One Floral Design, Two Looks: Colored Vs. White Background

Hi cardmaking friends!  Today I’m sharing a fun little experiment that shows just how much the background can change the look of a card.

I combined flowers from three beautiful Simon Says Stamp die sets – Tissue Petal Stems, Wishflower Stems, and Butterbloom Flowers – to create one colorful garden design.  Then I used essentially the same floral arrangement on two cards, changing up the background to see which look I preferred.

One has a bold colored card front, while the other keeps things crisp and clean with white.

And now I can’t decide which one I like better!

Products used for the One Floral Design, Two Looks Cards:

• Daisy Frame Stamp and Die – sentiment
• A2 Stitched Arches – nesting dies
• Tissue Petal Stems – dies
• Wishflower Stem – dies
• Butterbloom Flowers – dies
• Clear Pawsitively Dazzling Gems

 

How to create the One Floral Design, Two Looks Cards:

Creating the Colorful Die Cut Flowers:

Start by die-cutting a selection of flowers and stems from the Tissue Petal Stems, Wishflower Stems, and Butterbloom Flowers Die Sets.

Rather than cutting all the flower layers in different colors of cardstock, I ink-blended the die-cut flowers to create bright, dimensional colors.  Adding deeper shades of ink toward the bases and centers of the petals really helps bring out all those beautiful details in the die cuts.

 

• ButterBloom Flowers:  Inked in Zest, Honey and Sherbet
• Tissue Petal Stems:  Inked in Zest, Pucker and Taffy
• Wishflower Stem:  Inked in Taffy and Amethyst

 

Next, I cut all the stems from Rainforest Cardstock and added some shading by ink-blending parts of the leaves and stems with Field Ink.

Combining flowers from several different die sets is also a great way to create a fuller arrangement.  The variety of flower shapes, sizes, and heights makes the finished garden look much more interesting.

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Creating the Stitched Arch Garden:

I used the new A2 Stitched Arches Dies to create the backdrop for the flowers by cutting the stitched arch from a 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ card front in Teal Topaz and white.

Behind that, I added a 4″ x 5-1/4″ panel of white cardstock that I ink blended with Sprout and Surf Ink, giving the flowers a little sky and grass behind them.  I attached both of these to a top-folding A2-sized white card base.

 

Then I arranged the flowers inside the arch, mixing the three different die sets together until I had a nice balance of color, height, and shape.

I love how the arch frames everything and turns all those individual flowers into one little garden scene.

Finishing the Birthday Cards:

To finish both cards, I added the pretty Happy Birthday sentiment from the Daisy Frame Stamp and Die Set.  Then, I scattered Clear Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for just a little extra shine without competing with all that gorgeous color.

I love finding ways to mix and match products from different sets, and these three floral die sets work beautifully together.

 

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One Design – Two Different Backgrounds:

For the first card, I layered the finished arch over a colored card front.  The deep Teal Topaz color surrounding the arch makes the bright flowers really pop and gives the card a bold, saturated look.

The white gives the design a lighter, cleaner look and puts even more attention on the colorful flowers, while the colored background feels richer and frames the entire garden.

It’s such a simple change, but I love how it demonstrates the impact your card base can have on the finished design.

Which do you prefer – the colored background or the white?

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Cardmaking Supplies Used:

Here are the supplies I used to create today’s One Floral Design, Two Looks Cards.

Many of the links below are compensated affiliate links.  This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

These commissions help support my website and allow me to continue sharing cardmaking tutorials, videos, and inspiration.  I truly appreciate your support.

All products were personally purchased unless otherwise noted.  Simon Says Stamp Every Happiness products were provided by the company for design purposes.
You can find my full affiliate disclosure on my disclosure page.
Click the icons below each product to shop my favorite stores.

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