I made this card for my mother-in-laws birthday using a free pack of Prima papers I got in an Australian cardmaking magazine. They’re gorgeous, and perfect for vintage style cards.

This card was very simple – it was a matter of cutting the centre paper to the width and length I wanted, then cutting a contrasting paper for the top and bottom.  I’d decided to do a decorative strip (in black) along the top, to give it a touch of elegance.

Once I’d put all the papers together and added a strip of muted pink pearls along the joined edges on the top and bottom, I was ready to stamp the greeting.

However, those plans flew out the window when I stamped the greeting upside down!

I stamped the greeting on another piece of matching paper, cut it out and sponged the edges with Victorian Velvet distress ink (which almost matched some of the flowers in the centre paper. Unfortunately it didn’t look good at all.  There was a moment or two of panic before I realised I could simply turn the whole thing upside down and go on as though nothing had happened!

Now the background was done, and my silly mistake rectified, I cut out two shapes with the Spellbinders Floral Ovals.  I used the second largest size for this. I then cut out the centre of the oval, as I wanted it to be recessed.

Using the same die that I used to cut the centre out, I cut out an oval of the same contrasting paper I used on the top and bottom – but only on one of the Floral Oval die-cuts. I glued that into the centre of the intact Floral Ovals die-cut, then glued that onto the background. Then I glued them all onto the cardstock.

While the glue was setting (only takes about a minute), I added dimensions onto the die-cut with the centre cut out of it. I made sure they almost completely covered it (underneath and out of sight), because they needed to support the die all the way around.

Once I was happy with that, I added it to the card.

Next, using another patterned sheet from the pack, I cut out a flower.  You can use any flower die for this, but the one I used was Spellbinders Blossoms One.  I put it together, and lightly sponged with Victorian Velvet distress ink, and added a large pink brad in the centre. (I tend to use this style for my vintage cards more than any other brads.)

I sat it in the recess of the Floral Ovals die-cut, but it was bare, and needed something else.  I pulled some ribbon from my stash, cut some short pieces, and looped them over, joining with glue dots. Then I stapled all the loops together, and added some leaves – again using glue dots.  (I bent the leaves in half, then distressed with ‘mowed lawn’ distress ink, and sponged the edges.)

Then using medium Zots, I added the flower to the ribbon and leaves, then added them all onto the card.

I felt there was still something missing, so punched out two small butterflies, distressing them with the two colours I’d used elsewhere.

And that is it! A little fiddly, but really quite simple.