Floral Heart

We still have a lot of snow and I want to think about beautiful flowers instead of the cold! I have been busy creating a lot of small flowers with my Susan's Garden dies, to create this pretty heart shaped wreath. They look so real, I can almost smell them.

This is a wood heart shape I found in the craft store and immediately thought it would be fun to cover it with realistic flowers.  The heart measures 9x9" from widest/tallest measurements.  To create the flowers I used Susan's Mini Petals (Roses), Mini Daisy, and Rhododendron (small purple flowers)  dies.  Once all the flowers were created, I used hot glue to attach them to the wood frame.  Small leaves were inserted around the flowers, then dried baby's breath tucked in.  

Hope you are having a great weekend.

LOVE

 Valentine's Day is not far off.  Today I used the Marianne Design LOVE (LR0301) die for the center attraction.  I used red glitter card stock for the die cut.  

This is a 6"x6" card.  On the background I embossed a piece of white cardstock with the Anna Griffin Smitten Embossing Folder.  On top I added the beautiful die cut doily by Marianne Design Anja's Squares (LR0242). The layers were attached using dimensional tape.

To create the flowers, I used the Susan's Garden Cistus dies (659658).  They were die cut using white card stock and the base of each petal colored with a very pale yellow Copic marker.  I used store bought stamens in the center.  Under the flowers, I added the Marianne Design Leaves CR1272, LR0192, LR0245, and LR0117.  For the corners, I added the Cheery Lynn B162 die cut corner. 

To give sparkle to the card, I used the Ivy Hollow ScrapFusion Needle Point glue to add small amounts of glue to the leaves, around the edge of the hearts and the top of the flowers, then sprinkled on Ranger Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy dry glitter.  I know it is hard to see the glitter in the photo.

Have you started on your Valentine cards?

Marianne Design LOVE die 

Marianne Design Anja's Squares Dies

Susan's Garden Cistus (Rock Rose) dies

Spring Bouquet

 

It is snowing outside but I am ready for Spring.  Today I worked with Susan's Garden dies to create a Spring Garden.

I love to follow Dr. Sonia on the "Cards, Crafts, Kids Projects Blog". She creates some of the most beautiful projects.  One that I loved recently was a 3-D Pop Up Card that I used for a base for this project. My project does not fold flat;  I inserted a bottom (floor) section.  The box is 4" square so I cut a piece of card stock 5 inches square then scored at 1/2 inch along each side to create tabs i could fold down and attach to the sides.  The tabs were attached below  (folded down) in the 4 inch square so they don't show when looking inside the box. I used ScorTape to attach the side of the box together and to attach the "floor" piece.

Along the base of the die cut windows, I created a daffodil garden using Susan's Garden "Spring Bouquet" dies.

The flowers in Susan's Garden Spring Bouquet die set are very miniature compared to the original daffodils from Susan. You can see the difference in size in this picture.

 These little daffodils were so easy to create; they will work perfect on any project including cards.  I know you will have fun with them.  There are also dies to create mini tulips, in the Spring Bouquet die set.

Along the top of the die cut windows I added Ivy created with dies from the Susan's Garden "Leaves, Fern & Ivy" die set. The smallest ivy leaves in this die set were glued to thin wire to create a vine.  On the inside, I added more ivy and some purple vine flowers create with the Susan's Garden "Forsythia" dies.  Inside the die cut box, I placed a small gift box which has a bird sitting on the  lid. You could add a flameless candle and use it for a home decor piece.   Butterflies were added to complete the project.

If you would like instructions on building the pop-up card, go to  Dr. Sonia's blog at this LINK.

I hope you enjoyed this project.

Susan's Garden Spring Bouquet Dies

Masculine Birthday Card

 Designing masculine cards is always hard for me.  Today I have a birthday card to show you that I designed for my son.  When he has free time, he loves to get out in nature, so thought this card would appeal to him.  The overall card size is 6" x 6".  The two main items I wanted to use for this card are the Impression Obsession Tree Frame Die (IOB DIE 205YY) and the Penny Black Winter Sky Stamp (4204L).

 I started by using VersaMark Ink to stamp this Penny Black design onto a piece of white card stock.  It was embossed with Ranger's Ultra Fine Black Embossing Powder.  Next I used a 1" circle punch to create a stencil to sponge in the moon with Distress Inks.  I used a small sponge dauber and light yellow ink to create moon light down over the stamped image.  (I was trying to create a night scene but in the photo it looks more like a daytime scene!!)

