Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Backyard Blossoms "Thinking of you" Card for Heartfelt Creations


One of the joys in my life is watching my planted flowers, and wildflowers bloom around this time of year! Having the chance to work with the new Backyard Blossoms collection from Heartfelt Creations  was a fun way for me to share this joy with you through my card.  Make this card with the instructions below!




About the Backyard Blossoms Collection

Summer brings with it the excitement of a new gardening season, lounging in the open expanse of the backyard and enjoying the beauty of favorite perennial blossoms dancing gently in the warm summer breeze! Among those returning favorites are the attractive, butterfly loving coneflower! Bright and colorful, these pretty flowers come dressed in a wide variety of hues and quietly display their domed centers and soft delicate petals against the backdrops of ornamental grasses and other decorative backyard plantings! Come along with us as we welcome back the summer season with a walk through the Backyard Blossoms Collection by Heartfelt Creations! Brilliantly hued, and filled with a good dose of summer sunshine, the fabulous paper collection showcases happy shades of bright yellows, pretty pinks, luscious lavenders and glorious greens and showcases lovely lace like patterns, elegant swirls and bountiful coneflower blossoms! Included in this jubilant and cheerful assembling are three exquisitely illustrated cling stamps sets with coordinating dies ideal for all of your summer themed paper craft creations! From large coneflower images, ornamental grasses, to smaller backyard blossom accents, these dynamic illustrations are ideal for creating your very own dimensional flower gardens as focal points on card fronts or as accents on scrapbook layouts! So grab your lounge chair, slather on the sunscreen and join us as we kick back and relax in the backyard enjoying our favorite backyard blossoms!



Materials and Supplies Used:

Black Archival Ink,Black Cardstock, White Cardstock, Black Satin Ribbon, Natural Excelsior, Glitter, Dimensional Foam Tape, Clear Adhesive, Double Sided Tape, Score Board, Paper Trimmer, Scissors. Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers : No.043 Olive Green, No.041 Light Green, No.025 Pink, No.202 Peach Pink, No.061 Light Brown, No.052 Bright Yellow, No.050 Yellow, Wink of Stella Clear, Distress Tool.

Video Tutorial!

For more tips on creating with the Backyard Blossoms collection, watch the tutorial at https://youtu.be/swO34-n1HNc.



Instructions:

Cut and score a 6x6 card and a 6x6 card base out of black cardstock. Take the 6x6 background from the Backyard Blossoms Paper pad and trim the background down to a 5 ⅞ X 5 ⅞  inch square. Lightly distress the edges with scissors, or a distress tool. Use the concave die from the Decorative Medallion set and die cut the left side of the background paper. Using the same die, die cut from a separate piece of black cardstock and set aside to be later adhered.

Using the tag die from the Luggage and Tags Die set, die cut the matching background tag found in the Backyard Blossoms Paper Pad. Fold a strand of ribbon in half and loop through the hole in the tag and pull through. Cut off any excess ribbon leaving about 2 inches and set aside. Using the ticket die, die cut the yellow “Thinking of you” sentiment ticket from the Backyard Blossoms Paper Pad and set aside.

Using black Archival Ink, stamp and die cut two single coneflowers from the Garden’s Edge Coneflower set (1.75”x 2.5”) and two leafy accents (2.25” x 3”) from the same set. Stamp and die cut the smaller coneflower from the Blossoming Coneflower Set. Color as desired or use the above suggested Zig colors.

Take the 5 ⅞ x 5 ⅞ background paper from the paper pad and adhere it to the 6x6 black cardstock base without adhering the inner die cut details. Take the black cardstock Decorative Medallion die cut and adhere along the right side of the card (mirrored against the left side) without adhering the intricate details by only gluing the side. Take one of the leafy accents and tuck the bottom stems in between the background paper and the black cardstock base on the left side behind the die cut details to make it appear as if the plant is growing from the background through to the front of the paper to the left of the middle and adhere. Repeat the same step with the  other leafy accent on the right side of the middle of the card, about an inch away from the right edge of the card tucked behind the black cardstock Decorative Medallion die cut.

Take the matching background tag and adhere dimensional foam mounting tape to the back. Take one of the Garden’s edge coneflower and position it on the middle left side of the card and adhere before adhering the tag on top of it so that it looks like it is growing from behind the tag. Add the tag. Add foam mounting tape to the head of the flower to prop it up against the die cut background. Take the flower from the Blossoming Coneflower set and place foam mounting tape to all three flower heads and adhere it on the top of the tag across the center leaving the bottom stem behind the tag. Then, take the last Garden’s edge coneflower, apply foam tape to the back of the flower head and adhere the head to the bottom right corner of the tag. Tuck the stem of the last Garden’s edge coneflower so that it looks like it is growing from behind the black cardstock Decorative Medallion die cut. Take the “Thinking of you” sentiment and place it by  the middle right side of the card on top of the Decorative Medallion die cut and take a leafy accent stem and overlap it before adhering it down for a 3D effect.

