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.

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.

Have a Magical Holiday

I need to make more Christmas cards and created a bunch of Susan's Garden White Poinsettias to have for future cards.  I used one on this card using the Marianne Design DF3406 embossing folder. I received a couple of sheets of Marianne Design "Tiny's Winterworld" landscape scenes, and used one of the scenes in the center of the embossed design. To get the cut out in the embossed design, I used one of the Heartfelt Creations  1B Cut Mat Create dies.  The scene was cut out and glued behind the opening.  A piece of green card stock was glued on the backside of the embossed piece to show through the die cut areas.

The poinsettia was created using Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies.  Behind the poinsettia I used the Susan's Garden Branch and Stem dies to create the snow covered twigs.  The branches were misted with water then pinched to shape them.  Texture Paste was added for snow then dipped in glitter.  There is also some pine branches and pine cones behind the flower.  On the very bottom of the flower, some pieces of cheese cloth were glued down before layering the other pieces on.  I added some red glitter decorations I found in the Christmas section of the craft store.  The sentiment is from the JustRite Christmas Inner Thoughts stamp set.

Have you started creating your Christmas cards?  I know I have to send a handmade card to everyone -- they would never let me send a store bought card, so it keeps me busy this time of year getting them all completed.

 Hope you have a great weekend.

Putting new Glue to the Test and a Special Offer

Good Morning. I know you like to hear about products I love to use and I have a new glue I would like to share with you. Be sure to read below for a special offer. The name of the glue is Ivy Hollow, ScrapFusion. The project I designed today was created using  ScrapFusion glue.  There are a variety of items glued to this box - flowers created with Susan's Garden dies and ScrapFusion Glue, laser cut pieces, die cuts, lace trim, cheese cloth and a button.  I designed this box a few days ago, so the items are thoroughly dry.  Everything is glued down solid; I have no fear anything will fall off.

Let me tell you a little bit about this glue.  Ivy Hollow Publishing is a little company, in northern Wisconsin, that Doug and Meegan operate out of their home.  Doug is a high school science teacher and before becoming a teacher, he spent 25 years working as a chemist in the printing/binding industry.  This is where Doug got his expertise with glue.  Below is a picture of the variety glue package.  You can purchase these glues as a package or individually. Doug packaged the bottles with three different applicator tops; a spout top, a dauber top which allows the glue to be applied in a half inch wide band, and a needle top which permits precision application of the glue onto small die cuts such as doilies, flourishes, gluing base of petals to form flowers, and alphabets.  When you order the variety pack, you also receive an 8-ounce refill bottle. 

 

ScrapFusion is perfect for card markers and scrapbookers.  This glue is archival.  It is pH neutral and is permanent.  Once it is dry, it is not removable but stays flexible, never becoming brittle.  Items will not pop off.  The paper won't wrinkle when layering design paper or card stock together. This glue is color safe and is resistant to bleeding with water.  

  

 I have created a lot of flowers with this glue and love using the needle top bottle because I can put just a small dot of glue to adhere petals. You can see the small amount of glue, in the picture above, that I used in assembling the flower I posted yesterday. I love this glue because it does not make my fingers sticky, when you lay the needle point bottle on its side the glue doesn't leak out (a big plus for me!) and you can dispense just the perfect amount of glue without wasting any glue. When I apply petals to form a flower, I add a small dot of glue, lay the petal down over the glue and press it in with a stylus. 

I am really happy I was introduced to this glue.  This glue is only sold by word of mouth.  I have talked with Doug and he is going to make you a special offer.  If you order the glue and use the code SELMAWA, you will receive a 20% discount on your order. Also, I love the price for shipping -- I will let you check that out with your order -- you will love it!   What a great way to give this glue a test.  Here is the LINK to the Ivy Hollow ScrapFusion site.

Ivy Hollow ScrapFusion

Pretty Gift Box

 I have had some computer problems and wanted to let you know that is why I have not posted for a few days.  I was made aware, from one of my Followers, that an additional site was opening up when they opened my blog.  I immediately contacted a computer tech who ran virus scans and nothing was found on my computer  but I still had the problem.   I then contacted Blogger and received excellent service from one of their technicians.  It took some work but he found out it was actually not in my blog or on  my computer, it was in the counter widget for hits on my blog that got infected and brought up another site -- it was on the server of the makers of the widget either by mistake or on purpose and was causing all the trouble.  That widget has been removed from my blog. I am happy to be back with no problems.

