Going Green.

I know that if most of you look out of your rain-swept window this morning you will say that I am crazy but Spring is on it's way!

How do I know? well, the crocus and snowdrops are bringing a little cheer to our woodland walks and on the roadside verges of every Welsh village the green shoots of daffodils are standing to attention ready to burst into bloom at any moment.

I know we could still suffer one of those crazy snowstorms but you have to be positive at this time of year. I want to share with you all a new butterfly die and I know it's a little early for vibrant colours so I've gone with some of my favourite shades of green.

I have chosen to use the new Sizzix Bigz Butterfly Duo die from Tim Holtz which is magnificent by itself, but when paired with it's very own Texture Fades embossing folder well, I'll let you be the judge!

I die-cut the two butterflies below from watercolour paper to show you the beautiful shapes but I'm only going to use the top one. I then applied Shabby Shutters Distress ink to the centre of the butterfly and Peacock feathers to the wings. I spritzed the inked shape with clean water, this helps the colours blend and also adds a lovely mottled effect. Next, I embossed my die-cut butterfly using it's corresponding folder before gently applying Forest Moss Distress Ink over the embossed detail. 

I love these three colours together, absolutely stunning!

For the rubber stamping you can use your Distress Ink pads if you prefer but I chose to use the Distress Markers of the same colours but I added the colour Squeezed Lemonade to freshen things up a little. I went for  a Stampers Anonymous set (Nature's Moments CMS 001) which has always been a big favourite of mine. I started by stamping the text into the centre of the rectangle of white card (85 x 130 mm) using the Shabby Shutters ink pad to form a really subtle background pattern. Next, I coloured my plant stamp (Hogweed anyone?) using the Distress Markers before gently spritzing with clean water. The water just wants to sit on the surface and not run down the stamp. It's good to practice this technique a couple of times before committing to your project. When you are happy, apply to the stamp to the card.

The rest is easy, distress the edge of the paper with the blade of your scissors and attach the stamped rectangle to an A6 base card made from wood effect paper. Gently curl the wings of the butterfly to add a little dimension and mount onto the finished card. 

It's a really simple colour palette and the Shabby Shutters green seems to radiate from the centre of the butterfly. I love the mottled effect left by the stamped image too.

See you all next week!

Instant Favourites!

Sometimes you see a set of dies or embossing folders and you fall head over heals in love with them, often because the aesthetics of the design really appeal to you and sometimes because you just know that you will get constant use from them all year round. These sets fall into both of those categories, particularly the Thinlits borders set.

The two sets I am talking about are The Framelits set Labels,Regal and the Thinlits set Borders both of which are designed by that clever, clever lady Stephanie Barnard and released this month. There are seven dies in each set representing great value for money too.

I started by designing and printing a sheet of phrases using my PC before die cutting them with my labels dies.

One of the great things about Framelits is that you can crop text or pictures with great accuracy and to help you in that quest the boffins at Sizzix have developed a magnetic platform which holds the wafer thin dies in place so that there is no chance of any movement as the die passes through the machine resulting in loss of registration, we've all been there and it is very frustrating!

Next, I die cut one of the borders and took a couple of rectangles of patterned card to add to the base card. I also used a faux stitch effect on some of the cards by running my pattern makers wheel over the card and joining the resulting line of holes with a fine tip marker. Black markers can be a bit overpowering so I used a pale blue Distress Marker (Weathered Wood to be more accurate)

Here is the first card that I made in a fresh, modern collage style. I also added random adhesive gems and pearls as well as a threaded button.

All the coloured cardstock comes from assorted 6 x 6 pads made by the lovely people at Doodlebug Design.

I couldn't stop at one card so here are a few more starting with this nautical one where I used the negative of the scallop border to create the waves together with a wavy border from silver card. I used a Circle Framelits die as a template to help me attach the gems accurately.

Next up the wicked diamond border.....

And here's the scallop border again....

And last, but by no means least.......

The great thing about this little collection is that it took me only two hours from start to finish. These dies lend themselves to so many styles because they are simply classic shapes. I hope you fall for them too!