Susan's Garden 3-D Book

 Today I have a project I think a lot of you are going to love.  It is perfect for gift giving for the holidays.  It is the new Susan's Garden 3-D Book die that can be used for inserting a gift card or be used for small gifts.  It is a die you will be able to use year round. 

Here is a picture of the Susan's Garden 3-D Book package along with the box I created.  It is one of the long Sizzix dies that you need to use the Extended Cutting Pads with to die cut it.  To create a very solid box, I recommend purchasing Craft-a-Board from Ellen Hutson, LLC.  This board is thin enough to be used with most diecut systems and dies, yet sturdy enough to produce beautiful projects.  I covered the Craft-a-Board with Design Paper. 

 To decorate my 3-D Book (box), I created a poinsettia using Susan's Garden Poinsettia Dies.  I also used the Susan's Garden Christmas Holly and Susan's Garden White Pine Pinecones dies for fillers under the poinsettia.  A sparkly white ribbon was used to close the book.

I always have certain people on my Christmas List that ask for gift cards.  This little 3-D Book creates a beautiful box I am sure the recipient will love more than receiving a gift card in a little folder or envelope.

I still don't have time to post tutorials on the new Susan's Garden products, but if you have any questions, please email me and I will help you.

Susan's Garden Southern Magnolia

 I am so excited to show you the new Susan's Garden Southern Magnolia.  Doesn't it look real!!!   

This is a picture of the package of Susan's Garden Southern Magnolia dies.

 I wanted to see a closeup of the stamen in the Southern Magnolia to see exactly how it was shaped.  I found this picture on the Internet. 

 Susan has a video at this LINK showing you how to assemble the magnolia.  I love Susan's tips on creating very realistic leaves.  Be sure to check that out!

I followed Susan's directions on assembling the magnolia except for the stamen.  I looked at the picture I found on the Internet and tried to create the stamen very similar to the one in that picture.  I used three of her stamen die cuts.  I don't have time to do a tutorial right now, but if you leave a comment below and let me know if you are interested, I will do a post later with a tutorial.

I had asked Susan last Spring if she was going to have dies to create a magnolia and knew the dies for this gorgeous flower would be out this Fall.  When I received my package of new dies, this was the first flower I wanted to create.  Susan's flower dies always create such gorgeous and realistic flowers.  I know you will love creating this flower and all the other new ones in this collection.  I will continue posting the new flowers as I have time.  My husband will be in the hospital about one more week then I will have time to devote much more time doing my favorite thing -- creating flowers!

Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great weekend.

NEW Susan's Garden Fall 2014 Collection Dies

 

I have great news.  The new Susan's Garden Fall 2014 Collection is now available.  Here are the 17 new dies:

Rhododendron

Southern Magnolia

Cistus (Rock Rose)

Sweet Pea

Cosmos

Spider Mum

Nasturtium

Spring Bouquet

Amaryllis

Carnation

Camellia

Christmas Holly

White Pine Pinecones

Lady Slipper

3 7/8 square Grid Works (create a box)

3-D Book (box)

Woodland Leaves (10 leaves)

You can see all of Susan's new Fall 2014 dies at this LINK

I have anxiously been awaiting Susan's new dies, however they arrived the afternoon before my husband went to the hospital for a knee replacement.  He ended up with blood clots so has been in the hospital much longer than expected, so I have not had much time to work in my craftroom.  However, since I know you are all probably working on Christmas cards, I wanted to take time create and show you the beautiful Susan's Garden Pinecone and Pine Branches dies and the Christmas Holly dies.  If you go to the link above you will be able to view the videos Susan did showing you step by step instructions for these dies. 

Link to Susan's Pinecone Video

Here are the pinecones I created with Susan's dies. The pinecone and branches are beautiful just the way Susan's created them, but I thought I would show you an additional idea to give them a snowy effect.   I added Ranger Texture Paste and Distress Stickles Dry Glitter. 

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 Link to Susan's Holly Video

You are going to love all the different sizes of realistic holly in this set.  Susan will show you a tip for creating the glossy look of the holly leaf and also how to create the berries.  

Here is a close up of the holly and pinecones I created.  On the holly leaves I added Viva Inka Gold paste. 

In this picture I have created a Susan's Garden lavender poinsettia, with gold highlights, and surrounded it with Susan's Garden pine branches and pine cones.

My husband is expected to be in the hospital for another two weeks, but as I can, I will be working on creating all the other flowers and boxes with Susan's Fall 2014 Collection.  I will post a board showing all the new flowers, as I have done in the past.  

Have fun creating!

Box with Lilies

Today is a beautiful sunny day.  My husband is out getting in some last minute golf before he goes in for knee replacement surgery this week, so I decided to work on decorating a gift box with Susan's Garden flowers.  I used a little wicker box and created Susan's Garden Lilies for the main attraction.  The smaller mum type flowers were created using the Susan's Garden Dahlia dies and then for a third flower I used Susan's Garden Daisy Dies.  My sweet friend from the Netherlands sent me a "Kitchen Craft Buttons Fondant Mould".  This mold is perfect for creating realistic centers for flowers.  I used Martha Stewart yellow air dry clay.  After they were dry, I sponged on Aged Mahogany Distress Ink.  They look very realistic. 

Here is a closeup of the lilies.  You can go to this link to watch Susan Tierney-Cockburn's Lily Video.

 

 After creating all the flowers, I placed them on the box and started pulling things out of my embellishment box.  I added a variety of leaves and other floral pieces I had in my stash.  There is a piece of a net bag, that fruit came in, that is tucked under the items on the top of the box.  The three butterflies were fussy cut from some Graphic 45 design paper and attached.

This wicker box was purchased from Hobby Lobby.  They come in a variety of sizes.  I think floral arrangements on these boxes always look so pretty.

Thank you for visiting me today.  I hope I give you some inspiration to decorate a plain box, with flowers, for a beautiful gift.