Thankful Garden Bold Twist

Today’s card was a delightful departure from my usual style—and I loved every moment of it. This one came together with two cardmaking challenges in mind: the AAA Colourful Challenge, which called for the colors purple, a deep yellow, black, and white, and the Inspired By Challenge, which provided both an inspirational photo and a layout that sparked my creativity. When two challenges align like this, it’s like crafting magic! Measurements and supplies used for this card are listed under my signature at the end of the blog post.

I began with the beautiful Thankful Garden stamp set. I stamped the smaller floral image twice in Memento Tuxedo Black on Basic White cardstock. Even though I only planned to use one flower on the card, I had a specific layered look in mind that called for having two identical blooms. To create a golden glow on the flowers, I used Crushed Curry ink with a Blending Brush and the Thankful Garden Decorative Masks, a soft base of color was laid down. Then a deeper Crushed Curry was added with the second mask right over top. After that, Gorgeous Grape ink was blended through the stencil to finish off with a rich, vibrant color.

After die-cutting the two flowers and a foliage piece (from Basic White cardstock) with the coordinating dies, I turned my attention to the background. I chose four strips of black-and-white patterned paper from the Lovely Garden DSP pack and matted each one with Basic Black cut just an eighth of an inch larger. These strips became the foundation of the layout, spaced evenly across a Basic White layer that was mounted onto Highland Heather and then adhered to a Gorgeous Grape card base.

The black-and-white strips created just the right contrast for the bold look that I wanted. The die-cut foliage was added at a gentle angle across some of the DSP strips, and then I popped up a “Thanks” sentiment from the Greetings for All Ephemera Pack on mini dimensionals. It’s bold in black and outlined in white, and anchors the floral elements beautifully. The two layered flowers add depth and color, overlapping the sentiment slightly and balancing out the strong graphic lines of the DSP strips. For a final touch of sparkle, three Purple Fine Shimmer Gems were strewn around the sentiment area.

Inside, things were kept coordinated and clean with a panel of Basic White matted with Highland Heather, and a narrow strip of the same DSP along the bottom edge. It’s a little detail that ties the inside to the outside perfectly.

This card feels like a celebration of contrast—bold and elegant, colorful and structured—and it was so fun to experiment with something outside my usual go-to designs.

I’ve also created a quick video showing how this card came together. You can watch it right here in this blog post through the embedded YouTube Short. I hope it inspires you to try a new color palette or layout too!

Let me know what you think, and if you give this combo a try, I’d love to see what you create!

Measurements (all in inches):

• Card Base (Gorgeous Grape) – 11 x 4-1/4, scored and folded at 5-1/2
• 1st Layer (Highland Heather) – 4 x 5-1/4
• 2nd Layer (Basic White) – 3-7/8 x 5-1/8
• DSP Strips (Lovely Garden) – 1/2 x 3, coordinating cardstock to mat (Basic Black) – 5/8 x 3-1/8
• scraps for stamping, blending, and die cutting
• Sentiment is a punched-out piece of Ephemera (Greetings For All Mix & Match)
• Inside card – Basic White 3-3/4 x 5, coordinating cardstock to mat (Highland Heather) 3-7/8 x 5-1/8, strip of DSP (Lovely Garden) – 1/2 x 3-3/4

Supplies Used: