Roses are Red or What to do with Leftover Shaker Card Foam

I LOVE making shaker cards; even more since I discovered this foam that Kelley from Lawn Fawn inspired me to use {you can see her video as well as the foam I used here.}  Now I seem to have a lots of "extra" foam, so I made a card out of it! This is something new that I have never done before, so for all those "new" challenges, I hope this fits the bill! I made a bunch of roses that I really like and I might even make a wall hanging out of it!

What I Used to Make my Card:
Red Card Base
Die from Die-Namites, Rose Bouquet, #DN-1120 {available online}
Vellum
Embossing folder, Darice, Mini Hearts, #1219 223 {available online}
Alcohol Ink Markers
Red & Green Card
Foam from this card
Ranger Glossy Accents

First thing I did was die cut the roses. I wasn't sure it the die would go through the foam, but it worked perfectly!  So then I had these rose buds cut from white foam.  I wasn't sure what I was going to use to color them, but I figured

I had to start somewhere, so I whipped out my alcohol ink markers; I have a bit of every manufacturer {my generous friend, NanaConnie, sent some to me that she was no longer using - SO SWEET!} and took every red I could find.  It took me two days to color the flowers, mostly because I wasn't sure what they'd look like dry, and I really wanted a deep, rose red on them.   Once they dried, one of them had a sheen to it; no matter what I did, how many times I colored it, the sheen stayed.  What's a crafter to do? Make them ALL shine a bit - I covered them all with s light coat of Glossy Accents.  Problem solved.  Aren't we a talented bunch when it comes to problem solving?

Now I set the roses aside and began to construct the stem portion of the card.  I

cut the die out twice; once in green and then again in red.  The green card is the main design, the one I built off.  I manipulated the red cut by trimming out just the bow portion.  I attached the red card to the green card and then set about attaching the foam flowers; this is when I realized I was missing something - can you spot it? Yep, I am one flower shy.  I have NO idea where it went, but I suspect a Fabulous Feline might have been creeping on my desk.  I try to cover everything I'm working on so

they can't get to it, but they're pretty crafty little devils.  Luckily, I still had foam left and I cut another rose, colored it and glazed it with Glossy Accents.  This rose didn't take as long as the others since experience told me it didn't matter how long I let it dry or how many colors I used; and I had some idea which markers I used.  While this rose was drying,  I ran my vellum through my Big Shot using the Mini Hearts embossing folder and set it aside.

Finally all of the roses were ready to go and I glued the last rose to it's stem; the existing roses on the card had to be trimmed down since my foam flowers didn't quite match up to the roses on the green card.  I wasn't as careful as I should have been and I must have glued a red rose to the wrong green rose.  No worries, you can't tell.  I attached my rose bouquet to the vellum and then used the area under the bouquet to glue the vellum to the red card base.  There you have it! There are tons of ways to use leftover foam; any die will cut it, so even a tiny heart, star, or accent can be utilized - just keep the critters away!

 Since this is such a tactile card, it's going to be my mother's Valentine card.  She never has to worry about the roses wilting!  

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  What do you do with your leftovers? Be it foam, shapes, whatever; I'd love to hear how you recycle your crafty leftovers.  Please leave your idea in the comments below and be sure there is a link back to your creation, if you've made one.  I'd also be grateful if you'd consider following me; I'll follow you back :)

Have a wonderful day! Christi




I would like to enter my Roses are Red card in the following challenges:
Die Cut Divas - Love is in the Air
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
AAA Cards - #108, CAS & All You Need is Love
Crafting with Dragonflies - #97, Valentines