Berry Wishes

 Winter is here. We had our first snowfall warning for the season, up to 25cm for this weekend. There is a mountain ash tree out front (it has always been a late bloomer) and looks so beautiful especially with all the snow on top of the berries.

I was inspired to make a Winter + Christmas card with all the warm + cozy vintage feels.

The Base:

Distress watercolour card stock is my go to for card bases. Smoosh distress ink lost shadow, distress oxide in pumice stone, distress sprayer for movement, heat set between layers. Spray distress spritz in weather wood in random areas of card base, then heat set.

It's all in the layers:

Creating depth on the card base using texture fades birch trees and falling snow. Distress ink pumice stone for definition.

Adding more layers for depth. Branch birch die + 3D texture fades lumber. Using the poking tool from my sidekick to get all the negative shapes out of the branch birch die. 

Giving the trees a little more character by adding a blend of distress inks frayed burlap + lost shadow. Ending with an even blend on top of lost shadow. This gives a soft wintery effect.

I love the size of birds from the vault series lovebirds. They are perfect for this make. Die cut the bird twice, blend distress inks pumice stone, old paper, distress oxide antique linen to the body and feet of the bird. Distress inks lost shadow + scorched timber for the wings (cut out wing from second bird) and head. Use pop up dots to adhere wing on top of bird. Make sure to leave an opening white on the face of the bird. 

Giving the illusion of snow on the birds wing, using a splatter brush + distress paint picket fence.

Making twigs for the winter bird to perch on with wood planks from my stash + vault wildflowers.

Tim's + Stampers Anonymous new stamp set Florist Floor is definitely another favourite. I love the scale of these stamps. I chose the twig of berries. Stamped in archival ink + coloured with distress watercolour pencil crayons, on the branches and berries. 

Tim's new recoil scissors makes fussy cutting a lot easier. The comfort grip gives you more control when cutting the details of a stamp. Fussy cut the berries from florist floor, then apply texture paste sparkle. Let it air dry. The results are amazing. Gives the right amount of sparkle and give an elegant look of snow + frost on the berries.

The Finishing touches:

Adhere the winter bird with pop up dots, twigs + berries for the bird to perch on with collage medium. Tim's idea ology label stickers 'wishes' 

The final touch that ties everything together, a machine stitched border, leaving a few loose threads at the corners. 

I hope you enjoyed all the warm + cozy vintage feels of this make and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina 

Field Notes

 'With brave wings she flies'

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but somehow it means more coming from your surroundings. One of our Swedish Aspen trees in our backyard inspired me to make. This picture was taken a day before the snow storm hit.

......and this is what I came up with.

The Base:

Starting with distress watercolour card stock as a base, blend distress ink in lost shadow. Emboss with texture fades birch trees. Next swipe pumice stone distress oxide over top on the raised areas of the birch trees.

It's all in the layers:

Using watercolour card stock, emboss with 3D texture fades in cracked, then die cut embossed background with the thinlits die branched birch. This gives it a more wood like texture for the trees. Next swipe distress inks in old paper and scorched timber, overlapping on the trunks. Use pop ups and overlay on top of background to create dimension.

Making the birds into robins:

Die cut mixed media heavy stock in white with the thinlits dies in silhouette birds. Then blend with distress inks in rusty hinge, pumice stone and scorched timber. Next using a splat box, splatter brush and distress paint in picket fence is used to create the white dots on the birds. Added pop ups for dimension.

The finishing touches:

Machine stitched the two sides of the card leaving loose threads at each of the corners. Wrap twine around the card a few times and thread through a TH/idea-ology word token, then tie a knot at the end. To hi light the words on the token, rub distress crayon in picket fence over top, and gently wipe away excess crayon.

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

Christina