Fanciful, Whimsical Gladiola Wishes by Jean Okimoto

Fanciful Gladiola Stem's blossoms and Whimsical Gladiola's leaves create a floral birthday greeting for spring or summer celebrations. Hi, Jean here with quick coloring technique for detailed designs.

Save time by stenciling the pieces before diecutting them. Spritz the smoother side of watercolor paper with a light mist of water. Pressure-emboss it using the rubber embossing mat and plates required for your machine. Diecut a stencil from cardstock.

Tape the stencil over the embossed designs and sponge or brush the petals and stems. VersaFine Clair Verdant and Cheerful and Brilliance Sunflower Yellow inks were used here. Mask the adjacent areas with a Post-It note to separate the colors. Heat-set the inks, then diecut all of the pieces. Pre-embossing makes it easier to color the raised areas - and to align the die over the pieces for diecutting later. Trust me!

Sponge or brush Verdant ink onto smooth white cardstock and cut two small and one large leaf set from the Whinsical Gladiola.

Assemble the Fanciful Gladiola Stem. The green stem partially covers the yellow stem for instant buds and dimension. I followed some portions of the diagram - and rearranged some pieces for more color variation.

Glue two pieces of smooth white cardstock together and diecut it with the 3-¼" Circle Basics die. Cut it again - slightly offset - with the 3" Circle Basics die. Attach both pieces - offset again - to a top-folded white A2 card.

Attach the Fanciful Gladiola Stem and Whimsical Gladiola leaves. Add a Happy Birthday White Circle Greeting Tab and gold Treasure Chest Gemstones. Cut an A2-sized piece of cardstock to protect the card front for mailing.

Thanks for visiting our blog...see you again in May!