Monday, May 18, 2015

Birthday Explosion Box

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Today is my turn as a Susan's Tierney-Cockburn Design Team Member to post a project on the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog.   I decorated a Birthday Explosion Box using three of Susan's new flower dies.   The recipient will not only receive long lasting flowers, but also a gift card to make their birthday wishes come true!   The flowers I created for this project are:  Garden Notes Hydrangea, Garden Notes Lilac, and Garden Notes Hyacinthe.  Susan's new Garden Notes flowers are just the perfect size to decorate cards and boxes, and I am sure will be treasured because they look so realistic.

Design Team May 2015 2
When closed, this is a six inch square explosion box.

Design Team May 2014 Front
This is a picture of the top of the box.  I used Secret Garden Graphic 45 design paper to cover the top and sides of the box;   The Grid framing "Secret Garden" was die cut using Susan's Garden Patch - 7/8-inch & Mini Leaves die set.  Four squares were cut out of the center of the grid and centered over the words in the design paper.  I love the size of the flowers in the new collection from Susan.  I die cut the Garden Notes Hydrangea  using four shades of light purple card stock and mixed the colors on each flower.  I used black Elizabeth Craft Design Black Corner Stickers, tulle and a ribbon to complete the top.

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To create the bottom of the Explosion Box, use a 12 x 12 inch piece of card stock; score at 3 inches on each side.  Cut out the four corners.  Crease the seams well
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 The top of the box must be just slightly larger.  Use another piece of 12 x 12 inch card stock.  If using a score board, push the the card stock over 1/16 of an inch and score at 3 inches.  Do this on all four sides.  This will make the lid just slightly larger to fit over the bottom of the box.  Add adhesive tape to the four corners to create the lid.

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The next two pictures help you see how the inside was decorated.  I created additional Garden Notes - Hydrangeas for the bottom side of the box.  For the flower on the left side, I used Susan's Garden Notes - Lilac dies.  For the flower on the right side, I used  the Garden Notes Hyacinthe dies.

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To create the dimensional (popup) "Happy Birthday" sentiment, I used the Elizabeth Craft Designs Happy Birthday PopUp dies.  I have never seen a popup used this way, but love the dimension it gave to the inside of the box.   I used a piece of card stock 6 inches by 9 inches for this die cut; it was scored at 3 inches.  The die cut was placed on the score line to create the popup; it fit perfect for the popup on the side panel.  The sentiment was die cut using black card stock.  The Silver Stars were created by die cutting the stars again, using ECD Double Sided Transparent Tape attached to white card stock.    ECD Silver Silk Microfine Glitter was poured over the tapeThey were glued over the stars on the die cut.  A strip of the glittered card stock was cut and glued behind the 6 stars  on the bottom of the popup.
On the other three sides, I cut a piece of card stock slightly smaller and embossed the panels with the ECD Swirly Curves embossing folder.  They were glued to each side panel.    In the center of the card.  I cut a piece of 6 x 6 inch card stock and embossed the bottom 3/4 with the ECD  Sea Glass embossing folder. A piece was cut out to fit around the popup panel on the top.  To create a pocket on the bottom, I used the Paris Edges lacy die.  It was attached on the bottom and each side with double sided tape.  This created a pocket for a gift card.   The ECD Tags & More 6 - Daisy die was used to create a tag with a small pocket on the bottom to hold the gift card.  The candles and gift are ECD stickers that I attached over a piece of card stock that had Double Sided Transparent tape and Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter; they were colored with Copic Markers.  I used  ECD letter stickers for "a gift for you" sentiment by the present.  Both the candles and the gift were attached with dimensional tape.  ECD black line stickers were added around the Happy Birthday Popup and along the bottom of the center panel.  More black sticker corners, to match those on the lid, were added to complete the inside.

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I will show you how I created the hydrangea flowers.  I used the base piece in the Garden Notes Hydrangea die set.  It was shaped with the largest ball stylus in Susan's Tool Set.  By shaping this base piece, it will give the hydrangea the rounded (domed) shape.

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I used the smallest ball stylus and pressed down in the center of each petal, on each die cut flower piece, to give it shape, then pressed down in the very center to cup the petals.  (I know, that looks like a lot of petals, but I was creating 5 hydrangea flowers and wanted to be sure I had plenty of petals die cut.  I didn't really need this many, but now I have more petals for future use.)

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The petals were glued around the bottom of the shaped base and then the entire base was covered.  I mixed the shades of purple petals to give variation to the color of the flower.  After the entire base was covered, I added additional petals on top of the one already attached; this creates a nice full blossom.

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Here is a closeup of one of the finished Hydrangea.  The finished flower is less than 2 inches wide and about 1/2 inch high.   Aren't they beautiful!

Explosion boxes are always a lot of fun to receive.  I hope you will give this a try and surprise someone you know!

