Tulips, Harbingers of Spring

Hello! I’m Wendy T. Gibson, the newest Paper Gardener! I’m over the moon to have been invited by Susan to be a part of the ECD Susan’s Garden Design Team 2015 and I can’t wait to show you how her beautiful dies and stamps inspire me to create!

I had to start with the tulip! As a Zone 5 gardener here in Canada, I can’t start safely planting outdoors until the May 24th weekend, so seeing the early tulips as they first appear in the grocery stores really lifts my spirits!  I love them for their promise of warm and sunny days ahead and because they also symbolise gratitude! During WWII, Canada harboured the Dutch Princess Juliana and her daughters while the Nazis occupied the Netherlands. In gratitude, the Dutch Royal family sent 100,000 tulips to Ottawa, our capital, and they grow there to this day! We even have an annual Tulip Festival there every May. Over a million tulips are displayed, making it the largest festival of its kind in the world!

At this time of the year, bisque eggs are readily available at your local craft or dollar store, but you could also use an unpainted wooden egg. Here’s how I turned one into a beautiful flowered ornament, using the lovely Susan’s Garden Notes – Tulip die and the inspiring Seeds of Thought Stamp Winter-Spring! The Garden Notes dies are perfect for a project like this one because they are made to lay flatter on a surface than the more 3D flowers that you can make with the Susan’s Garden dies. Perfect for cards, obviously, but also great for eggs and such!

Instructions:

1. Die cut tulips, leaves and stems from white cardstock and color with alcohol ink markers. Cut and color 2 stems per flower for added dimension. (This VIDEO from Elizabeth Craft Designs shows Susan Tierney-Cockburn guiding you in fully assembling the tulips, using her ECD  tool set).
2. Smooth any rough spots or seams on your egg using fine grain sand paper.
3. Paint your egg in the color of your choice. I went for a shade of Robin’s Egg Blue.
4. While it dries, stamp the “Winter Spring” saying from Susan’s Garden Seeds of Thought rubber stamps onto tissue paper that matches the color of your egg.
5. Trim the tissue paper to fit the egg.
6. Apply gel medium to the side of the egg where you want the saying to be, then carefully smooth your tissue paper over it. Make sure to apply gel medium on top of the stamped saying, too. Pounce your brush on the tissue to get rid of air bubbles and to smooth out any lines.
7. Apply gel medium to the rest of the egg.
8. Arrange and glue down tulips and leaves to frame the quote.
9. Add white dots randomly to highlight quote.
10. Add a tiny jewel.
11. Finish it off with a ribbon!

You now have a unique, handmade gift to share with a friend or to display proudly at home! (Better make two!)

I’m so grateful that tulips always keep their promise and that Spring never skips its turn! What’s your favorite Spring flower?

Supplies:

Elizabeth Craft Designs:

1000 Susan’s Garden Notes – Tulip

RS006 Susan’s Garden Seeds of Thought Rubber Stamp – Winter Spring

808 Susan’s Garden Tool Set

Other:

Unpainted bisque or wooden egg

White cardstock

Tissue paper

Gel medium

Stazon ink

Spectrum Noir markers

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen White 101

Stick on jewel

Aleene’s Super Tacky Glue

Ribbon

Sand paper