A Flower cannot blossom without Sunshine

You can be so creative when working with Susan's CountryScape dies. It is fun and easy to create a scene for either feminine or masculine cards.  The new Clematis die is so pretty; I twined it through the Trellis from the CountryScapes - Backyard 2 collection.  The Birdbath is from the CountryScapes - Woods 2 set.  I die cut one using white card stock and colored it with Distress Ink and cut a second birdbath out of black card stock.  The blue image was glued offset over the black die cut to give it dimension.  There are small birds in the Woods 2 set, but I elected to use the larger birds from the CountryScapes Critters 2 set.  The die cut grass is from the Woods 2 set.  Three butterflies were added from the Garden Notes - Bugs and Butterflies set.  The Squirrel is from the CountryScapes Country Critters set.  The rose was created using the Garden Notes Rose 2 set.  The sentiment is Susan's Sunshine & Love stamp.  I decided to add a 'sun' -- it is a punched circle that was distressed around the edges then filled with Glossy Accents.

My friend Glenda Brooks (MagPie's Corner)  posted a very pretty  Fancy Fold Corner Card which I wanted to try.  You can see her card and the link to this special fold card at this LINK. I created this Fancy Fold Corner on a 6x6 inch card and added and added extra layers around the corner.  The sentiment is a ECD Peel Off Sticker.

Here are links to the products used:

1036 - CountryScapes - Clematis, Ivy

1014 - CountryScapes - Woods 2

1012 - CountryScapes - Critters 2

1011 - Garden Notes - Bugs & Butterflies

1010 - CountryScapes - Backyard 2

989 - CountryScapes - Country Critters

RS001 - Sunshine and Love Stamp

998 - Garden Notes - Rose 2

E118 - Spring Leaves embossing folder

2580 - Thinking of You Large Peel Off Stickers

Tag with Garden Patch Mini Dasies in Wheelbarrow

 Don't you love to receive a gift with a pretty tag!   Today I wanted to fill the ECD Wheelbarrow with Susan's Garden Patch Daisies.  The wheelbarrow was die cut and colored with Copic markers then filled with grass from Susan's CountryScapes - Country Flora grass. 

 

The smallest daisy in the Garden Patch 1-inch & Mini Daisy and Chrysanthemum die set was used to fill the wheelbarrow.

The ECD tag used is the Tags and More 8 - Lattice die. There are a lot of embellishments in this set - I used two at the top, one under the sentiment, and one at the bottom of the tag.   The lattice tag was die cut twice - once using white card stock then a second one die cut using design paper.  They were glued together.  The edges of the tag were sponged with matching Distress Ink.

I really enjoy trying to find many ways to use my dies.  I used the Lorna Label PopUp die to create a label for the sentiment. 

 I die cut the PopUp and cut it away from the frame.  You can see in this picture which portion I used.  I left the top popup portion on the label because I wanted it to have the label dimensional on my tag.  Only the top portion is a pop up. The bottom part lays down on the tag.  You could write a personal note on this side, if you wanted to. 

 This is how the PopUp looks from the side, on the tag.  Before attaching the PopUp Label to the tag, I used Susan's Hope Sentiment Stamp.  The edges of the label was sponged and an embellishment from the Lorna Label PopUp die set added. 

To complete this tag, I added light green flat-backed pearls and a bird embellishment from my stash.

Hope I have given you inspiration to create a pretty tag for someone special.

The following products can be purchased from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

1003 - Garden Patch 1-inch & Mini Daisy and Chrysanthemum

991 - CountryScapes - Country Flora

RS004 - Hope Sentiment Stamp

915 - Lorna Label PopUp

933 - Wheelbarrow

961 - Tags & More 8 - Lattice

Lilacs in Shadow Box

Today I have created a shadow box out of a piece of 12 x 12 card stock and filled it with pretty lilacs created with Susan's Garden Notes Lilacs.

