I love the Stampin’ Up! Celebrate Sunflowers bundle! Sunflowers are my daughter, Katie’s, favorite flowers, which make them special to me too.
Katie has this humungous sparkly sunflower wall hanging in her kitchen that has traveled with her from Georgia to Illinois. It is a glitzy take on a flower that is usually more country. But, trust me, sunflowers deal with sparkle as if they were bred for it!
That’s the inspiration for today’s card: My daughter’s favorite flower. I am also fascinated with watercolor painting and anything with some glitz to it. Hence, today’s card:
Here are the measurements:
| # Pcs | Measurements | Comments | |
| Basic White card stock for base | 1 | 5-1/2” x 8-1/2” | Score at 4-1/4” This is just a standard A2 card base. |
| Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper | 1 | 2-1/2” x 5-1/2” | Use a larger piece of watercolor paper to do this effect. Then you will be able to cut a panel that shows the best part of your finished image. |
| Bumble Bee Card Stock | 1 | 2-3/4” x 5-1/2” | This will be the mat for the watercolor panel. |
| Bumble Bee Card Stock | 1 | 1-3/4” x 1-3/4” | This is the mat for the sentiment block on the front of the card. |
| Gold Foil or Be Dazzled DSP | 2 | ¼” x 5-1/2” | These strips are the border for the watercolor panel. |
| Gold Foil or Be Dazzled DSP | 1 | 2” x 2” | This is the mat for the sentiment block. |
I used a Stampin’ Up! Bumble Bee ink pad to stamp the large and small sunflowers images on a full piece of watercolor paper. Because the paper has a texture and the photopolymer stamp is hard and flat, it is helpful to have a cushiony surface under it while stamping. I used the pad from my Stamparatus. But any surface, even a pile of paper is helpful to allow the image to transfer to the paper.
Once I had stamped all the images, I used a spray bottle to spritz the whole sheet with water. The Stampin’ Up! Stampin Spritzers are perfect for this job – but any spray bottle will do it.
Let the water move the ink around. I just made sure that I had at least a light bit of watery ink covering the entire paper. But this step is a matter of taste. Use the water until you have the effect that you like.
Carefully blot the biggest puddles of water on the surface to be sure that it will dry without too many splotches. Let the panel dry on its own – or use a Heat Tool to dry it faster.
To add some sparkle, I used the sprinkle stamp from the Gorgeous Leaves Stamp set. The Versa mark ink will catch the Gold Embossing powder. I would suggest having a light hand with this stamping. A little bit of gold embossing will go a long way.
Too much gold 
But you can just brush away the powder until it is the way you like it.
Once the embossing powder has been heat set, it is time to choose the best place to cut the 2-1/2” x 5-1/2” panel for the featured image. Choose a place for a 1-1/2” x 1-1/2” square for the sentiment.
Mat both images with the Bumble Bee card stock mats. Glue the sentiment block to the 2” x 2” Gold foil or Be Dazzled DSP.
Place the watercolor panel on the card face. Then using a very, VERY thin line of glue along each side of the Bumble Bee panel, place the Gold Foil strip to line the mat.
HINT: Whenever I have some metallic foils or other sparkly card stock scraps, I cut very thin strips of it and put them into my scrap drawer for projects like this. This paper can be expensive, and I always want to use as much of it as I can. This ¼” or even 1/8” strips are always handy to have when you are making cards!
And another hint: The Be Dazzled DSP can be inked to create a coordinated effect with the color scheme of the card. Look at the way the Bumble Bee ink changes this paper in a subtle way:
I just dab the paper gently on the top of the ink pad. 
The square on the left was inked with Bumble Bee ink. The color possibilities are awesome!
The sentiments for this card came from the Stampin’ Up! In Bloom Stamp set, using Early Espresso ink. Once the sentiments were stamped, I was able to complete the sentiment block and mount it to the front of the card using Stampin’ Dimensionals.
My original uses the Be Dazzled DSP. Unfortunately, this is no longer available. 
But I think that gold or rose gold foil works perfectly! You could also emboss the foil for a faceted look. This picture honestly doesn’t do justice to the high shine of the foil.
I made a sample of both sparkly options, just in case you don’t have the Be Dazzled DSP that had been a Sale-a-brations exclusive. (I bought a LOT of it because it is very versatile.) But I like the gold foil very much on this card.
The inside message is stamped with the Early Espresso ink with one of the small sunflower images stamped in Bumble Bee ink, peeking out from the foil border.
In the spirit of #NoNekkidEnvelopes, I’ve stamped a collage of sunflowers on the flap with the small sunflower peeking out from the corner on the front of the envelope.
Be Dazzled 
and foiled
I’ve entered this card into the Fusion Challenge for this week. This challenge offered a layout suggestion that was a perfect way to focus on the watercolor panel of this card.
Thanks so much for stopping in today to see my card! It is a fun and messy project. But I love the results – and the Stampin’ Up! Celebrating Sunflowers is a beautiful set. I bet this would be great in other colors as well – Cajun Craze is the first to come into my mind.
Here is the list of the supplies that I used: