Layered Poppies

I just love the Simply Sketched Hostess stamp set! Here's a card I made with it today.

Materials needed:
Simply Sketched hostess stamp set (#129672)
Framelits Window Frame Collection dies (#129021)
Island Indigo cardstock, 4 1/4x 5 1/4"
First Edition Specialty DSP (#121878) 4 x 5 1/4"
Marina Mist cardstock 4 1/2 x 4 1/2"
Whisper White cardstock
Watercolor paper (#122959)
Staz On Black ink
Melon Mambo marker
Gumball Green marker
Primrose Petals marker
Rose Red marker
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)
Blender pen (#102845)
3/16" Corner punch (#119871)

1. Use your corner punch to round the corners of your patterned paper. Adhere the patterned paper on top of the Island Indigo cardstock.
2. With your Big Shot and Framelits die, cut the Marina Mist cardstock. The die I used is 3 3/4" square. Adhere this in the center of the patterned paper.
3.  Stamp the flowers with the Staz On ink onto watercolor paper. Use the marker layering technique to color the image. Cut this out with your scissors. Place Stampin' Dimensionals on the back of this image.
4. Use the brush end of the Melon Mambo marker to color the flower part of the stamp. Use the brush end of the Gumball Green marker to color the stems. Huff your breathe on the stamp to moisten it. Stamp 2 images with this on white cardstock. Using the stamp the second time will give you a dark image and a lighter image, as you see on the card.  Cut these out with scissors.
5. Adhere the 2 stamped flowers on the Marina Mist Framelits Window on each side. Pull the protective covering off of the Stampin' Dimensionals on the 3rd flower. Place it in the center of the Window, between the other 2 flowers.
6. Adhere the card front on top of a card base and be ready to send it at your next occassion!

Picture to frame

Ok, I'm going to do a class on making this next month but all of you will get an early preview.

This is actually pretty easy to make.
Start with an 8 x 10" mat like you would use for pictures. They can be purchased at many craft stores, like Hobby Lobby, and others.

Cut nine 2 1/2" circles from patterned paper. I used the SU! 2 1/2" circle punch (#120906) and paper from Polka Dot Parade DSP (#126902).

Use the Top Note Die (#113463) to cut the center from Twitterpated DSP (#125406)

After you cut your circles, use a pencil to draw a spiral on one side.

With your scissors, cut the lines of the spiral. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just make the spiral about 1/4" wide.

 Now, begin to roll the sprial paper. If you have a quilling tool, that is great to use to get the roll started. Just roll a bit & then pull off the tool. If you don't have a quilling tool, just roll with your fingers. Roll the complete spiral until you get to the end piece.

On the end piece (the tail) of the spiral, put 2-3 glue dots (#103683). Let the rolled flower go to loosen it a bit to whatever amount you think looks good. Then turn the flower so that the bottom will stick on to the glue dots on the end of the spiral.

You now have your completed flower. Do that with all nine circles.

Cut leaves, vines or stems out of Wild Wasabi cardstock. I used a 3 leave stem die from the Original Sizzix dies that I've had for about 8 years. You will need 3 sets of leaves/stems/vines for your project.

Adhere 2 of the leaves to the top right hand corner and one set to the bottom left corner.

Tie a bow from Marina Mist 1/2" Scallop Dots ribbon (#122986) and adhere near the bottom of the frame. This ribbon is now retired so if you don't have this one available, SU! has many other ribbons that will coordinate with your project.

Use glue dots to attach the flowers you made to the mat board. Place 5 in the top right corner, 3 in the bottom left corner, and one in the top left corner. Remember, it's always best and more pleasing to the eye to use odd numbers in your groups.

Adhere the top note die cut to the center of the mat board. You can use any type of lettering that you have available for your word on the top note. Here, I cut the word "Family" with my Cricut. There are many other letter stickers and dies available to make words.

Some other words that you might want to use could be mother, father, sister, love, faith, believe, your last name, etc.

Place the finished project in a shadow box type of frame so that you will have room for the dimensional flowers. If you can't find a shadow box type frame, you can get a regular frame and use it without the glass. I personally like the shadow box frame best. You might be able to find one at a local craft store. 

Window Curtain card

I have been having such fun playing with my Twitterpated Designer Fabric (#125412). I've always loved fabric, just not so crazy about sewing! When I was in the classroom, I would buy yards of fabric to use on my bulletin boards for the background. I always thought they looked so much nicer than just the big sheets of butcher paper that was in the work room. Well, now, thanks to the SU! designers, I get to play with fabric on my cards.

For this card, I wanted to give the idea of a window curtain or valance across the top. I cut a piece of fabric about 2" wide and 12" long. Using a running gather stitch, I loosely gathered the fabric at the top. I attached it with my Sticky Strip (#104294) to the background paper of the card and then added a scalloped piece of cardstock on top of that. I cut a piece of Melon Mambo cardstock to 1 1/2 x 5 1/2" and punched one edge with the Scallop Edge Border punch(#119882). Putting that on top of the fabric covered up my not so neat stitches and gave it the look of a cornice across the top of the window.

The greeting and the leaves are from the Just Believe stamp set (#120453) and cut out with the 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch (#119854). The background paper is from the Brights Collection (#117155) paper stack.

The dimensional flowers are made from Marina Mist and Mambo Melon cardstock. Check out my tutorial on paper flowers for directions. I added a couple of drops of Crystal Effects (#101055) to give the flowers the dewdrop look.

Remember, any time that you make larger dimensional flowers like these, not only will they require a larger envelope or box but they require extra postage to mail. Check with your post office for current rates.