Supplies:

Other Supplies:
12 x 12 inch white card stock
Four shades of light purple card stock
Graphic 45 Secret Garden Design Paper
Copic Markers
White Tulle
Narrow Lavender and purple gingham Ribbon
Flat Back Pearls
Dimensional Tape

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Susan's Garden Rose 1




Today is going to be my last post for a while. I want to let you know what is happening so you don't wonder why you are not receiving new updates from me.    I am going in this morning to have surgery on my foot.  I have been trying everything, for months to avoid surgery, but the only way to get rid of the pain is to have a torn tendon repaired.  I will need to be completely off my foot for six weeks.  My craft room is upstairs and this would be hard for me to maneuver, so will not be designing for a while.    I do have my two Susan's Design Team projects scheduled to post while I am recovering -  the first one on May 18 and the next one June 15.  I hope you will be back to see these projects. 

 


My card today was designed using Susan's Garden Rose 1 dies.  This is the largest rose in her collection from Elizabeth Craft Designs, measuring approximately 2 1/2" wide. 



 The sentiment is one of Susan's new sentiment stamps (The Butterfly is Proof).   The pink die cut Butterfly is the ECD Small Butterfly.  The background is a piece of pearlized lavender card stock that was embossed with the ECD Damask embossing folder.  This is a 6"x6" card.  I placed the embossing folder in the center of the 6x6 inch card stock to emboss, then cut strips of matching card stock and glued along the top and bottom edges of the embossed design.  Pearls were added to complete the card.

I am really going to miss my days in my craft room, but I'll be back as soon as possible.

The following products can  be purchased from Elizabeth Craft Designs:



Monday, May 11, 2015

Susan's Garden Notes Blue Bonnet

I am always blown away with how realistic flowers look when created with Susan Tierney-Cockburn's dies.  This is Susan's Blue Bonnet.

 

This is a picture of the Garden Notes Blue Bonnet/Lupine die set I used.  I have not created the Lupine, which comes in many colors, but I really love how realistic the Blue Bonnet looks.  The height of this finished flower is approximately 3 1/2 inches.  This is such a  perfect size for cards and assembly does not take long since it is a smaller flower.  I die cut all the pieces, using white card stock and colored the petals with Copic Markers and Pan Pastels .  I posted a tag at this LINK explaining how I colored the petals for this flower.  

This is a 6"x6" card.  For the background I used the Elizabeth Craft Designs Agatha Edges dies for the shape at the top of the card.  The die cut piece (the part cut out) was used at the bottom of the card.  Before gluing on that die cut flourish, I used the ECD Lots of Dots Embossing Folder to emboss the card stock below the die cut top border.  A narrow piece of blue card stock was glued across the top line of embossing.  This white background was glued to a blue card stock slightly smaller than the card.  

To create the ovals for the Blue Bonnet, I used the Accordion Oval Card dies.  The largest oval is actually part of the accordion, but was cut away to be a backing for the smaller white oval.  I used the "stitched" die in that set for the lines on the white oval.  These ovals were attached with dimensional tape.  The Blue Bonnet was attached with glue dots.  The sentiment is an ECD Sticker.  Blue pearls were added to complete the card.

The products used from Elizabeth Craft Designs are:


Sunday, May 10, 2015

Susan's Garden Notes Hyacinthes


Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers.  I hope you have a wonderful day.   I created different colors of Susan's Garden Notes Hyacinthes and couldn't decide which color to use on my card today, so I used them all.  

This is a 6 x 6 inch card.  To create a frame for the flowers I wanted to do something "different" --   I combined the Elizabeth Craft  Paris Edges and the Oval Flourish Frame Edges.  I die cut the Paris Edges then used the largest oval die in the Accordion Oval Card die set to cut the oval above the die cut Paris Edge (this is the part where the stems of the flowers are inserted).  To complete the frame, I die cut two of the short, and one of the long, Oval Flourish Frame pieces and attached them above the Paris Edge die cut.  

The Garden Notes Hyacinthes were tucked down in the oval frame.  Elizabeth Craft Designs Dot Peel Off Stickers were used to help decorate the frame.
 
The products used can be purchased from Elizabeth Craft Designs:




Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Susan's Garden Anemone with Tutorial



I love the color of these flowers.  They were created with Susan's Garden Anemone dies.  This is a 6x6 inch card.  I used Elizabeth Craft Designs Peel Off Stickers for the frame and the corners.  The sentiment is one of Susan's Sentiment stamps available from ECD. The background was embossed with the ECD Heart Strings Embossing Folder.

Anemones are such pretty little flowers and they come in a variety of colors.  Here are some of the colors I created.  You can get many ideas by looking at seed catalogs or by going on the Internet.

This is a picture I found on the Internet of an Anemone that has more than 5 petals.  I love the color so decided to try and duplicate this flower with Susan's Anemone dies.



 This is my version of the flower I found a picture of.  Below I will show you the steps I took to create these flowers.

TUTORIAL FOR CREATING PINK ANEMONE FLOWERS



This is a picture of Susan's Anemone Die Set used to create these flowers.

 
 I die cut all the pieces, including the leaves, using cream card stock. For the darker color on the edge of the petals I sponged on Fired Brick Distress Ink.    

 For the light pink color over the top edge of the petals, I sponged on Spun Sugar Distress Ink.

 I forgot to take a picture, but I sponged on  light green Pan Pastel at the base of each petal.  The petal was turned over and shaped on the backside using the small loop tool from Susan's Tool Set.

 Susan's Garden 4pcs. All metal Tool Set in Luxury Case (sku 808)

This is a picture of Susan's new All Metal Tool Set with the Luxury Case for storing.  It contains 3 different size stylus, the leaf shaping tool, a Loop tool with two sizes, and the self-closing tweezers.  I don't know what I would do without these tools for creating beautiful flowers!  You can also purchase her new molding pads and a leaf pad from Elizabeth Craft Designs.


 Once all the petals were shaped, I used the self-closing tweezers, to pinch the base of each petal for additional shaping. 

To create this double petal Anemone, first glue five petals to the base, as shown on the left side.  Next glue five more petals in the center alternating the petals and you will have a double petal Anemone. 

 For additional shaping, use the medium ball stylus and push down in the center on the flower molding pad and the flower will "cup", giving it a nice shape.



 Now you are ready to create the stamens.  I used two die cut stamens for each flower.  Each projection was cut in half; this creates a "frilly" stamen.  I like using the Elizabeth Craft Designs scissors because they have very fine points and are perfect for cutting detail work. To achieve the color of stamen in the photo, I colored both stamens a very pale green with a marker then used a dark green marker to color the lower half of just one stamen.  When you roll the stamen using the self-closing tweezers, start with the stamen with the dark green on the bottom.  Glue that stamen closed, then glue the light green stamen around it.  You will have a finished stamen that has dark green at the base in the center, and light green on the outside.   

Here is a close up of the flowers when completed.  Before gluing in the stamen, I put a tiny drop of glue on the tips and dipped the stamen in  Yellow Pollen.  They were then glued into the center of the flower.

 There are two leaves in this die set for this flower. The leaves were detailed by using the Leaf Tool.  I sponged Mowed Lawn Distress Ink all over the leaf then highlighted the center line and edges with Forest Moss Distress Ink.


 I hope you have fun creating these pretty Anemone Flowers.  Do my tutorials help give you additional ideas for using your dies?

The following products can be purchased from Elizabeth Craft Designs:



Monday, May 4, 2015

Susan's Garden Notes Poppy

Today I designed a tag using Susan's Garden Notes Poppy dies. It is always fun to create a pretty, dimensional tag for your gifts.  


This is a picture of the Garden Notes Poppy dies.   These poppies are very easy to assemble.  There is one large base with three petal and three smaller petals.  To create the large poppy, you just shape and glue two of the three-petal die cuts together then add the stamen.  The three small petals are used to create a poppy bud.  I am sure you will have fun creating this pretty little flower.    

The tag is the Elizabeth Craft Designs Tags & More 1 - Lace dies.  The vase for the poppies was die cut using the ECD Asian Vase dies  The backing  for the vase was die cut using black card stock and the front design of the vase die cut using red card stock.  The ladybugs were die cut using the ECD Lady Bug die; they were shaped with Susan's Garden Tool Set and glued together, then attached with dimensional glue dots.  

These supplies can be purchased from Elizabeth Craft Designs:



Friday, May 1, 2015

Susan's Garden Note Lilies


 Today I had fun creating a variety of lilies using Susan's Garden Notes Lily dies.  This is a 6x6 inch card.  I used the ECD Paris Edge dies to create a doily for the background.  A ECD heart sticker border, pearls and a bow were added to complete the card.  Below I will show you how I assembled the lilies.

Lilies come in a variety of colors.  What is your favorite color of lily?

To learn how to create Susan's Lily, I watched her video on YouTube at this LINK for instructions.  I have created many lilies following her instructions but decided to try something a little different to get a lily that is fully open.  Below are instructions on how I assembled these lilies.

To create the flower, there is a large die cut petal piece with three petals plus  three separate die cut petals.  There is also a die for the tall stamen.  I colored the petals and shaped them with the tools in Susan's Tool Set.  Each filament on the stamen was cut in half to make them thinner.  Roll the stamen around the self-closing tweezers and glue.  Not shown in this picture, but I added a small drop of glue to both sides of the tip of each point and dipped it in brown pollen.

 Once everything is ready to create the flower, I glued the stamen in the center of the die cut with three petals.  Glue was added at the inside base of the petals and over the bottom of the stamen;  I then rolled the petals around the stamen and created a three petal flower with the stamen in the center.  Next, on the outside,  I glued one of the other petals between the petals, using all three petals.  This helped to be able to overlap the petals slightly at the base to create an open flower. I love that we can do different things with the dies for different effects. 
 

 When you create flowers following my tutorial, it creates a fully open flower.  If you want a beautiful flower that is not as dimensional, be sure to follow Susan's instructions.

The following products can be purchased from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

995 - Garden Notes - Lily


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