Make this die cut garden card for any season, for any occasion.

You all know I love making nature scenes on my cards and today’s die cut garden card uses lots of different dies to add so many darling details. I love having a stash of different flower, nature and garden dies and one thing you will never see me get rid of is a die set! I share these cards knowing that you can adapt the details to what you have in your own stash and just add some of the focal elements when you decide you need to do a little retail therapy.

For this card, I used Rubbernecker’s Old Water Pumps, Large Wheelbarrow,  Large Garden Fence, Watering Cans, Cart Accessories #1, Small Flowers #4 , Tiny Flowers #2, Tabbed Grass, Grass #2, Leaves and Greenery, and Small Butterflies dies. WHEW! I know! But I wanted to show how you can browse your stash, spot elements you think would look good together and then just go ahead and mix and match different die sets for a realistic look.

Let me show you how and where I used all these different dies so you can play around, too, and see what you come up with.

Garden Card Base, Fence and Grass

• Use white cardstock to cut an A2 sized card base and a 5.25″ x 4.00″ layer.
• Apply Beachside Color Fuse Ink from Set #9 to the white layer using a large blender brush and attach it to the card base using double stick tape.  
• Cut 3 sections of the Large Garden Fence using white cardstock.
• Attach two of the fence sections together using glossy accents.
• Trim one fence section from the third fence and attach it to the two attached sections.
• Cut a 5.25″ x .25″ strip of white cardstock and attach it to the top rail section using double stick tape.
• Apply tiny pieces of mounting tape to the back upper pickets and double stick to the back bottom of the fence and attach it to the card base.
• Use green cardstock to cut one Grass section and attach it to the fence using a strip of mounting tape.
• Cut two sections of Grass #2 and set them aside.

Coloring the Pump

• Use white cardstock to cut the Old Water Pumps pump and handle sections and black cardstock to cut the handle attachment pieces.

• Use a mini applicator to apply a light shade – here I used Scarlet Color Fuse Ink from Set # 4 over the whole pump and handle sections. 

• Begin adding depth of color to the outer borders of the pump using Crimson Color Fuse Ink.  Make sure to leave the center body light. Pro Tip: adding the shading around the outsides adds depth and gives instant dimension to your otherwise flat die cut.

• Applying Pumpkin Color Fuse Ink from set #2 to create the appearance of rust and aging.  Note:  The center of the pump and spout appear slightly lighter.

Die Cut Wheelbarrow 

• Cut the Large Wheelbarrow sections using grey and black cardstock and the Cart Accessories flower pots using yellow cardstock.
• Color the wheelbarrow body using Mango, Pumpkin (from Set #2) and Pecan Color Fuse Ink (from set #3).  
• Apply a very light shade of Mango over the whole body of the wheelbarrow.
• Use Pumpkin ink and a mini applicator to add a light shade to the wheelbarrow.  Pro Tip:  The light Mango application adds a moisture layer and allows the darker Pumpkin color to be applied more evenly. 
• Apply a darker shade  of Pumpkin color to the border of the wheelbarrow body.
• Use a mini applicator and Pecan ink to add color to the side and bottom borders of the wheelbarrow.
• Attach the wheelbarrow frame and wheel to the wheelbarrow using glossy accents.
• Set the handles aside to attach later.

Flower Pots

• Use bright yellow cardstock to cut several of the tiny flower pots from the Cart Accessories #1 set.
• Apply Mango ink over the pots using a mini applicator and then add touches of Pumpkin to create the look of terracotta.
• Check out my How To Color Die Cut Terracotta Pots YouTube video to how easy it is to color the pots.

Flowers and Butterflies

• Cut two 5.00″ x 2.50″ white rectangle layers.
• Apply Lemon Color Fuse Ink  from Set #1 and Lavender Color Fuse Ink from Set #6 to the cardstock by swiping the ink pads directly over the paper.
• Smooth out each color by gently swiping it with wet baby wipes.
• Heat dry the rectangles.
• Cut the flowers and butterflies
• Place all the flowers face up on the molding pad and form them by pushing down in the centers using a small tipped stylus.

Arrange the Flowers and Foliage

• Use green cardstock to cut several sections of the Leaves and Greenery set.
• Create a foliage background for the wheelbarrow by attaching several section of the larger greenery to the back using glossy accents.
• Attach tiny leaf stems to the back of the flower pots using glossy accents.
• Attach the large flowers to the wheelbarrow foliage background using glossy accents.
• Use glossy accents to attach the tiny flowers to the pot stems.
• Adhere tiny white circles to the flower centers using glossy accents.  Pro Tip:  I save all of the negative circles that cut from my eyelet dies.  They come in so handy for flower centers, snow, etc.   Pro Tip:  I place of bunch of the tiny circles on the molding pad and use my reverse tweezers to pick them up. The spongy texture of the molding pad makes it easy for the tip of the tweezers to slide right under the circle.  Picking up tiny pieces directly off the work counter is almost impossible.  

Finish the Scene

• Apply a large piece of mounting tape to the back of the wheelbarrow, tuck the wheel and frame in behind the grass and attach to the fence.
• Apply a strip of mounting tape to the back f the pump, tuck it in behind the grass and attach to the fence.
• Tuck pieces of the Grass #2 set in behind the grass section and attach using glossy accents.  Pro Tip:  Those little grass sprigs adds a touch of interest to the grass line for a more natural appearance.
• Cut a Watering Can using aqua cardstock and attach it to the grass using a piece of mounting tape.
• Tuck some of the watering cans behind the grass and attach using glossy accents.
• Apply small pieces of mounting tape to the back of the remaining posts and attach them to the grass.
• Apply glossy accents to the three butterflies and attach them to them to the scene.  I added tiny round clear crystals to the flower centers but they don’t show up very well in the photo. 

So yes, this card is more involved than some I share. But again, it’s so fun to pull different elements from different die sets to create that fabulous realistic look. After all, everything in nature is varied so when your die cut cards are, too, that makes them all the more special. Here’s what I used today from Rubbernecker:

5506-01D old water pumps die [ RBB ] 5505-04D Large Wheelbarrow Die [ RBB ] 5401-02D Large Garden Fence Die [ RBB ] 5506-02D Watering Cans Die [ RBB ] 5214-02D Cart Accessories #1 Die Cut [ RBB ] 5422-04D Small Flowers #4 [ RBB ] 5422-03D Tiny Flowers #2 Die [ RBB ] Tabbed Grass Set Die Cut 5152-03D [ RBB ] 5210-02D Grass #2 Die Cut [ RBB ] 5309-04D Leaves and Greenery Die [ RBB ] Small Butterflies Die 5147-08D [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #6 [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #1 [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #4 [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #2 [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #3 [ RBB ] Color Fuse Set #9 [ RBB ]

For all the everyday items I use you can see all my other favorite crafting tools here.

The next time you sit down to make a die cut garden card, be sure to look through all your dies – even punches! – and see what additional shapes you can add to your scenes to bring them to life. Sometimes more is marvelous and in this case, I think it’s true!