Howdy! Happy Summer everyone! I hope you are enjoying warm and sunny days. I just cannot believe that Summer is here, it came so fast and believe me, it’ll be Christmas before we know it!

Class No. 4 is here! I am so super exited about this one though. For this class I chose Elements of Floral Composition held by Jaycee Gaspar and honestly, this has been the absolute best class I’ve taken so far! There are no words to describe this course; Jaycee is an amazing instructor and this class is so informative and helpful for any card maker and/or scrapbooker. This class is accessible on Altenew website, please click HERE, and if you would like to check out other classes that Altenew offers please click HERE.

In this class Jaycee talks about seven elements of floral composition, and for each element there is a class where you can see how to incorporate those elements in your designs. Now, you do not have to use all elements on one card nor every card has to contain alI 7 elements. I truly felt inspired by this course and wanted to push a bar little further. I created two cards for you today and both of them contain all 7 elements!

Before I begin, these are the 7 elements of floral composition: 1. Color; 2. Value; 3. Line; 4. Shape; 5. Form; 6. Texture; 7. Space. Now, I will not be explaining each element here today, but only show how I incorporated them in my cards. This class is available on Altenew website and it is called Elements of Floral Composition (click HERE).

I looked through my stash of unused, brand new stamp and die sets and there was one set that I’ve been meaning to use for a long time: Perfectly Polish Creativity Card Making Kit.

I first created sketches for my cards. As I mentioned before, I love doing this, it helps me visualize my designs better and most importantly, I move much faster and it helps me stay on track!

I first started off with creating grids for my slimline and A7 cards. This is used for element No. 7 – Space, and I wanted to have my grids ready to go. I simply cut two pieces of acetate, one for a slimline and one for an A7 card. These grids match sizes of my card panels and I can always use them in the future. I simply measured and drew lines on acetate with a permanent marker. After that was done, I moved to my first card!

These colors are my project inspiration for today. I love the combination of these three colors that Jaycee used in his lesson, and the element No. 1 – Color.

For this card I used small stamps in the set. This is anther way that to stretch your stamps. You don’t necessarily have to use them how they are intended, but use a little critters and make them a focal point of your card. Since these images are small, I used leftover paper to stamp my images. This is a great way to use up your paper scraps. I used a small stamping block and stamp bunch of these images. I stamped way more than I actually needed, but I always like to stamp more and not use it than having to pull out my supplies and do it again. For the 2nd element – Value, I used a blending brush to create gradient look on my leaves. After all my stamping was done, it was time for die cutting. To die cut all my little images I used a Mini Blossom Die Cutting Machine by Altenew. This is a wonderful little tool to have for quick die cutting. Once my cuts were ready, it was time to create an arrangement. For dimension I used foam squares and this took care of the element No. 5 – Form. I simply put my grid that I made earlier on my card panel and secure them on my work surface with a piece of washi tape. I put three big flowers in a triangular shape first, which is element No. 4 – Shape, and from here I simply build up. Once I was happy with my arrangement I picked it up with a piece of Glad Press n’ Seal and put it aside. Next, it was time for the element No. 6 – Texture. Did you know that you can use your stencils for dry embossing? Well, if you didn’t, know you know! This leaves such a nice impression on your card stock and gives a lot of cool interest to your overall design. And, of course, one more way to use stencils and stretch your supplies! Next, assembly. I glued everything together with some liquid glue, put on a sentiment strip that I created a while back in one of my previous blog posts (if you haven’t seen this, please click HERE). I then embellished my card with some jewels and the card was done!

I am now moving to the second card. These are the supples I used to create this card:

This card was super quick to assemble since there was no stamping included. I first took my card panel and created some texture (element No. 6). For this I used the 3D embossing folder. Now, this embossing folder is smaller that my card panel and to completely emboss my panel I had to do some partial embossing. For this you will have to do the same thing as you would with partial die cutting. Make sure that your top plate is not completely coveting your panel and put it through a die cutting machine; then make sure you overlap your panel just a little bit with the design of your embossing plate, put it through a die cutting machine and that is it! Perfect results every time! I then die cut all the little pieces which took care of three elements: No. 1 – Color, No. 2 – Value & No. 5 – Form. I used my grid to help me arrange my die cuts (element No. 3 – Line & element No. 7 – Space). I then put my sentiment strip, trim off the excess and glued everything on a card base. I embellished my card with some jewels and the card was completed!

This wraps up this Class No. 4. I am so pleased how these cards turned out and I hope you like them too. If you have any questions and/or suggestions please leave a comment below and don’t forget to connect on social media.

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See you next week with some new, cool stuff! Cheers!