Beauty in Nature

 A couple weeks ago I was driving by the main street where I live and came across these beautiful planters on the medians. They had been switched up for the Winter + Christmas season. 

This planter inspired me to make a card.

The Base:

Distress watercolour card stock embossed with 3D texture fades brickwork.

Giving the bricks more dimension and an authentic look using distress paints in pumice stone and frayed burlap. Let it air dry. I discovered this technique from my friend Zoe Hillman, you can find the how to here on her blog post. 

It's all in the layers:

Bigz die potted works well with this make. Using light weight chipboard as a base, paint it with distress paint pumice stone and heat set. next add a generous amount of grit paste translucent, let air dry. Next take a dry paint brush and apply distress ink pumice stone in the crevices of the planter for added depth.

Using kraft stock in cool tones, die cut various greens with vault holiday classic, funky festive, vault wildflowers (twigs), and holiday green mini. 

For the berry leaves kraft stock classic in red and blend on top with distress inks in aged mahogany, fired brick and walnut stain. Thinlits in vault holiday classic and funky festive.

Giving the birch twigs more texture, I used a background from my stash. Two toned wood grain in grey with 3D texture fades sparkle, then die cut them from thinlits thin ice.

Finishing touches:

Once everything is die cut, randomly place in planter using collage medium to secure in place. Tim's word phrase stickers add the perfect touch to the make. Adhere with pop ups for dimension. Lastly, machine stitch the border with cream thread and adhere to two toned woodgrain grey card stock.

There is beauty and inspiration in nature, take the time to embrace it.

Christina 

 

Peace on Earth

 I keep cards that I made for challenges in years past, to reflect on and for inspiration. This card in particular grabbed my attention. It was made in October of 2016.

For all the lessons and inspiration I received from Tim's lives and other makes from my talented friends, and remember the most important lesson of all.... practice makes perfect. Here is a Christmas card I came up with.

The Base:

Starting with Tim's idea ology corrugated substrate sheet as a base, tear random sections to expose the smooth surface of the sheet. Next a variety of distress paints, the first layer is picket fence. Paint in random sections until you achieve a desired effect. Heat set. For a more shimmering look, use distress spray spritz in random areas of card base.

Distress ink Walnut Stain is my go to for blending edges. It gives a nice vintage finish to the base.

It's all in the layers:

Adding a little more depth to the base, using the mini stencil in sparkle fade and distress ink. Grab a blending brush, by lowering the lid closer to the bristles you can get a more crisp image. Blend in random places where the base is smooth.

Tim's + Sizzix new vault dies are so versatile. The possibilities are endless. The globe from vault travel and the script from holiday classic are the perfect size and font for this make.

The finishing touches:

Tiny Text Christmas is one of my favourite stamp sets. You can use it for a background or break the words up. I chose the saying Peace on Earth, masked out the word Peace before embossing. The Ranger Handle IT tool is the best for holding the card stock as it's being heated. No more burning fingers lol. Definitely a must have.

Next I mounted the card base onto Kraft card stock using sookwang tape. It holds well and a little goes along way.

Finding inspiration in your stash, from other makers, Tim's educational and awesome lives, is a beautiful thing. Never give up. Practice makes perfect.

Christina