A Black Eye Susan Barrette using Sizzix Susan's Garden Die

As a girl born and raised in Maryland, my favorite wildflower is the Black Eyed Susan. All along the highways in my home state you can see them growing. I made sure to plant them at my home in CT now that I am adult to give me that piece of Maryland. So when I saw this Susan's Garden Bigz die by Sizzix I knew I had to have it. I made with the die a Black Eyed Susan barrette for my daughter the other night. I colored the petals and created the the black powder look on the petals with Pan Pastels. I then finished it with a coat of Triple Thick by Deco Art. I glued the flower to the barrette with the same glue I used to put the flower together, The Ultimate. It is extremely strong and great to add firmness to paper projects.

 

 

 

Modeled by my daughter.

 

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A Beautiful Rose Made With Susan's Garden Dies by Sizzix

Today I experimented more with the Sizzix Susan's Garden dies. This time I made a beautiful rose. I will have to save this and add it to an arrangement or wreath.

 

 

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It's a Boy Card

A friend is having a baby boy in a week and I made her this cute card.

I used a Sizzix Embossing Folder inked with Archival Ink by Ranger to create the background. The stamps are by Printworks and All Night Media. I stamped the images with Sepia Archival Ink and colored them with Copic markers.

 

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Experimenting With Susan's Garden Dies

Good morning everyone!  This week I received in the mail a bunch of dies by Sizzix called Susan's Garden.  It is a full line of dies to create flowers.  I fell in love with these as soon as I saw them.  Those of you who have followed me for awhile know that I started this blog to showcase flowers that I made using punches.  My header is a Christmas swag I made for a local scrapbook store that I taught at years ago.

Here is one of my first projects, a flower bobby pin for my daughter to wear.

I used the Flowering Quince Die Set.

I did not follow the directions to make the Quince but created my own fun flower using a light blue polka dot paper.  I cut each of the die pieces once and use all of the pieces.  I ran my Versafine cube in Pinecone along the edges of the petal pieces.  I colored the tips of the stamen with a Copic marker YR65 Atoll.  To glue it all together I used the best glue called The Ultimate.  I glued the petals onto the bobby pin and put a calyx under and over the bottom metal piece.  I then took the pin outside and sprayed the whole flower with Krylon Matte Finish several times. 

I designed this card for my daughter to keep the bobby pins organized.

Here is herself modeling.  It was early so she wouldn't let me take a front shot.  Maybe later.

Cool Book Box

I signed up for a fun class by Andy Skinner called Book of Ruination. This is my first attempt at trying the techniques. A lot of the under layers did not show through my top layer.

I used Decoart Americana and traditions paints. The box was from Hobby Lobby. The die cut houses are Tim Holtz and I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder for the line and dot pattern. The texture technique on the box is from the class as well as achieving the rusty look on the die cut.

I used Tim Holtz tissue tape on the sides and stained it with Distress Stain.

Here are a few close ups of the rust technique.

 

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Stenciled Journal Page

This is a journal page I made on the weekend. I used the tag I made previously as a design element. The background of the page was made using several layers of stencil designs. I used a combo of Distress Paint Dabbers and Silks.
I think this page still needs something. I will let it sit until next weekend and see if I am inspired.

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Repurposed Wallet Tin

My husband bought a new wallet and it came in this great tin. My daughter and I decided to do a make over on it using stencils and Distress Paint Dabbers. This box will be used to store jewelry.

 

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More Fun with Stencils

I got home from work yesterday and there was a package. It was the stencils I had ordered from Green Pepper Press/ Michelle Ward. Of course I could not wait to play so I made this quick tag.

This tag used three different stencils. I added the color using Distress Inks.

This is the reverse side of the tag.

 

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Portrait on Stone Paper

I picked up a pad of Stone Paper at Walgreens on the weekend. It is a smooth surfaced paper made from stone instead of wood pulp. After outlining the face with a Faber-Castell Pitt pen, I decided to experiment with my Copic markers. They look like watercolor on the stone paper. I was able to use my fingers to manipulate and mix the colors. I mixed a little white acrylic on the face to add highlights. I want to play with the paper a little more before I buy a pad without lines online. They are a lot more expensive than the $3.99 I paid for the lined pad at Walgreens.

 

 

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54 Card

My husband's 54th birthday is this weekend so I made him this quick card. For the background I embossed a thin foil sheet with a Tim Holtz embossing folder. I then added some Ranger Vintaj Patina metal paint in various colors using a paper towel as an applicator. I dried the surface with a heat gun then gently sanded the surface to reveal the metal again in the raised areas. I stamped the paper with a word stamp by Clearly Vintage. The paper was a scrap from my scrap envelope. The clocks were already on it. The embellishments are all Tim Holtz I believe. I lucked out and found the safety pin with 54 on it. I gently rolled the edges of the paper for a more distressed look before applying it to the metal background.

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Flowers for Inspiration

Our garden is in full spring bloom. I hope these inspire you to create.

Two Birthday Cards

Yesterday, I got a box of supplies from Artist Cellar and I could not wait to play. So last night I made these two birthday cards. I used stencils by Chris Cozen from the Artist Cellar Playful Pods Series to create the patterns. The acrylic glaze paints are Silks.

 

The lighter /darker brown on the card below was done but sponging Distress Ink through the stencil.

I outlined the stencils using a Pigma Micron 01.

 

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9 Drawer Jewelry Box

My daughter and I made this 9 drawer jewelry box this weekend. She had dozens of earrings she needed to organize. This is a kit by Kaiser Craft. The paper is by Teresa Collins. The buttons are antique. We used a Tim Holtz Paint Dabber to paint the edges.

 

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I Just Love Stencils

I am just crazy about stencils lately. The pages below are in a journal I made by hand. The paper is extra heavy weight watercolor paper. I randomly painted it first with Tim Holtz and Adirondack Paint Dabbers. Then I took some Golden's Molding Paste and a stencil by Heidi Swapp and created the 3D circle design. After it dried I applied more paint lightly to the surface to color the dots. I dripped Liquitex acrylic inks from the top of the page to create the drips. On the third page panel I used a paint dabber on a stencil by Artist Cellar to create the flower look. The flap in the center of the page is a tag looped between two pages. The flowers are made from stenciled coffee filters which are then ripped and glued to silver foil to create a pattern. I punched out the graduated circles with hand punches from Marvy.

I then painted the stems with a Posca Paint pen and outlined them with a size 2 Sakura Pigma Graphic pen. Unfortunately I am left handed and I smeared some of the outline and lettering. The two butterfly cards (a previous project) are attached to the tag I looped through the pages. The final touches were some Tim Holtz tissue tape stained with Broken China Distress Stain and dabbed with Broken China Distress Paint.

 

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