It is safe now to glue down any intricate details from the Decorative Medallion die cuts that may be sticking up. Take a few strands of excelsior, fold in half and twist the bottom to form a tiny bushel and add glue to the ends. Do this twice, for each side of the tag and tuck using a chopstick or other tool behind the flower heads, stems, or wherever desired. Add glitter to the flower petals or wherever you want shine. Lastly, place four dots of Ebony black Nuvo Crystal Drops to each corner of the card and allow to dry for at least 12 hours. Enjoy!




Thank you so much for visiting! Please come back for more tutorials!

Friday, May 4, 2018

"Collect Beautiful" Moments Beginner's Card Tutorial for Cherish the Memory

Simple and Easy Card using LemonCraft Papers
available at Cherish the Memory 


Hello! Welcome to my blog! Today I am sharing with you how to make this pretty, yet fast card I made with these romantic vintage papers by LemonCraft. You can make this card in less than 20 minutes. (Links to Cherish the Memory listing to purchase)

Materials:

White Cardstock
Scoreboard
Paper Trimmer
2 Paper Doilies
Scissors
Nuvo Crystal Drop Bubblegum Blush (suggested)
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Stickers 
LemonCraft Gossamuer Blue Pad
Mini Tag + Twine 
Foam Tape
Double Sided Adhesive
Optional : small oval craft dies (I used SpellBinders)



Instructions 

  1. Take white cardstock, trim and fold to make a 5x7 card base.
  2. Take the blue white lace floral paper from the Gossamer Blue Pad and trim to 4.5 x 4 3/4 inches.
  3. Take a tan, blue floral scroll paper from the Gossamer Blue Pad and trim to 1.5 x 4 3/4 inches.
  4. Adhere the blue white lace floral paper to the card base.
  5. Take 1 of the paper doilies (an intricate round die cut from white cardstock can be substituted) and adhere to the bottom of blue background paper with only three quarters on the blue paper and the rest can be trimmed off or left (will be hidden).
  6. Have fun choosing the ephemera from the fussy cut pages, such as the floral boquets and choose 3 tickets total for the layering. Once fussy cut images are cut or die cut and tickets add foam tape to the back and layer. 
  7. Layer in a fan style, so that the tickets and ephemera line up along the bottom edge of the blue background paper, but position the bottom pieces a bit lower so that they look like they are coming out of a pocket. Have fun positioning the floral pieces according to your tastes and adhere half of a second doily on top once finished as shown in the picture.
  8. Take the tan floral scroll paper strip, apply mounting tape to the back of it and adhere to the bottom of the card. Apply your chosen sentiment and decorate your card with enamel drops of your choosing. 
  9. Enjoy! 

Make sure to shop the LemonCraft collection at Cherish the Memory! 
Specific links are linked in the materials list.








Wednesday, May 2, 2018

My First Heartfelt Creations Sweet Peony Collection Project for May


Mixed Media "You are my Everything" Peony Canvas

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for joining me in my first Heartfelt Creations project post for Inspiration Wednesday. I am sharing the details below with you on how I made this flower bordered canvas.



Heartfelt Creations Products Used:

HCDPI-288 Sweet Peony Paper Collection
HCPC-3819 Small Sweet Peony Cling Stamp Set
HCPC-3820 Large Sweet Peony Cling Stamp Set
HCPC-3821 Peony Blossom Stamp
HCD1- Small Sweet Peony Craft Die
HCD1- Large Sweet Peony Craft Die
HCD1- Peony Blossom Die
HCST1-401- Deluxe Flower Shaping Tool Kit


OTHER PRODUCTS
An 8x8 Canvas, White Heavy Gesso, Daubers, ZIG Wink of Stella Glitter Light Green Marker, ZIG Wink of Stella Glitter Green Marker, TCW Bricks Stencil, Memento Inks in colors; Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy, Rose Bud, Lilac Posies, Angel Pink, Rhubarb Stalk; Finnabair Stone Effect Paste in Pumice, Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel, Stamp Platform or Acrylic Stamp block, Yellow Seed Beads, Green Floral Wire, Hot Glue Gun or strong adhesive, Mounting Foam Tape, decorative white picket fence, Creative Embellishments decorative border chipboard, Two decorative small twig nests, Four flat backed rhinestone embellishments, Finnabair Acrylic Paint in Metallique Vintage Rose, Brushes for paint and gesso, Palette Knife for Stone effect Texture Paste, wire cutter, Heat tool (Optional)




Instructions:

Preparing the canvas - Prime the reverse side  of the canvas with two coats of White Heavy Gesso, making sure to also prime the inner sides of the wood frame. Once dry, apply Stone Effect Paste or Texture paste of your choice using the Bricks Stencil with a palette knife to create a wall effect. Allow to dry.

