Ombre Floral Panel & Bow Many Happy Returns Card

I ummed and aahed about getting the Sue Wilson Canadian Collection Background die, I'd seen some lovely cards made with it but I wasn't 100% sure about it.  While I dithered it went out of stock at the Glitter Pot for a while but they had some in on my last visit to the shop and so one found its way into my basket.  Quite a few of my crafty buddies have this die and I was definitely encouraged to add it to my stash - you know who you are!

Margaret from card group used the die to make a lovely birthday card for Elizabeth and Margaret told me she had to use a larger card than she normally likes to use.  I don't use larger cards very often either so for my first card using the die I decided to cut out just a part of the design and place it on an A6 sized card base.  I've used the new SU! Thick Whisper White CS to make the card base - I'm so happy to have a thicker version of Whisper White to make card bases with, it's fabulous!  After cutting out a grid of 4 x 5 flower panels in Whisper White CS I cut strips of Soft Sky, Pool Party, Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay CS, glued those to a piece of Whisper White CS and glued the flower grid piece over the top.  I love the ombre effect of the background colours graduating from light to dark!  I layered onto a mat of Bermuda Bay CS, stamped the sentiment and glued the panel to the card front.  I die cut the bow shapes, layering Bermuda Bay Filigree Bow shapes over white Classic Bow shapes and glued the pieces in place.  I then added lots of deep aqua gems for that all important sparkle.  This Canadian Background die could severely deplete your bling stash - but the flower centres just cry out for a pearl or gem!

Here's the inside and the envelope.  The ribbon strip die from the Filigree Bow set makes a lovely border die I think.  I added a Pool Party filigree strip to the bottom of the stamped and die cut sentiment panels and added a Bermuda Bay filigree strip to the envelope front.  I die cut a fancy tag and popped that up on the front of the envelope as a name label.   

Here's a look at the card and envelope together.  I know it takes a bit of extra time and effort to decorate an envelope to match a card but I think it's worth it for the coordinated look you get.  In my view, it looks properly 'finished', it makes a hand made creation stand out even more from a shop bought card and it makes the recipient feel special! 

I die cut the whole Canadian Background die shape but only used part of it for this card so I have a smaller grid piece left over.  Stay tuned, another card using that piece will appear on the blog soon!

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted 'Happy Birthday' set
CS: SU! Soft Sky, Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay & Whisper White (regular & thick)
Ink: SU! Bermuda Bay
Tools: Sue Wilson Canadian Collection 'Background' die, Finishing Touches Collection 'Classic 3D Bow' & 'Filigree 3D Bow' die sets, Memory Box 'Cross Stitched Frame' rectangle die set,  Spellbinders Shapeabilities 'Fancy Framed Tags Two' die set
Embellishments & accessories: PaperMania aqua gems, SU! Dimensionals