Along the middle of the stamp image, I placed a piece of card stock, that was cut to resemble a snow bank, across the image and sponged on blue ink.  The round circle I punched out was placed over the sponged on "moon", for a mask, so I could sponge Stormy Sky Distress Ink and a Weathered Wood ink around it.  I used a stamp to create falling snow.  The "dots" were stamped using VersaMark Ink and embossed with Ultra Fine White Embossing Powder.  Be sure to use the anti-static pad over your picture so the embossing powder doesn't stick to some of the sponged on blue ink.  Some glitter was added along the top of the snow bank to help make it stand out.

Next I die cut the Impression Obsession Tree Frame.  Post It Notes were placed around the edge of the frame and the tree was sponged with brown Distress Inks.  I used a pencil to draw in some lines to resemble bark.  Next I used the Ivy Hollow ScrapFusion Needle Point bottle of glue to add some dots of glue on the tree branches and added Polar White Flower Soft to make the tree very dimensional.  The Flower Soft was also added along the very bottom of the frame.  Two of the Memory Box Resting Birds (98527) were added to the die cut tree branches.   

To make the card very dimensional, I added dimensional tape along the outside edge of the frame and some dimensional tape under the wider trunk and branches before attaching it over the stamped image.  The stamped image was trimmed to fit perfectly under the die cut frame.  

For the background on the 6x6 inch card, I embossed a piece of Navy Blue card stock with the Die'sire Embossalicious Happy Birthday Embossing Folder (EF6-Happy).  This piece was layered over light gray card stock.  The Dee's Distinctively "Deer 1" die was die cut using dark brown card stock and attached with a double layer of dimensional tape.

Some of these products can be purchased from Ellen Hutson, LLC at this LINK.

Susan's Garden Sweet Peas

I never thought I would be able to create the delicate little sweet pea flowers, but with Susan's Garden Sweet Pea dies, it was so easy.  You can see her directions at this LINK. 

Here is a close up of these pretty little flowers.   I assembled the sweet peas then used a hot glue gun to attach them to some thin floral wire.  These flowers make such a pretty addition to any card or box. 

 

The sweet peas look beautiful placed on white background.  You can purchase these dies from Ellen Hutson, LLC at this LINK.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great day.

Susan's Garden Southern Magnolia and Stamen Tutorial

 I love creating the Susan's Garden Southern Magnolia.  It is such a beautiful flower. 

  I used Susan's directions to create this flower but I did create the stamen a little different.  I promised you a tutorial on how I did it.  Here is the LINK to Susan's instructions for completing her magnolia.   Around the magnolia I added Susan's Garden White Pine Pine Cones and Pine Branches.  I created this card for a winter birthday card.

TUTORIAL FOR SOUTHERN MAGNOLIA STAMEN

 

This is a picture of a Southern Magnolia.

 When I started to create this stamen, I was not sure how many stamen pieces I would need,  so I die cut five pieces.  I cut each projection of the stamen twice to create 3 points.  This creates the frilly look needed for this stamen.  On one of the pieces, I colored the base brown to resemble the stamen in the picture.

 To get the stamen to have the curled points, I used the self-closing tweezers from Susan's Tool Kit and rolled down each point.  I caught the three narrow points and rolled them down.  You don't have to be real fussy about getting them exactly alike.  You can arrange them once the whole stamen is created.

 This is what the pieces looked like once the points were all curled down.

Add glue, on the back, to the bottom edge of one of the pieces that you have not colored the base, and roll it using the self-closing tweezers.  (You want the curls rolling out.) This will be the top of the stamen.

  Add glue to the next stamen piece and roll it around the base of the first rolled stamen.  The base is wide and this is very easy to do. This picture shows two stamens glued together.

 Depending on how high you want the stamen, you can use three or four pieces.  I only used a total of three.

 Next add glue to the back of the piece you have colored the base brown. Roll the piece around the bottom of the other stamens.  If the bottom is not perfectly straight, you can trim it with scissors so you can get it to sit straight in the center of the flower.  Add glue to the bottom of the stamen and place it in the center of the completed magnolia.

I know you will have fun creating these beautiful Magnolias. You can purchase Susan's Garden Southern Magnolia dies at this LINK.