Place the 6x6 Heartfelt Creations Paper collection bird and fence scene centered into the canvas and glue into place. I recommend only tucking in one side and positioning before gluing down. Set Aside. Prime the chipboard frame with gesso and paint with Finnabair Acrylic Paint in Metallique Vintage Rose. Adhere the border chipboard to the frame to create a trellis look with strong adhesive or a glue gun and line the decorative white picket fence below it. When lining the decorative fence, place it beneath the fence in the image, so as to not block it and create the look of a second, much closer fence to create depth.

To make the leaves, stamp the leaves from both the Large and Small Sweet Peony die sets in Memento Cottage Ivy and color with Memento Bamboo Leaves with a dauber.. Make a total of 23 leaves, an assortment of both sizes for three large peony flowers and ten small peony flowers. For the small peony flowers, stamp and color green flowers to act as the green stem for each. Once finished, use a dauber to edge the leaves with Memento Cottage Ivy to create contrast. Use both Zig Wink of Stella Glitter markers to accent the veins in each leaf. Set aside.

Using the Deluxe Flower Shaping tool kit, stamp and die cut two Large Sweet Peony flowers from the Large Sweet Peony Cling Stamp Set by stamping them with Memento Rhubarb Stalk. With the dauber, color the flowers with Memento Lilac Posies and color the edges with Memento Rhubarb Stalk. Then, stamp and die cut one Large Sweet Peony using Memento Rose Bud Ink for the stamp and Memento Angel Pink for the dauber to color and edge the flower. Make sure to remember to color the backs of the flowers. Stamp and die cut ten Small Peony flowers in an assortment using the same ink color combinations as the large Peony flowers. Once you have the small Peony flowers assembled and shaped, use the piercing tool to slip the green wire through the centers of the flowers and hot glue, snipping whatever is leftover inside the bud with wire cutters. Make sure to leave a tail of about 5 inches, so that they may be curled later during arrangement. Once all flowers have been assembled, drop a dime sized portion of hot glue into the center of each of the flower buds and quickly sprinkle with yellow seed beads to create the pollen.

Arrange and affix the flowers around the left side of the canvas, aligning them with them along the chipboard frame to create the illusion of the flowers growing up along a trellis. Adhere the leaves to buds and tuck them in and around flowers to create the foliage. To create the curled sprigs, take the bottom of a brush and wrap the tails of wire around the handle and curl as desired and snip with wire cutter. With a brush, add dashes of Faber Castell Glitter Bead Gel to the edges of flower petals and leaves. Add any rhinestone embellishments and twig nests in empty spaces to add detail. Adhere some small Peonys behind the decorative fence along the bottom of the wooden frame to create a connection between the background and the front of the canvas frame. You can have leaves and wire sprigs poking through the fence to add to the dimension.

Stamp and die cut the blossom in the Peony Bud and Blossom stamp set. Use Rhubarb Stalk for the stamp color with Memento Lilac Posies with a dauber and affix to the empty sky space with mounting foam tape. Cut out background graphic and sentiment from the Sweet Peony Paper Collection and do the same to create layers with foam tape. Add any extra leaves or sprigs to your taste. Enjoy!


VIDEO LINKS
For more tips on creating with the Sweet Peony collection, watch the tutorial at https://youtu.be/L9_MLkvpGPQ



Friday, April 27, 2018

2018 Heartfelt Creations Design Team



Thank you to all that voted for me! 

I am pleased to say that I am a new designer for Hearfelt Creations! I can't wait to start sharing Heartfelt Creations projects with you all.



Thursday, April 5, 2018

"Bloom and Grow" Mixed Media Class at Engage, A Creative Retreat!

 My upcoming Mixed Media Canvas Class



 I will be teaching how to make this canvas, along with making kits available for purchase to make at home. My class will be offered at an incredibly gorgeous retreat out in Dripping Springs, Texas! 







Click the logo to be taken to the retreat website for more upcoming date information, booking or stay tuned by subscribing to my blog!

In this class you will learn mixed media techniques on creating all of my favorites : texture, dimension and creating focal points.


Learn how to add detail, adding composition and more!


