Afternoon Tea Flower Pot Card

When I was blurfing (blog surfing, for those who aren't familiar with that term) yesterday, I came upon this card by Laura Fredrickson. So much fun going on here--color, pattern, detail, beauty. It made me think about what I could do with some coordinating designer paper to create something that would be just as enjoyable to gaze at. Besides, I need a birthday card!

The other catalyst for this card was a diaper fold pocket that I'd received in a swap. When I looked at it, thought, I saw a pot instead! I took a 6"x6" piece of the Afternoon Tea DP that has a distressed brown pattern on it and began folding until I had my pot. Then I had to come up with some flowers.

So I pulled out three patterns that I thought would make good flowers and stamped them using my Level 3 Hostess set, Time Well Spent. As I cut them I thought, how many patterns of DP can I incorporate into one card? I already had 2 with the pot, and 3 in use as flowers. Going back to the pack, I realized there is one side that's solid Wild Wasabi. Bingo, flower stems--that's 6! A patterned WW became the leaves and the seventh to be incorporated into the design. Amy Westerman would be proud!

The idea to place the pot on a windowsill came when I chose Soft Sky as the card base. The pot just looked blah sitting there out of context. So I set about to create one! The "screen" for the window is vellum that is stamped with the Linen background stamp using Close to Cocoa ink. The rest of the window is just created using 1/2" strips of Whisper White. Doesn't the open window conjure up a breeze in your imagination? It has been hot enough here that the only breeze I'm feeling is the cooled air blowing from the air conditioning vent, but I love cool breeze from an open window most!

I almost forgot! The eighth pattern I added to finish off the card is the curtain valence. I cut a 4"x2" strip and used my slit punch to create the scalloped edge.

The Afternoon Tea from the Occasions Mini is one of my all-time favorites, but there's one thing I don't like about it--it's only available until the end of the month! Get it before it's gone, gals. I'm not a good sharer!