DIY Shabby Cottage Garden Card

If you are a member of the Handmade Club, you might have noticed a bonus printable in the Shabby Cottage Garden kit this month.

This two page printable contains all of the elements required to make this super sweet shabby chic card….

And today I am going to show you how to get this dimensional, layered effect using paper.

How to make the Shabby Cottage Garden Card

Please read all instructions before beginning this project.

Materials:

• The shabby cottage garden card printable (in the May kit for the Handmade Club)
• One 5” square blank card; either a purchased blank card or one you have made from cardstock
• Paper trimmer or craft knife and metal edge rule, plus sharp pointy scissors
• 3 mm foam tape, white glue/ glue stick and clear glue or glue gun
• White paint and an old toothbrush
• Optional extras that I used: small off-cut of muslin, a couple of tiny sticks, shredded raffia, sequins and a sewing machine.

How to make this card:

1. Print the two page PDF printable using the best printing option on your printer; print page one on 250 gms (card) matte photo paper and the second page on thinner matte photo paper. Fussy cut all of the items required for the card with sharp, pointy scissors. Cut out the two square background pieces using either a knife and metal ruler or a paper trimmer.

2. Adhere the aqua background onto the front of your card using white glue or a glue stick.
Using either a distress tool or edge of scissors, distress the edges of the cracked background page. I also used my sewing machine to sew a straight edge stitch around the perimeter of the square.

3. To add a little texture behind the aqua photo frame, I added a scrap of muslin to the top right corner of the card. I first scrunched up the fabric and pulled and twisted it to give it a little character, before using clear glue to adhere it to the background.
Adhere the main floral motif directly onto the lower left half of the card.

4. Cut small pieces of foam to add to the back of the aqua frame. Position the frame in the upper right hand corner.

5. I found a couple of twigs in the garden that I decided to add to my card to add another texture. I adhered them directly to the aqua frame.

6. We want the birdhouse to sit above the aqua frame, so you will need to add a piece of foam tape to the back of the birdhouse and then stick a second piece over the top of that. Stick the birdhouse onto the card using photo #6 as a guide for placement. Also add two pieces of foam tape to the back of the birds nest and place that on the aqua frame, slightly over lapping the birdhouse and twigs.

7. I printed the flowers and leaves on 250 gram matter photo paper, which is like card stock. Having cut the elements out using small sharp scissors, I plied the paper gently with my fingers to soften and reshape the paper. By adding these softened edges to the leaves and flowers it makes them more dimensional. For the tiny round flowers I actually used an acrylic cake tool to make them more bowl shaped, but you could use anything you have on hand e.g. a lid off a glue bottle that you can mould the flowers over, using your fingers to gently shape them. This might be a small step, but it can have a big effect.

8. Before I added the flowers and leaves, I added a squirt of glue around the base of the birds nest and then scrunched up a very small wad of shredded raffia and pushed it in under the birds nest on both sides. This adds another texture to enhance all of the paper elements.

9. The next step is to add in all of the flowers and leaves… don’t be frightened to separate the leaves and add them in individually. No two cards will be the same… you may wish to use my card as a guide, but it is okay to play around with the placement until you are happy with it. I decided to add in an aqua piece of seam binding as a bow on the left side, because I felt it needed it. For added dimension, I layered the two butterflies on top of each other and added them beside the birdhouse.

10. Add a shabby chic look with a layer of flyspecking with white paint.

How to flyspeck: For this technique you use an old toothbrush. Dip the brush into water and flick the bristles with your thumb to remove surplus water. Then dip the toothbrush into white acrylic paint and rotate the brush on your palette to work up the paint on the bristles. Run either your thumb or the end of a paintbrush over the bristles of the toothbrush to splatter the paint – practice on a scrap piece of paper before flyspecking your card.

Extra step: I also wiped the toothbrush over the exposed twigs to add a rustic white effect.

Final steps: You may wish to add in a few extra embellishments. I added some pale pink and white sequins. I also added a sprinkle of clear glass glitter inside the smaller flowers by dropping a dot of glue in first and sprinkling the glitter over the top.

The side view photo (below) gives you a better view of the layered dimensional effect of the card.

Not all cards have to be given with a gift…. this card would be pretty sitting on a small easel, perhaps on an office desk, in a dresser or even framed.

If you are in the Handmade Club, I hope you’ll enjoy this surprise bonus printable.

This printable PDF project is from the May kit, Shabby Cottage Garden.
If you’d like more information about this kit or the Handmade Club, please check out this post HERE.

I’d love to see the cards you make, so please don’t be shy….pop into our Facebook group, Simply Shabbilicious and share your creativity.
If you’ve not joined our group yet, please do and I promise we’ll lift your spirits with our inspiring shares and crafty chatter.

Happy crafting,

Hugs
♥
Kerryanne

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