Cardmaking Ideas…Combining Lions & Flowers

Are you looking for some fresh & fun cardmaking ideas?

We suggest pairing two stamp sets that might not seem to go together like lions & flowers and Brandi Kincaid is here today to show us just what fun that can be!

When the Bravehearted set hit my door step, I was thrilled to get to work playing with these fiercely fun creatures. I had visions of pairing them with the Life is a Circus set, and making cards that rumbled and roared for my nephew, and while all those things will come, I just so happened to have my bowl of previous release extras on my desk, and when the king of the jungle met all those florals, well…

Lions and flowers? Love at first site! Today I will be sharing five different, simple cards I made using these adorable lions alongside some of my favorite florals. Trust me, it’s going to be a roaring good time.

The first card I wanted to make started with an envelope. An envelope? Yep. I have a few of these gorgeous green A7 envelopes that need a larger card base that I usually grab for, and I was dying to pair one with colorful florals, so I decided to take advantage of the extra card space, and get a little creative. To get started, I grabbed what I already had on hand:

• a watercolored bunch of flowers from the Mondo Wildflowers set (I always color extras when I’m working for precisely these moments, but you can start fresh, too!)
• a kraft paper bag I saved (I didn’t have a brown cardstock, but that would work beautifully here, too.)
• string/ribbon/thread/twine
• that perfect posed little lion from the Bravehearted set
• white cardstock base (I want the flowers to be the pop of color here, so I’m keeping the rest simple

My goal is to use the flowers like a little bouquet, with the brown paper wrapped around as if they were just picked up from the florist. To get started, I cut a half moon curve topped piece of the brown paper. This doesn’t have to be perfect since you’ll be folding it around the paper flowers, but I’ve found the curve at the top lends itself to a better, easier fold.

The piece of paper should be just slightly taller than the floral stamp once it’s die cut.

Wrapping and gently folding the brown paper around the flowers, I used a small piece of thread to tie the little package closed, pressing it all flat after so the the bouquet doesn’t add too much bulk to the top of the finished card.

Because I’m a sucker for a hidden note, I stamped one of the sentiments from the floral set on the back of the bouquet. To make it easy to take the flowers in an out and ensure they stay inside the paper wrapping a little better, I attached a small piece of toothpick to the bottom, secured by a bit of washi tape.

This extra step will allow you to slip the toothpick holding the flowers into the sleeve easily so they don’t fall out when the card is removed from he envelope, but so that they can still be removed intentionally by the recipient when they go to read the message.

Added to the front of the card, and paired with the little lion and his sentiments, this bouquet is sure to make your friends and family smile when they turn over the blooms. 

I was so excited to send out this card, in fact, that I failed to get a photo of the tiny arrow tab I attached as a hint to the flowers in the end, to help ensure my friend knew to pull them out to find more of my message, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. 

Of course this was the only floral fellow I made with Bravehearted. Here are a a few more simple cards that are both brave and botanical! I used the In the Weeds set to create a little field of flowers in which to perch my favorite friend. I mean, this is one visitor I wouldn’t mind finding in the weeds of life.

I mean, who doesn’t need a reminder of how fierce they are from time to time, especially while staying soft amongst those beautiful blooms?

And while I will be practicing my imperfect paper piecing until the end of time, I still love this little guy’s marvelous mane filled with daisies. I used the Pattern Play stamp to give him a little bit of bounty in that beard, and it’s so much fun.

Did you know that the lions mouth is perfectly sized to pair with Classic Block Alpha dies? I love that this guy can roar out anything you want him to on the card! I grabbed a “way too long to be hoarding one sheet of paper” floral design I had in my stash and used it to give this king a bit of flair. 

I can’t wait to see how you use the new Bravehearted set, whether you add florals of your own, or take these two to the circus, there’s a whole lot of heart in this duo.

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