I want to give credit to Amanda (The Craft Spa Blog), where I saw this type of shadow box.  Here is the link .  In the bottom of the box I glued in a piece of white card stock that was embossed with the Damask Embossing Folder.  It was glued down before gluing down the sides of the shadow box.  I created two light purple and two dark purple lilac stems and arranged them in the box.  Behind the lilacs I added 8 branches from the Flourishes & Branches die set.  On the top I added purple design paper.  Along the bottom, is a banner label from the Lorna Label PopUp die set. Stickers were used for the sentiment and two purple brads added at each end.  The white flourishes are from the Flourishes & Branches die set. To complete this shadow box, I added two ECD Small Butterfly die cuts.

I have had emails asking about my foot.  It is really slow going.  I am able to put partial weight on my foot and can not do much walking yet.  I will start physical therapy next week.  I am not able to sit with my foot down very long or it gets very swollen and painful.  I am working on my cards in spurts!  I am so happy to be creative again.

Links to products from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

1017 - Garden Notes - Lilac

KB104 - Damask Embossing Folder

1034 - Flourishes & Branches

915 - Lorna Label PopUp

713 - Small Butterfly 

324 - Assorted Words Peel Off Stickers

Pretty Poppies

I have always had a love of poppies.  My kitchen is decorated with red poppies and my children have helped me complete my set of poppy dishes from Pier I Imports.  It is always fun to create different colors of poppies with Susan's dies.  For this card, I created orange poppies to match the design paper.      

 

The dies I used are the  Garden Notes - Poppy.  These little poppies are so easy to create and are just the right size for greeting cards.   I created two open poppies and 3 partially open poppies.  To create the partially open poppies, I used only the 3-petal die; for the open poppies I used all the petals.  The three petal die cut was well shaped using the small loop tool from Susan's Flower Tool Set.  If you start on the outside edge of the petal and pull down to the center, on all three petals, the petals will "cup".    I folded two of the petals up over the center (back) petal (two petals on top of one petal). Glue was added to the base of the two petals that overlapped on the front. Be careful to not flatten out your petals. The stamen was glued down in the center.  Creating these partially open poppies gives an added dimension to the poppy bouquet.

The design paper I used is from Graphic 45.  To create the circle in the center of the white piece of card stock, I used the Accordion Circle Card die.  The pivot section was cut off, so I could use the frame.  This frame was embossed with the Spring Leaves embossing folder.  To edge the white frame and the corners of the card, I used ECD peel off stickers.  A piece of black twine was used for the bow.

Below are links to the products used from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

1018 - Garden Notes - Poppy

808 - Susan's Tool Set

810 - Large Molding Pad

811 - Leaf Pad

E118 - Spring Leaves Embossing Folder

769 - Accordion Circle Card

1289 - Frames Rounds Peel Off Stickers

1004 - Straight Border Peel Off Stickers

1276 -  Ribbon Fancy Peel Off Stickers

Country Scene with Foxes

Hello Friends. Today is an exciting day for me.   It has been a long six weeks;  I can finally get back to my craftroom to design.  Today I have a card that was inspired by a picture of a fox Els Van de Burgt, owner of Elizabeth Craft Designs, posted on Facebook.   It was so fun to create this scene with Susan's dies.

This is a picture of a fox that has a den in the rocks behind Els house in Pine, Colorado.  Susan has a fox die in her CountryScapes - Critters 2 die set that was perfect to create this card.

I used a variety of Susan's other dies too,  to complete this scene.  The purple rhododendron is from the CountryScapes Mini Botanicals.  The butterfly is from the Garden Notes - Bugs & Butterflies.  The birds are from the CountryScapes - Critters 2.  Two different dies were used for grass; CountryScapes - Woods 2 and CountryScapes - Backyard 1.  The birdhouse is also from CountryScapes - Woods 2.  The tiny yellow, pink, purple and red flowers were die cut  using the CountryScapes - Backyard 2 set were glued to stems from the CountryScapes - Country Flora 1 dies.  

I love the tree from the CountryScapes - The Woods 1 die set; you can create many different types of trees with it.    I used two die cut trees and a few die cut branches from this set, on my card.   This set comes with individual leaves that you individually glue on.  Since it is summertime, I wanted to have a tree that was filled with leaves, so I used the leaf dies below, in order to create a nice shade tree. 

