A Garden of Punches and Die Cuts

Hi Everyone.

Have you noticed the Challenge tab at the top of this page??? That tab takes you to the monthly challenge section. Have you entered the new monthly challenge yet???  Well you do have til the end of May to show us your take on the two sketches, but don't wait, we are looking forward to seeing your creation now. There will be a prize awarded too. So just click on the challenge tab at the top of the page or click here to go over to the challenge page. We are looking forward to seeing your creation. You could be the winner.

It's Barbara and I am back with my regular Sunday Inspirations post. Here is my card and I thought I'd show you how I made the punched pieces that I used in creating this card.

I just received two new punches for May and I used punch 305 in this card. I started out punching straight across a piece of cardstock using no inserts. (Make sure you click on the pictures to see up close detail.) 
                           
Next, I snipped away the bottom piece between the cardstock edge and the punched image and saved it. I needed 2 of these to make the border on the bottom of the card. I then used Glimmer Mist to color these 2 pieces that became the border. You can see that I used mounting foam and then I offset the first piece on top of the 2nd. This is the border on the bottom of the card. 

Next I cut away paper on the other side of the punched strip.

I used the decorative piece that remained and sprayed it with Glimmer Mist and scored it in between each of the punched images. I just scored the piece to better define the center area between the punched out areas. Then I cut on the scored line.

                                                                                                                                                                
            
 
I used these small decorative pieces on the side and the top of the card.

I made 3 rosettes from a Tim Holtz Rosette die and added decorative brads to the centers. Next I used swirl dies to cut out the flower stems. And then I added vellum leaves and some pearls to finish off the card 

And here is the finished card. The punches can give you great pieces that you can use on a card or incorporate in a one of your layouts. I hope you have a great week and stop back tomorrow for more great ideas.