How Does Your Garden Grow?
by Jennifer Harte

Hello Friends! Today I’m sharing not one, but three cards featuring the brand new Nordic Garden summer release! I’ve been busy planting in my garden for days, so naturally I couldn’t resist making several cards with these beautiful new dies. 

I love mixing things up when sending handmade cards, so I enjoy making a fun fold once in awhile. The best part is that both of these fun designs can easily be adapted into a standard A2 card if you prefer to skip the fancy folds.

I’ll start with a basic gatefold card—one that opens in the middle instead of the side. Begin with an 8 1/2” x 5 1/2” piece of cardstock. Score it at 2 2/16” and fold it inward so the sides meet. For the front panels, I ink blended a background with purple and yellow inks. I then cut two panels measuring 5 1/2” x 2 2/16” to decorate the front panels. This step is optional, you could leave the card base plain or use some patterned paper from your stash instead.

Now, for the fun part—the new Nordic Garden dies! I absolutely love the Nordic Watering Can, which I die cut from foil cardstock from my stash. The four Nordic Scalloped Flower Pots are equally adorable with all the layered details. Both are easy to assemble. 

The new Nordic Scatter Flowers can be used alone, or paired with the Nordic Leafy Stems to create taller flowers. I die cut the flowers using purple and yellow cardstock to coordinate with my background. 

Inside the card, I added two large Nordic Scalloped Flower Pots for extra detail. Since the back side of the watering can will show when the card is open, I die cut another watering can for the reverse side, although this step is completely optional. My sentiment is from the Sentimental Banner set.

For my second card, I created what I like to call a floating edge card. Start with a standard A2 card (5 1/2” x 4 1/4”) and trim 1” off the front right edge. When decorating your card, extend some of the die cuts beyond the edge, to create the “floating” effect.

Just like with the gatefold card, you can choose to decorate the backs of the die cuts that extend beyond the edge. I created another ink-blended background and cut two pieces for the card—one measuring 3 1/4” wide for the front and another measuring 1” for the inside right edge.

This time, I die cut the Nordic Scatter Flowers and Leafy Stems with plain cardstock and colored them with Distress Oxide inks. I used silver foil cardstock from my stash for the Nordic Watering Can and decorated it with a tiny flower. To add more texture to the flower pots, I die cut them with the Kraft Woodgrain Cardstock. My sentiment is the Thank You Tender Script from the Nordic Daydream release.

For my final card I used the largest die from the new Fine Eyelet Frames to cut a panel from the Birthday Fun Paper Pad. The delicate eyelet details are beautiful, and I already know this will become one of my go-to die sets.

For a fun twist from my other cards, I die cut the Nordic Scalloped Flower Pots using two shades of blue cardstock and mixed and matched the pieces while assembling them.  I used solid blue for the watering can and added a Nordic Cheery Butterfly as a finishing touch. The butterfly dies actually cut two small butterflies, but if you don’t layer them you end up with four butterflies. I chose not to layer them for this card because I wanted the beautiful flowers to remain the focal point of the card design. 

To finish my card, I added the Happy Birthday Tender Script sentiment. I used some glitter paper and vellum from my stash.

Now my stash has cheerful floral and garden-inspired cards for summer! I hope you check out the new Nordic Garden release. It’s perfect for summer and definitely complements the recent Nordic Daydream release. Thanks so much for visiting, and don’t forget to share some handmade happiness of your own!

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