For my post today, I decorated a box with my Susan's Garden dies, that I purchased from Michaels Craft Store.  You know I love the challenge of  looking at pictures of flowers and creating different types of flowers with my dies.  I found the perfect dies for the flowers on this box - I used the petals from the Susan's Garden Daylily for the dark purple and white flower.  For the other flower shown on the box, I used the Susan's Garden Gerbera Daisy. 

I meant to take a picture of the top of the box  before attaching my flowers and forgot to do it.  I hope you can see the  flowers on the sides of the box.  I used the flower base from the Susan's Garden Poppy dies for the large purple flower.  It has six points, so there are six petals on each of two layers for one flower (a total of 12 petals for one flower).    I wanted to copy the flower on the box as close as possible, so I die cut the dark purple flower petals out of purple card stock using the petals of the Susan's Garden Daylily.  The back of the petals are white in the design so I used the Adirondack Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber to swipe white paint up from the base of each purple petal (just on the back side).  It matches the flowers in the design perfectly.  For the stamen, you can use the Susan's Garden Gerbera Daisy stamen.  Each point on the stamen was cut several times to make them very thin.  The tips were colored with a marker.  I glued together 10 to 12 stamens for each flower.  Be sure to alternate the stamens so they form a nice full center.  In the very center I added a small daisy that was pinched up to match the stamen in the design on the box.

 For the the other flower, I used the Susan's Garden Gerbera Daisy.  I used Susan's Garden Pan Pastels and Distress Ink to color the white petals.  Each petal was shaped using the Susan's Garden loop tool.

I was sent a bottle of glue from one of my Followers - thank you Colleen.  I love it so much I ordered a variety pack of these glues.  The name of the glue is ScrapFusion.  Tomorrow I am going to tell you more about this glue, why I love using it,  and will have a special offer for you, so be sure and come back tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed seeing another way to use your Susan's Garden Flower dies.   

Susan's Garden Gerbera Daisy

Susan's Garden Daylily

Susan's Garden Poppy

Susan's Garden Pan Pastels

Susan's Garden Tool Kit

Adirondack Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber

Tis the Season to be Jolly

As you know, I love snowmen so when I found this cute snowman frame I thought it would be perfect to add some Susan's Garden red poinsettias for a home decor piece I can put out this Christmas. Under the poinsettias is an open space where you could add a photo, but I decided it was a perfect area to filled it with flowers.  You can watch Susan Tierney-Cockburn's Poinsettia video at this LINK to see how to assemble these beautiful flowers.  Under the poinsettias, I added some Impression Obsession Pine Branches.  I also added a few other embellishments from my stash around the flowers.

Remember I posted a picture of my poinsettia plants from last Christmas.  Well in order to get flowers this year, I have to place the plants in total darkness from 5pm to 8 am every night for a month.  Finding total darkness was hard -- it has to be a place where not a speck of light can get to them.  They have to be in light during the day. We taped some thick black plastic around a table, like a skirt, that sits under a window in the basement, and place them under the table at night.   I am so excited to see if I really get flowers. If this works, I will post a picture of them.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a great weekend.

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies

Susan's Garden Pan Pastels

Viva Decor Paper Pen Light Moss Green

Impression Obsession Pine Branch

LOVE

I love to create roses with Susan's Garden Rose Dies.  The roses petals were die cut using white card stock and the center petals were sponged with Milled Lavender Distress Ink. Today I combined these lavender and white roses with a new die from Marianne Design called "Love".   The white frame was die cut using the Spellbinders Captivating Squares.  The purple panel behind the white frame was scored on all four sides, three times, using the Martha Stewart Score Board.  Behind the roses I added the Memory Box Bamboo Shoots and the Poppystamps Massa Leaf.  I used the leaf tool and pad from the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit to draw veins in each leaf.  Drawing in the veins really makes the leaves look realistic.  For the little flowers in the corner and around the roses, I used the Poppystamps Small Hydrangea Blooms die.

Below are links to products used:

Susan's Garden Rose Dies
Marianne Design LOVE
Spellbinders Captivating Squares
Martha Stewart Scoring Board
Memory Box Bamboo Shoots
Poppystamps Massa Leaf Background
Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit
Poppystamps Small Hydrangea Blooms
Milled Lavender Distress Ink

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God Bless You

I love the new Marianne Design Anja's Circle die (LR0327) so much I had to design another card with it today.  Before taking the die cut out of the die, I sponged Spun Sugar Distress Ink over the exposed portion on the front.  This really helped bring out the beautiful design in the die cut.  I placed this white die cut over a pink die cut from the same set.  It was attached with dimensional tape.  Before attaching it I stamped a sentiment in the center (I am not sure where this sentiment came from).  

