Sunflowers symbolize strength to me.

I have been watching in horror the scenes coming out of Ukraine the past several days. But I am also in awe of the bravery and strength of the Ukrainian people. It makes me proud to be of Ukrainian descent. (However, I want to make the distinction though that it is the Russian government committing these atrocities, not the Russian people. The Russian people did not ask for this war. I also have seen the bravery and strength of the Russian dissidents protesting the war in Ukraine.)

That strength is why I was inspired to create a card in solidarity with Ukraine, creating a card with yellow sunflowers over a background of blue sky—the Ukrainian flag colors. I started by creating a blue background on Ranger mixed media heavy stock. I used Distress Spray Stain in prize ribbon, mixing it with snow flurries Mica Spray Stain. I flecked the card with water and then tapped Distress Oxide in prize ribbon over the top. I also splattered on a little bit of light blue metallic pastel watercolor. 

I then did the same thing to two pieces of mixed media heavy stock, except coloring them yellow. I used Distress Spray Stain in fossilized amber and Oxide Spray in fossilized amber, flickering candle Mica Spray Stain and little bit of light yellow metallic pastel watercolor from the same pan. Once all of these inked sheets were dry, I ran them through my Minc machine to flatten them.

I didn’t have a sunflower die, but I just knew that the seasonal sketch poinsettia die from Tim Holtz would make a great sunflower, especially if I layered it up. I cut 6 of the base layer from the mixed media heavy stock inked in yellows. I also cut 6 of the top layer from Tim’s gold metallic kraftstock. 

I used my shaping tools to add dimension, turning the flowers upside down to curl the leaves back, then flipping them right side up and pressing down in the center. I layered the cuts yellow-gold-yellow-gold, offsetting all the petals and using collage medium to glue each of the 3 flowers together. 

I glued these flowers to the lower right of my blue card front using collage medium. I picked a quote from the small talk sticker book about strength, cutting it in half and then adding foam squares to the back. I also added foam squares to the back of a heart puffy sticker in yellow, orange and gold. I placed all of these stickers on to the front of the card. 

I then added a bunch of brown jewels to the center of each sunflower, clustering them to look like the seeds. To finish it off, I added a few blue jewels on the background. I really love how this card turned out and I hope that it brightens your day, but I especially hope that it brightens the day of a Ukrainian who happens to see it here or on my Instagram account. I feel pretty useless, but I know that art that brings just a moment of happiness to someone isn’t useless. Art is never useless. Art is comfort. Art is voice. Art is protest. 

And if you want to do more than just create art for the sake of comfort or protest, be sure to check out the Instagram accounts of Yana Smakula and Galina Filippenko, both are Ukrainian paper crafters, as well as the Ukraine Card Drive for Peace Instagram account which will have information soon about a card auction benefiting the people of Ukraine. 

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***Note: If you choose to shop the links below, I will donate the commission I earn from your purchase to the charity World Central Kitchen, helping to support families fleeing Ukraine and residents remaining in the country by serving them fresh meals. I’m happy to answer questions you have or share a receipt of the donation with you. Just email me at alice@alicescrapswonderland.com.***

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