Cactus Greeting Card

Sharing my DT card for the challenge over on Let's Craft and Create blog this month with the theme  "entwined."

I had been thinking about making some cactus using my flower forming foam but as I didn't any specific dies or stamps I had a look in my stash to see what I could use. Stamping Up had a fabulous succulent die set which would have been perfect for this but sadly it's retired and very difficult to source.

To make the larger cacti, I used green flower forming foam with the fluted petal shaped dies from the Dreamees Sweet Sunflower die set. I inked the edges of the petals with a red oil pastel. 

Unfortunately, I didn't have any dies or stamps for the shape I was looking for my second cacti, so I sourced a free template online. Printed it onto card and used it to cut around my flower forming foam.  Yes, a little more fiddly but wanted to see if it would work.

At first, I used the red oil pastel on the edges as before. You don't have to be precise with the colouring as it will merge into the foam when you carefully wipe a damp baby wipe over the edges to soften the colour after.  Using a ball tool give the petals some shape before layering them up and using a glue gun to stick them together. I have two glue guns, one that gives a fine flow of glue which is needed for this project or when glueing flowers and another glue gun with a thicker flow for more sturdy sticking. Nail glue is another good alternative to a glue gun for flowers.

I wasn't quite happy with the colour and as I didn't have a plum oil pastel, I used my plum dinky inky by the Dreamees with a blending tool and carefully added a little more colour to achieve the shading I wanted.

I found the foam gave me the texture I was looking for but I think cardstock would have given me a better sharper structure to the cacti, especially on the edges of the leaves.

Never the less, I was pretty pleased with the result on my first attempt.

For the rest of the card, I used a Stamping Up large Hardwood stamp, with a Dreamees sentiment and an Ali Reeve mdf driftwood shape to draw around to get my topper shape. Unfortunately, this lovely hardwood stamp is also discontinued. Stamping up collections retire quite quickly but if you are lucky you can source them online via the secondary market.

I also used some wired twine to embellish my cacti and around the topper, finished off with a bed of sisal (available from craft shops, The Works or in the Dreamees natural embellishment pack) and a few Dreamees - coffee pearls.

Have a look at the inspiration provided by the rest of the design team on Let's Craft and Create Blog this month and the entries for this months challenge.  There is a prize for the winning entry.

Happy Crafting