This is a 6"x6" card.  I cut a lightly smaller square and embossed it with the Crafter's Companion Regency Swirls 8x8 embossing folder.  The pink doily was attached with dimensional tape. 

 The pink flower was created with the Susan's Garden Gerbera Daisy dies.  Under the flower, I added the Marianne Design LR0192, LR0157 and CR1272 leaves.  To decorate the corners, I added the Marianne Design LR0280 die cut corners.

Doesn't this new Marianne Design Anja's Circle make a beautiful background!

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Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas

 

Aren't the new Memory Box die cut sentiments beautiful!  On this card I used the Grand Merry Christmas Script.  Just above it, I die cut just three rows of the Penny Black "Interlocking" background. Clear rhinestones were attached to the center of each "flower" in that die cut design. A piece of red card stock was attached behind the sentiment and the rest of the card attached to a dark green backing.

 A white poinsettia created with Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies was added.  On the petals I added Distress Stickles Clear Rock Dry Glitter.  A Memory Box Beach Sprig was tucked under the poinsettia and a Red Viva Paper pen was used to create the berries.  The Snowflake was die cut from the Marianne Design LR03327 die set. 

Here is a picture of the dies I used.

Here are links to products from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas Script 

Memory Box Beach Sprig

Penny Black Interlocking 51-029

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies 

 

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White on White Poinsettia

 I had a request to design an elegant, white on white Christmas card with a poinsettia.  It is no secret that for this task I always want to use my favorite dies by Anja.  For the background, I used the Marianne Design, Anja's Delicate Corner in all four corners of this 6x6" card.  I have the new Marianne Design Anja's Circle die, LR0327;  I used it in the center of the card.

 

This is a picture of the Marianne Design Anja's Circle die cut.  There are four dies. Isn't it gorgeous!

The two larger pieces of the Anja's Circle were attached together and placed in the center of the card.  To add a little more lace to the card, I added four Joy Craft 6002/0135 corners.  They are tucked in at the center at each side.  

In the center of the doilies, I added the poinsettia I created with Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies.  Light green vellum was used for the poinsettia leave; I wanted just a hint of color for the leaves.  White Pearls were added in the center of the poinsettia and also on the die cuts.

What do you think -- did it turn out elegant?


Marianne Design LR0200
Susan's Garden Poinsettia
Pearls

 

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Snow Scene

 

My sweet friend Eva sent me some new dies and I had so much fun creating a winter scene with them. Thank you Eva.  The snowman is the Marianne Design COL1332.  The other die she sent is the Marianne Design Jingle Bells COL1363.  On top of the design paper, I used the Poppy Stamps "Puffy Cloud Border" to create snow.  This die will make some great clouds, but I also thought it worked great for snow!  Glitter was added to the top edges.  The snowman was die cut and assembled, then tucked into the snow.  The tree is the Memory Box Frosted Christmas Tree.  While the die cut was still in the die, I added glue to the part of the tree showing through the front of the die, then took the die cut out; Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter was sprinkled on, for a snowy effect.  The die cut snowflakes from the Jingle Bells die, were die cut using silver glitter card stock.  The poinsettia was created using the Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies; they were die cut using red and green glitter card stock.  The jingle bells were die cut using shiny gold card stock.  They were attached to a gold cord bow and tucked under the poinsettia.

The products available from Ellen Hutson, LLC are linked below.

Poppy Stamps Puffy Cloud Border

Memory Box Frosted Christmas Tree

Susan's Garden Poinsettia Dies

Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter

Silver Glitter Card Stock

Shiny Gold Card Stock

Red and Green Glitter Card Stock

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Ice Skates Tag

 I seldom join in on a challenge, but Sizzix has a challenge I thought would be fun.  You can see the "Take The Sizzix Challenge!" at this LINK. You can create any Sizzix craft project such as cards, bags, or boxes, to enter.  I decided to create a Christmas Tag using three different Sizzix dies.

This is a picture you are to use for inspiration.

In this picture, the first thing I noticed is there are flowers with baby's breath, and water in the bulbs.  What came to my mind  was to create a poinsettia, use snowflakes, and use Tim Holtz Ice Skates (instead of water, I thought of ice).   

