ED187 FlowersCompleted by Pamela Horton The whispering Platypus

I spent considerable time deciding how I wanted to present this beautiful pen and water colour original by the amazing artist and designer Clare Walker. I decided to leave the upper most of the finished card vacant, as a special card deserves a special sentiment. I am saving this for a friend, who is most unwell, for just the right moment to say those special words.

I liked the idea of the urn,, with the nasturtiums spilling over and around, so I have included the template I made for the backing urn.

The size is 7cm at the base, central height 9cm and the widest section is 7.75cm, which is just below the neck of the urn.

I printed the sheet supplied twice, once onto copy paper and once onto 200gsm white card. I made the urn from the shade of card, I have attached in the second photograph. I attached a khaki shade of card at the bottom of the urn, to make a ground base, and cut the main element out from the paper copy. This I then cut in half and reversed it, to make it, the top of the urn decoration, attaching both sections overlapping one another where needed, and, using the over hang pieces at the side, I then wrapped them around to the back to keep the urn shape. I then used the card copy to cut out various sections to add to the cascade using thicker padded tape for each layer, and keeping them the right way up. I backed this with a white card 12.5 x 9cm and edged it with an orange permanent pen. The next backing sheet is a muted dusky green 13.5 cm x 10.5cm., which I also edged with the orange pen and attached with double sided tape. The orange backing sheet is 14.25 x 11cm, and is attached with padded double sided tape . I then used the gold satin ribbon 1cm wide, to attach it to the back with magic tape, and wrap around to the front, and tie a bow on the left hand side. I made the white main card 26 x 15, as I wanted the nasturtiums to over hang on the right hand side. To the white card, I attached a backing sheet, the same shade as the urn, using double sided tape. 11.5cm wide and 14.5cm high, keeping it more to the left, but allowing space for the bow. I used padded tape to attach the orange background card to the card front. To finish off I added all the card copies of the nasturtium elements, completing the cascade appearance.

A busy, but very happy look to the finish with such cheerful natural looking flowers. Thank you, Clare, it deserves a big hug.

Pamela Horton