Springtime Tulips Have Arrived!

Happy Thursday crafty friends, Ashley D. here!  I think it’s finally spring in the Pacific Northwest.  And one of the hallmarks of spring here is the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, which runs annually the entire month of April in northeastern Washington State.  The area is home to the largest bulb grower in the world, with over a thousand acres of Tulips, Daffodils, and Irises.  It’s quite a spectacular sight and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.  

So, with the big event beginning this week, I felt inspired to create a card featuring rows of brightly-colored tulips!  To start, I cut a frame from white cardstock using the Mama Elephant Tri Window Cover Die.  I love this die, it’s so versatile!   

I then created an in-blended background with Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass onto Bristol Smooth Cardstock, stamping the sentiment from Lawn Fawn Our Friendship Grows set in the top third portion (using the frame as a guide).  I cut two small hills in green cardstock (Paper Source Clover) from Lawn Fawn Simple Stitched Hillside Borders, using the flattest arch.  I then stamped the tulips from Lawn Fawn Happy Easter, clouds from Lawn Fawn Yay, Kites!, and bee from Lawn Fawn Bee Mine in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  

I then colored each with Copic makers – tulips (R02, R05, W0, W1, Y11, Y15, RV10, RV21, RV23, YG11, YG12), bee (Y11, Y15, N1, N2, N4, B000), clouds (B000), added a bit of white highlights with a Gelly Roll 08 pen, and cut each out with the coordinating dies (Happy Easter Lawn Cuts, Yay, Kites! Lawn Cuts).  To assemble the card, I adhered the hills to the ink-blended background with tape runner, again using the frame as a guide, and then added the frame on top with foam adhesive, to give it a little depth.  I added the back tulip rows to the lover two windows, with tape runner, then the front rows with foam adhesive.  

For a finishing touch, I added a little bumble bee and a couple fluffy white clouds!  Thank you for stopping by and I hope a few of you can see the real thing this spring.  It’s amazing!