I used a large tan tag and sponged Tea Dye Distress Ink around the edges.  My very favorite poinsettia is, of course, the Sizzix, Susan's Garden Poinsettia.  To create a "vintage" looking flower,  I die cut the petals with classic cream card stock then used Goose Bumps on the petals. To give it a pinkish color, I lightly sponged on Barn Door Red Distress Ink.  Punched snowflakes were used instead of baby's breath. The Sizzix Ice Skates were die cut using Tim Holtz Grunge Board. They were painted with Picket Fence, Walnut Stain, and Brushed Pewter Distress Stain. The three Pine Cones were created with the Sizzix Tattered Pinecone die. 

I hope you like my project today.  I sure had fun creating it.

 

You can purchase the following products from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Sizzix, Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies

Sizzix, Tim Holtz Ice Skates die

Sizzix, Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecone die

Classic Cream Card Stock

Tim Holtz Grunge Board

Picket Fence Distress Stain

Walnut Stain Distress Stain

Brushed Pewter Distress Stain

Ranger, Tea Dye Distress Ink

Ranger, Barn Door Red Distress Ink

Goose Bumps

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Christmas Poinsettia and Pine Cone Tutorial

 

Today I wanted to create a card using two beautiful Marianne Design products for a background for a pretty Susan's Garden poinsettia.  I used the Marianne Design, Anja's Decorative Rectangle (DF3406) embossing folder on the bottom of this 6x6" card.  At the top, I added the Marianne Design, Anja's Border, die cut.

To stay with traditional Christmas colors, I created a red poinsettia using Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies.  These poinsettias always look so realistic.  Under the poinsettia, I added some Tim Holtz  Tattered Pinecones.   The shiny gold "Noel" is part of the Memory Box Grand Joyeux Noel die. I did not have room for the entire die, so for this card I used only the "Noel" die cut letters.

TUTORIAL FOR PINE CONES

 As I stated, I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Pine cone die to create a variety of pine cones. 

This die cut pine cone is similar to the rolled roses spiral die cuts.  You can click on this LINK to see Tim Holtz tutorial.  I picked up some good tips from his instructions, but had a different idea on how to shape the pine cones and will show you my way below.

 I die cut several different colors of card stock to see which color I would like best.  There are different ways you can create different looks by using different colors of card stock, the way you shape them, and different ways to add texture.  I tried several ways to shape each "petal" of the pine cone and found the most realistic look was to shape each petal with the loop tool on the tan shaping pad from Susan's Garden Tool Kit.  I shaped the petals from the backside, pulling the loop tool from the edge all the way to the bottom of the petal.  This gave the petal a nice bowed out shape.  In the picture above, you can see the spiral when all the petals have been shaped. 

 I liked Tim's idea of rolling the pine cone by hot gluing a tooth pick to the end petal, then rolling it.  You want to make sure you are holding the spiral with the petals bent out (not cupped in), when you start rolling.  It looks like you are working on the backside of the spiral, because the shaping has the petals bent back, but you are actually rolling from the top (front) side.

 When you get to the end, add some hot glue on the inside of the petal at the base to hold it all together.  There is a little notch before the last petal that will fit nicely over the toothpick, that will hold it in place.

 You can create different shapes of pine cones, depending on how tight you roll the spiral.  To make a larger pine cone, I glued two spirals together, alternating the petals, then rolled it.  It made a "fatter" pine cone.  You could also glue two spirals together at the ends to make a longer spiral, therefore getting a larger pine cone. 

I didn't use them on my card, but I wanted to see if I could add snow to some of the pine cones.  I used Ranger Texture Paste to dab some paste on the ends of the petals, then I dipped the pine cone into The Distress Clear Rock Candy dry Glitter.  It looks like real snow.  I also used the Adirondack Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber to add some white to the tips of petals. The point dabber has a sponge top and you just swipe it from the tip, inward, to create white tips.   Both took very good. 

 Last year I purchased different colored poinsettias so I could create realistic poinsettias using Susan's Garden dies.  In the past, I have been lucky to keep all the petals on a poinsettia through the end of the year.  Look what has happened this year!  All three of my poinsettias have taken off, and even still have the colored flowers on them with a ton of new growth.  It will be interesting to see if I get new flowers on these plants for Christmas!

You can purchase the following products from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Marianne Design Anja's Border 

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies

Sizzix, Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecone

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

Ranger Texture Paste

Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter

Adirondack Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber

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