Come get my two tips to make your die cut daffodils look fresh enough to pick!

I love making realistic looking paper flowers and today I am going to share two tips to make your die cut daffodils look like they are just bloomed and ready for sniffing! I paired these spring flowers with another spring theme – little ducks! Aren’t they the cutest? 

To make this pretty spring card I used the newly released Daffodils by Rubbernecker.  I paired them with the Large Garden Fence, Half Tree, Tiny Leaves #2, Tiny Flowers #2, Grass, Grass #2 and Ducks.

Card Base, Fence and Grass

• Use light blue cardstock to cut an A2 sized card base.  
• Use white cardstock to cut two sections of the Large Garden Fence, overlap one section over the other and attach them together using glossy accents.
• Apply double stick tape to the bottom back of the fence sections and a piece of mounting tape to the back of a few of the pickets and attach the fence to the card base.  Pro Tip:  Attaching the bottom of the fence flat to the card base reduces bulk.  Attaching a couple pieces of mounting tape to the back of a few pickets will hold the fence away to create dimension.
• Use green cardstock to cut two Grass sections of grass.
• Apply ATG adhesive along the back bottom of the grass and attach it to the fence.
• Apply a strip of mounting tape to the back of the second grass section and attach it to the front of the first grass section card base. 

Tree, Leaves and Flowers

• Use Kraft cardstock to cut the Half Tree and color it with a wet baby wipe and brown ink.  
• Dry the ink on the tree with your heat gun.  Pro Tip:  Adhesives don’t stick well to the cardstock when the ink is wet.

• Use green cardstock to cut two sections of the Tiny Leaves #2 and place them face up on the molding pad.
• Form the leaves using a leaf tool or with your fingers.
• Attach the leaves to the branches using touches of glossy accents.  Pro Tip:  Using reverse tweezers makes easy work out of picking up and attaching small pieces.   
• Use bright yellow cardstock to cut the Tiny Flowers #2 and place them face up on the molding pad. 
• Form the flowers by pushing down in the center using a tiny tipped stylus.
• Attach the flowers to the leaves using glossy accents.
• Apply a thin strip of mounting tape to the back of the tree trunk and a few tiny pop dots to the back of a leaves in a few key spots.
• Tuck the tree in behind the fence and attach to the card base.

Die Cut Daffodils

• Use bright yellow cardstock to cut the Daffodil tops and green cardstock to cut the daffodil stems.
• PRO TIP 1: Shade the flowers and flower centers using orange ink and a mini applicator. Put plenty of color on the centers and then around the edges of the pointed petals. This creates the variegated shading that you see in real daffodils.
• PRO TIP 2: Place the pointed petal sections face up on the molding pad and gently form them using a round stylus. This creates the cup shape that is the classic characteristic of these springtime blossoms. The tighter you make your “cup”, the newer your daffodil will appear. For a truly realistic look when you use a group of the same of any die cut flower, you will want to make sure they are all “open” to the same degree. 
• Attach the flower centers to the flower bases using rolled up glue dots.
• Apply glossy accents to the top of the flower stems and attach the flowers. 
• Pro Tip:  Attach the flower centers pointing in different directions to make the line of daffodils look more natural.
• Tuck the flower stems in behind the grass section and attach using glossy accents.
• Cut one section of the Grass #2 set using green cardstock and tuck the pieces in behind the grass section using glossy accents.

Ducks

• Cut the mother Duck using white cardstock and the baby ducks using yellow cardstock.
• Apply a very light shad of gray cardstock to the top of the mother duck using a mini applicator.
• Use orange ink and a mini applicator to apply shading to the baby ducks bodies and to the duck bills and feet.
• Apply pieces of mounting tape to the back of the ducks and attach them to the grass.

I have been sharing lots of spring cards over the last few weeks.  Check out my Spring Category for more inspiration.

5403D Half Tree Die [ RBB ] 5401-02D Large Garden Fence Die [ RBB ] 5505-01D Daffodils Die [ RBB ] 5422-03D Tinny Flowers #2 Die [ RBB ] 5334-02D Tiny Leaves #2 Die [ RBB ] Tabed Grass Set Die Cut 5152-03D [ RBB ] 5210-02D Grass #2 Die Cut [ RBB ] Ducks Die Cut 5142-02D [ RBB ]

The Color Catalog by Sarah Renae Clark [ SRH ] Sizzix – Paper Sculpting Kit [ SBC | BLIC ] Paper Blossom Tool Kit 4/Pkg [ RBB ] Paper Blossoms Molding Mat [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #2 [ RBB ] Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink… [ SBC | ELH ] PanPastel Sofft Applicators 12/Pkg [ RBB ] Scotch Advanced Tape Glider & Tape [ RBB ] Amazon.com : Dahle 550 Professional… [ AMZUS ] Crossover II Fabric & Paper Cutting… [ RBB ] Mini Glossy Accents, Ranger Accents [ ELH ] Amazon.com: 1000 Pieces Foam Sticky… [ AMZUS ] Amazon.com: Mini Foam Dots… [ AMZUS ] Amazon.com: Scotch 1/2-Inch by… [ AMZUS ] Teflon Bone Folder, Essentials by Ellen [ ELH ] Scor-Pal Measuring & Scoring Board 12×12 [ ELH ] Glue Dots, Mini (3/16″) [ ELH ] Amazon.com : Accent Opaque White 8.5”… [ AMZUS ]

You can use the same tips we used on our die cut daffodils today on any die cut flower style. Use ink to create the shading and details and then shaping to give them easy dimension. And the awesome news is that the more you do this, the better you get at it! Before you know it you will be creating gorgeous, realistic die cut flowers everywhere!