Be Thankful

 One of the best ways to clear the mind and make way for creativity is being outdoors. A couple weeks ago I was pruning the landscaping and came across a few dead twigs, leaves and a couple pine cones. Inspiration had kicked in and laid them off to the side. The beauty of dead twigs is that they have character.

Once the inspiration was brewing, I knew there was no stopping, so I gathered dies from Tim's vault 2024 series plus a few older dies and this is what I came up with.

The Base:

Distress watercolour card stock is my go to for smooshing inks, oxides, and with the distress sprayer and my trusty craft heat tool, the possibilities are endless.

Stampers Anonymous cms344 craze and planks, I chose the craze background, is perfect if you want something subtle and gives the illusion of texture.

It's all in the layers:

Tim's/Sizzix 2024 vault series dies and a few older ones are perfect for the twigs/leaves and pinecones.

To achieve a more saturated look with a little depth, the distress reinkers came to the rescue. I love to colour and it's easy to control.

I love the many textures of woodgrain and the variety of colouring that is added for depth and character. I used one of my favourites, 3D lumber embossing folder and blended a few distress inks on top.

To give the woodgrain more dimension, I scribbled a little bit of the distress crayon in frayed burlap on my mixed media glass mat, spritz a little water on top, then with my fingers rubbing the crayon over the crevasses till achieving the desired effect. Kind of reminds me of a five year old, finger painting. It's so fun! 

The finishing touches:

The bow from the thinlits die vintage sled adds the perfect touch to the bouqet of twigs.

Next I grabbed an inked up doily from the vault boutique die set. This was in my stash, and tucked it under the woodgrain plank. I love how elegant the font is from the thinlit set celebration words script. Fits perfectly on the card front.

Next I placed one of the chit chat idea-ology stickers "you" underneath the word "thank" and for the final touch including patience, I machine stitched a border around the card front, taking it slow and trying not to speed like a race car lol. It's hard but doable. Practice makes perfect. 

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

Christina