 


Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Vintage Pink Gingham Vinca Card

A 6x6 Dimensional Card using Lemoncraft's House of Roses Paper 

for Cherish the Memory



Hey there! Welcome to my blog post!


I love red and pink. I love both of them together, but out of the two if I had to choose one I would most certainly pick pink! A super bright fuchsia pink! I try to work in colors other than pink because it is one of the many ways I challenge myself as an artist. So, when I was sent this paper collection by Lemoncraft called House of Roses from Cherish the Memory, this girly girl was delighted! As usual I will post links at the end of my post on where to purchase.



So I went with simple design again with this card. Much like the last card, I wanted to keep it a neat and fast to make project. Coming up with the layout took me less than ten minutes and about half an hour to assemble! Oh! And while watching my soap opera! Talk about multitasking!



Using an image from the Vintage Time collection fussy cut page, I centered it as the focal point for my card. Since the card's theme is predominantly pink, I thought this white bouquet of gorgeous vincas would be the perfect contrast against the pink gingham background.


In addition to the contrasting white bouquet, layers were added underneath to make the focal point sort of pop up quite literally from the rest of the card. Remembering to keep the card simple, I limited the dimensional element only underneath the bouquet.


The lovely postcard you see in the background is from the ephemera pack which I have linked below. It is the second layer from the background paper to make it appear as if it was the postcard that was somewhat "wrapped" with the burlap floral ribbon, ready to be delivered.


Without adding too many patterns, I used similar patterned papaer to the gingham using dotted paper from the House of Roses paper pad to buffer the imagery between the layers. What this does is help hide some of the post card and ties the main ephemera piece to the background so that it all stays connected. I believe strongly in having my pieces all connect in design similarities so that there is harmony. This also helps the beige colored die cut heart circle stand out from the postcard with pink peeping through.


I used cute little white flowers that matched the bouquet and adhered tiny little pink pearls to make them match the vincas and decided to adorn the corners for consistency. 


For dimension in most of my projects, I use foam tape, but I hate to rely solely on foam tape so I always make sure to use any elements that might help me get that extra "oomph" in my layering. In this case, I tore the petals off of a large paper flower (If you gasped, I understand completely, but sometimes you need to improvise!) and glued the petals around the die cut heart frame to match the florals in the background. Again, I did this to create that connection for consistency and to also make the pink centers of the vincas pop. 


Lastly, I added two gemstones to counterbalance the vertical burlap strip. I love using these gems because it adds this beautiful light catching sparkle that rhinestones have. I always try to make my projects sparkly when I can!

Thank you SO much for checking out my blog post on this feminine vintage floral card! If you like my work please know that you can get these posts e-mailed to you by subscribing! Check out the links below if you are interested in creating with these gorgeous papers.







Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Lemoncraft's Vintage Time Simple Doily Card with Layers

Simple Vintage Time Card designed for Cherish the Memory
using "Gossamer Blue" Paper Pad



Once in a while, I challenge myself to stick to good old paper and adhesive for the sake of good simple design. Well, maybe with some ribbon and tiny embellishments thrown in ;) 

This card was a quick make, probably spent an hour and a half at the most with the most time consuming part being drooling at the paper choices and figuring out the layout.


Love Nuvo drops by Tonic. They are my go to product for even the simplest of projects. I love that drops can be added to even the most simplest card, and still add that detail I crave!


This little girl was my favorite feature of the collection! I knew that when I used her that I would save her for the simplest project, so that she may be the center of attention. I made sure to center her in the middle of the doily for the focal point on my card.


Flair buttons are fairly new to my crafting arsenal, but already have a hard time seeing myself crafting without them. In this case, it is a perfect embellishment over top of a ribbon bow, making it look as if it is holding the card closed.


The challenge I had with this card, for me because I'm detail oriented, was giving this card depth and dimension without making it a mixed media card, or losing it's simplicity. You can easily layer a simple card by playing with the paper itself, by using a bit of foam tape I created a "booklet" effect by placing strips of the different patterned paper in the paper pad and gave each one a different placement to make it appear as if each strip was essentially a "page" descending from left to the right. The beautiful music sheet really helped me achieve that look. To further accentuate this, I made sure the paper doily was beneath the strips.


See that little heart there? If you look closely, I have scattered and glue down little tiny hearts. They are hearts that were die cut leftovers punched out from a Spellbinders die I used for the blue rose doily behind the little vintage girl. 


Thank you for checking out my blog post on this simple card! These gorgeous Lemoncraft papers and flair button can be purchased at Cherish the Memory. Links below!







"Wrapped in Adventure" Layered Card for Cherish the Memory

Layers and Distressing  Using Studio Light's Paper Collection "Memories of Summer" Creating Layers Do you ever ...