The Garden patch - 7/8-inch & Mini Leaves die set has a variety of leaves.  The leaves I used are shown on the bottom of the magnetic sheet of dies on the right side of this picture. These leaves a very similar to the leaf in the tree die set, but include six little leaves on each die cut.  This leaf saved a lot of time gluing on  leaves.  It was easy to die cut a lot of leaves because I used 80 lb pound card stock so I was able to place the two leaf dies  to two layers of card stock.  The leaves were then layered (glued) over each branch of the tree. 

To finish off the card, I used ECD corner stickers.

Thank you for stopping by.

Links to products used from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

992 - CountryScapes - The Woods 1

1014 - CountryScapes - Woods 2

988 - CountryScapes - Backyard 1

1010 - CountryScapes - Backyard 2

991 - CountryScapes - Country Flora 1

1012 - CountryScapes - Critters 2

1035 - CountryScapes - Mini Botanicals - Rhododendron, Azalea, Primrose

1011 - Garden Notes - Bugs & Butterflies

1004 - Garden Patch - 7/8-inch & Mini Leaves

842 - Corners and Borders Straight Peel Off Stickers

Country Scapes PopUp Card

 

Today is my turn as a designer on Susan Tierney-Cockburn Design Team to post a project on the Elizabeth Craft Design Blog.   My project is a Popup card I decorated with Susan's CountryScapes Mini Botanicals - Hollyhock, CountryScapes -Critters 2, and CountryScapes - Woods 2 dies.  

 

Susan's Hollyhock is only 4 inches tall and fits so well on any card or project.  These flowers come in a variety of colors so you can create a garden of many colors of hollyhocks.  For my card today, I chose to use the deep burgundy flowers.   Susan has a great variety of CountryScapes dies to help create beautiful scenes around your flowers.  I used the birdhouse and grass from the CountryScapes - Woods 2 die set on the right side of the card.  The cute little birds were die cut from the CountryScapes - Critters 2 set.

I wanted to create a dimensional card for the Hollyhocks so decided to use the Lorna Label PopUp dies.  I know, you usually see a PopUp on the inside of the card,  but I wanted to be different

When this card is standing open, it measures 5 1/2 inches by 4 inches.  When it is closed flat, it measures 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, so it will be easy to mail.

To create the card, I started with a piece of card stock measuring 5 1/2 inches by 11 inches.  It was scored down the center at 5 1/2 inches and 1 1/2 inches from each end.  Once scored, you fold the card in half creating a mountain fold (when open) and a valley fold at each end.

To create the popup, I cut a piece of card stock 5 1/2 inches square.  It was scored 1 1/2 inches from one end.  The little tabs on the Lorna Label PopUp die were placed right on the score line and put through the die cutting machine.  When all the score lines are pressed out, it will look like this.

The Hollyhocks I used are a deep burgundy color, so  I used the same card stock to create a burgundy label.  You use the same popup die and cut out the label, from the die cut piece.  It was glued to the popup I used on the front of the card.

Use the two smaller label dies in this die set to cut a smaller label with the stitch lines - that inside die does not cut a label but it creates stitch lines.   I die cut the sentiment from the Hello sentiment die, in black, and glued it to the label.

This picture shows the base card and the die cut Popup before assembly.

The PopUp was glued to the base card then decorated with Susan's Hollyhock and CountryScapes dies. (Oops!  I see I didn't press the side down well when gluing together before I took the picture.)

I hope I have inspired you to create something pretty with Susan's new Hollyhock and Country Scapes dies.

Supplies:

1015 - CountryScapes Mini Botanicals - Hollyhock

1014 - CountryScapes -Woods 2

1012 - CountryScapes - Critters 2

808 - Susan's Flower Tool Set

810 - Susan's Large Molding Mat

811 - Susan's Leaf Pad

915 - Lorna Label PopUp

Other Supplies
White Card Stock
Copic Markers
Glue
Dimensional Tape