Cardstock and matching inks are from Close To My Heart - if you're interested the colors are Gypsy, Dutch Blue, Cotton Candy, Pear, Topiary, and Hollyhock.  All except the Hollyhock are "Summer" colors.  The Pear was used to line the inside of the card - I cut 2 pieces at 5.75" square and adhered them to each inside panel.  (I considered leaving the front "open", but didn't want the writing showing through, so I changed my mind!)

For just a little bling, I added some Stickles on the accents.  I used Cotton Candy on  the heart centers.  I didn't have a good matching green for the swirls, so I chose to go with Frosted Lace.  I added a stamped Thank You with a stamp from my stash.

Be sure to let me know if you have any questions about my tutorial / walk-through.  It's easier than it seems, and it may help to try it using some shapes from Basic Shapes first if you have trouble using a more detailed design!