Valley Oak Paper - Cardmaking designs by Cecilia Huster

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Orchid Cupcakes

Cecilia Huster

The starting point for today’s card was a fall-themed cupcake die set from Spellbinders. It was the Large Die of the Month for September last year. I didn’t get around to playing with it then, so it’s just the right thing for a new cardmaking hop that I’m participating in. 

It’s called the Procraftinators Club and the idea is to help us finish cardmaking kits, monthly subscriptions and other unfinished projects. This cupcake die set is perfect for it!

I also have left-over layered orchid die cuts, that I wanted to use. Back in December of last year, I created them in pink and purple. The purple ones found their way onto a card. Now it’s time to use the pink ones. 

With this strong color, the orchids are going to help me choose a color palette. The Color Catalog has a search function by color and I was going with palette #84 in volume 1. Except I skipped the Crimson color because it just complicated things. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I actually love the strong pinks and purples with the added pizzaz from the yellow.

I recently created swatches for all my Pinkfresh inks and they came in really handy when choosing colors. Video coming soon!

Die Cutting & Ink Blending

I’ve die cut all the cupcake parts from Hammermill 100 lbs white cardstock and stacked Accent Opaque 100 lbs behind them. The Hammermill has a warmer tone and ink blends better, in my experience. That’s why I’m using it on top. 

Yellows

I’m starting with the yellow colors. The cream gets a light shading around the edges with Lemon Whip. Then I color the top of the cupcake with Marigold. They are the lightest and darkest color in the Pinkfresh Rise & Shine color family.

Orchids

I have enough orchids for two cards, so that’s what I’m making today. I won’t show you everything twice, though, because I respect your time. I created them from Recollections 110 lbs Ballerina Cardstock and ink blended with Pinkfresh Raspberry Bliss in the center. The lightest die cut is ink blended with Hero Arts white pigment ink.

I’m also adding some Pinkfresh Evergreen ink to the center of the orchid leaves. 

Cupcake Wrappers

For the cupcake wrapper I’m using Pinkfresh Regal Kiss in an opposite gradient. Regal Kiss is a very dramatic color and using it in opposite directions of a gradient is very impactful! Basically I’m blending the base from the bottom up and the folds from the top down.

Then I glue the wrappers together.

Cupcake Assembly

Now I can put my cupcakes together. I’m starting with the bottom and middle layers of the cream. 

Next I glue the wrapper to the cupcake base. Then I add the top of the cream. And I glue the cream to the cupcake base. 

I’m using a medium and a small orchid flower to decorate the cream. I’ve cut apart the leaves, and I adhere one leaf directly to the bottom layer of cream. 

I add foam tape to the back of the flowers and place them on the cream. The medium-size flower goes on the bottom layer and the smaller flower ends up on the middle layer.

Background

My card today is going to be 5” by 7” and for the background I’m using another Spellbinders Monthly Club product. It’s from Becca Feeken’s Amazing Paper Grace. It’s called Eyelet Lace Frame. I think it’s from December ‘21.

Sadly it’s retired. But I wanted to use it at least once before I put it in my giveaway drawer. I think it’s very elegant and it works great with my orchids. 

I love that you can see through these frames and I want to make use of that. So I’m going to ink blend behind them. 

Lavender Ink Blending

I’m starting by ink blending directly on my card bases. For the color, I’m choosing a lighter ink from the same ink family as Regal Kiss. The family is called Soul of Provence. I tried the lightest color first, but settled on Lavender. You need more color to catch it through the little eyelet holes. Lavender is the second lightest color out of the four in the color family.

When I’m happy with the color on the card bases, I ink blend on top of the large frame in the area that will be covered by the second frame. 

Finally I add some ink to the center of the second frame too. 

Sentiment

Before I can put together my cards, I need sentiments. Today I’m using a Spellbinders stamp set called Sentiments for You. I love this script font! 

I’m stamping it in Regal Kiss, to tie the card together color-wise. Then I’m die cutting the sentiment with the smallest die from the Eyelet Lace Frames die set, using my Spellbinders Scout Die Cutting machine in Lilac Shimmer. 

Final Assembly

Now I can put together my cards. I’m starting by gluing the large frame directly to the card base. Then I put foam tape on the back of the smaller frame and adhere it to the card. 

I’ve put foam tape on the backs of my cupcakes and I’m placing them pretty high up on the smaller frame. That’s so I can fit the sentiment and another orchid at the bottom.

I’m gluing a leaf to the bottom of the cupcake. Then I add foam tape to the back of my sentiment and place it at the bottom-center of the smaller frame. 

I nestle two more orchids between the cupcake and the sentiment.

To finish the card I added some gems too. These are the Spellbinders Crystal Mix Color Essentials Gems that Jaycee Gaspar said he was obsessed with in Online Card Classes Embossing Folder Class. One card got strewn with milk glass gems, the other one with gold iridescent gems.

That wraps up today’s card. I think the tall cupcake works well on this large format card and I love the Pinkfresh Ink colors! What do you think?

Supplies Used