Tropical Hibiscus | by Crystal Komara

Hello crafty readers! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here with you today and I’m so excited to be sharing my first card(s) created with the beautiful new Tropical Hibiscus Contour Layering Dies! I am so in love with this spring’s new release of the contour layering dies, they are just g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s! If you missed some of my previous posts using similar dies, check out this post where I used the Star Flower Contour Layering Dies, or, this one where I used the Wispy Blooms Contour Layering Dies. The options are truly endless when it comes to adding colored (and foil or glitter) cardstock with these dies.

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. This is my go-to cardstock for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g from card bases, die cutting, ink blending, Copic coloring, digital stamps and so much more. It is the only white cardstock (aside from watercolor paper) that I used. For the first layer, I cut a 5 1/4″ x 4″ piece of white cardstock and used the Blooming 3D Embossing Folder from Birch Press Designs’ sister company, Memory Box. To create the flowers, I die cut the Tropical Hibiscus Contour Layering dies from various shades of pink cardstock found in the Berry Red 6″ paper pack.

I die cut the pistils or stigma of the flowers from yellow cardstock in the Sunny Orange 6″ paper pack. Lastly, I cut the leaves (also from the Tropical Hibiscus Contour Layering dies) from two different colored green cardstock found in the Lush Green 6″ paper pack. I assembled the layers of each flower and leaf together using a fine-tip glue. Then I adhered all of the flowers to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I stamped the sentiment “sending birthday hugs” in pink ink. This sentiment is from the Classic Sentimental Wreath stamp set. I used a 2″ circle punch to punch out the circle before adhering to the card.

Because I had die cut so many flowers and leaves, I created a second card, only this time I used black cardstock as the base for the flowers (in lieu of white). I love a black background with floral cards, it really allows the colors to pop! I also swapped out the sentiment and used “celebrate today” from the same Classic Sentimental Wreath stamp set.