Paper Smooches April Guest Designer, week 3 (pic heavy)

Happy Thursday! I can't believe it's already the third week of my term as April's guest designer for Paper Smooches Stamps. I guess time truly does fly when you're having fun! Today I'm here to show you the cards that Kim featured on the blog yesterday. The first card, I made intending to be a wedding card, but you could also use it as a retirement card for someone special. Now for the paper yummies:

I created this card using the large "flower" from the Potpourri set, and the solid circle (sun/moon) from the Get Outta Town set. I stamped the large flowers in white ink, then stamped the circle four times in each center using navy ink. With a craft knife, I cut each flower out completely. I adhered a layer of navy polka dot paper under the kraft cardstock, filling in the negative space. Then I adhered only the center of each flower back in it's respective place. I curled each petal up, and added a pearl to each center. Here's a close up:

I combined two sentiments from the Simply Said set, and stamped one in white and the other (embossed) in navy. You can see that here:

I just love that patterned paper peeking through from behind the flowers.

And speaking of flowers, here is the second card Kim featured this week. I actually made two versions of this card, and the first is the one featured on the Paper Smooches blog:

To create the flowers on this card, I lightly free-handed some stems with a pencil to figure out my placement. Then, I used the solid heart stamp from the Pretty Momma set to make a flower, stamping the heart eight times per color. I stamped the sentiment from Simply Said, then erased the parts of the pencil lines that intersected the sentiment. I used green thread to machine stitch stems over the remaining pencil lines, and added a matching button to the center of each flower.

Now, let's just pause here for a moment, and let me issue an official

***SQUEAL ALERT***

for the second version of this card. No, really. I must.

Okay...are you ready?

I HEART THESE POM POMS!!! I made them using baker's twine, and just love everything about them! They match PERFECTLY and just add a little squeal factor to these flowers. And they were super simple to make. I used this tutorial that's all over Pinterest. Here's another view:

And the sentiment/stems:

Alright - thanks for sticking with me through all those pics! Have a great day!

Card 1 is playing along here:

Cupcake Craft Challenges #188: In the Deep End

Paper Pretties Monday Challenge: Embossing (I heat embossed the navy sentiment)

Paper Sundaes Challenge 116: Anything Goes

Card 2 is playing along here:

Lily Pad Cards Flower Challenge

Mojo Monday 237 Sketch

Ooh-la-la Creations Challenge 103: Bold & Bright

Pile It On #16: Pop It Up (I popped buttons up onto the middles of the pompom flowers)

The Ribbon Carousel Challenge RCC49: Color-a-licious with Totally Stampalicious

Sweet Stampin' Challenge: Girly But No Pink