Hip Hop ... Pity

 I was inspired by Tim's demo from his Easter + Spring Ideas 2024 live to make a fun Easter card.

I started with distress mixed media heavy stock as the base. Smooshed distress inks on my craft sheet, spritz with water, dabbed card base in inks and heat setting between layers.

Next I placed the stencil from TH/SA mixed media stamps and stencil set, THMM183, (circles) onto inked background and coloured with distress watercolour pencils, then lifting the stencil to out line them. This is a really cool technique. You can find this in Tim's demo. It's at the 1:36:31 mark. 

The TH/Sizzix bigz die butterfly duo with texture fades is perfect for this card, just the right size and the details are awesome. Distress oxides for the base and distress ink in scorched timber swiped over the raised embossed area. I love the look that scorched timber gives, it's almost a black brown depending on how you apply it. 

Switching the butterfly up by adding bunny ears from TH/Sizzix thinlits bunny hop vault die for the antennas, coloured with distress inks, to give dimension to the ears.

The fonts of the stamp set Crazy Talk are so fun. I used the quirky hand written saying 'hippity hoppity' inked in distress embossing ink and embossed with Ranger embossing powder - white, on blackout kraft stock. Then cut the words in sections to create my own words.

Pop ups for the butterfly, rabbit ears and sookwang adhesive for the words.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina 

Beauty in Nature

 Inspiration is only a neighbour's backyard away. There is a lot of beauty in nature, and this is how I came up with an idea for a card.

The base: 

I smooshed distress inks and oxide on craft sheet and embossed with one of my many favourite texture fades falling snow. It seems appropriate as we still have a bit of snow especially on the Rockie Mountains. You can find this easy technique on my previous blog post here. 

It's all in the layers:

Inspiration for the greenery/twig pot came from my neighbours backyard. They have a few planters that bloom, usually late spring to early summer. For the pot I used TH/Sizzix bigz die potted, embossed with 3D lumber, blended with distress inks and distress crayon for definition. The silver bans around the pot were made with kraft metallic card stock, sanding them down to create texture and using a distress crayon for hi lights.

The twigs, eggs and greenery are from the thinlit dies, wildflower stems #1 and funky nature. Feathered friends is one of my favourite dies, the small bird fits perfectly on top of the greenery and branches. I gave this little birdie a nice soft blend of distress inks.

The fonts from the TH/SA crazy talk set are so fun to play with. I chose the hand written saying 'a little birdie told me' and inked it with distress archival ink. 

I wanted something for the bird to perch on and the branch from mini tattered florals die did the trick. Grabbed  scraps from the 3D lumber which I used to make the pot for added texture. One of the signs of Spring is pussy willows. Modern floristry dies came to the rescue for the willows. Those tiny dots are perfect.

The finishing touches: 

Walnut stain distress ink is my go to for blending edges on card stock. It gives a nice soft blend with the right amount of definition. Mastering the art of sewing can be very challenging. I'm not a seamstress by any means, but I do like to sew borders on my makes. I was hoping for a more tattered messy look, but having more patience  and slowly lightening the weight on the petal, gave me a more crisp stitch vibe. Though I did leave some loose threads at the top for some added flair.

I hope you enjoyed the back story of inspiration and the process of my make.

Christina 

Hello Spring

 It's beginning of March, and I can't wait for Spring to come. It's still Winter where we live, with lots of snow, but that doesn't stop the birds from feeding. I saw a bird the other day, and felt inspired to make a card.

The Base:

Using distress watercolour card stock as a base, smoosh distress inks in weathered wood, tumbled glass and speckled egg on base. Heat set between layers, then dab into distress oxide speckled egg and heat set. Next emboss background with TH/Sizzix alterations texture fades snowfall.

It's all in the layers:

My go to for greenery is TH/Sizzix thinlits mini holiday greens and garden greens. They are so versatile and create awesome layering for wreaths and swags. For more definition, swipe or blend distress ink in walnut stain around edges of greenery. For the Spring bird, I used thinlits feathered friends and blended distress inks in scorched timber, walnut stain, rusty hinge, and speckled egg. The little branch that the bird is perched on, is a texture wood plank that I had on hand in my stash. I rolled the plank up to create a stick. The making of the planks is a lot of fun. My go to dies are 3D texture fades lumber and bigz die planks.

The finishing touches:

Next I machine stitched a border with cream thread, leaving the ends hanging loosely. Then to complete the card, I added a TH/idea ology word token and hi lighted the word 'hello' with distress crayon in picket fence. Then slid the token through one of the branches and adhered with collage medium.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina