Friendship & Flowers card

Its been a little while since I have updated my blog so thought I'd share one of the birthday cards that I made a little while back. I started to make it and then there was a large gap before I was able to finish it off, along with something else that was supposed to go with it.

On the  8x8 inch white card blank I used a layer of sage green card followed by one of the design papers from The Dreamees Rose Garden paper pads. Along the edge of the card,  I decoupaged a few leaves and petals of the roses to define the design and add a little dimension.

I also added one of The Dreamees MDF paintbrush embellishments, which I decorated with white jute ribbon to mimic the brush head and a little piece of the luxury wallpaper that I had saved (obtained as a sample) on the brush.

My thinking behind the paintbrush was simply, paint a garden of flowers, friends are the flowers in the garden of life. Instead of paint on a paintbrush, lots of flowers in all shapes and sizes that will be carried in the wind.

For the flowers, I used a mix of Fleurs flower foam, card, vellum, and random snippets from my Dreamees papers.  I wanted my flowers to be quite varied in type and texture and this is where those little dies come in really handy.  From my Dreamees flower dies I used:- Delicate florals, Beautiful Babysun petals, Fancy Florets, Loops & Lace embellishments. I  didn't use a die for the rosettes.

I've added glossy accent for dew drops on petals and a sparkle pen to add a few dots of twinkle here and there.

I created the wording and backed it onto the same sage card and attached it to the antique pink satin ribbon. I also added a flat-backed pearl string and a flower pearl charm onto the paintbrush. 

As these flowers were quite small I had to be careful not to introduce too much heat when finishing the foam flowers, as they had the tendency to keep shrinking. I used a mix of pollen stamens, pearls and gems for the centres.  I love making flowers.

Using another one of the design papers from the Rose Garden paper pad I decorated the gift box I made to put the card in and added a flower that I made using a peony flower stamp.

To go with this card I decorated a dreamcatcher, which will follow in another blog post.

Have a great day whatever you have planned

Happy Crafting

Create an Eden Journal Page

Following on from the brush art mdf, I have created a journal page also using the mdf brush from the Dreamees embellishment sheet.

Inspired by a lot of paintbrush art I wanted to recreate my own page using one of the Dreamees paper pad, Sweet as Strawberries, as I thought it was perfect for what I wanted to create.

With my love of gardening and my strawberries beginning to ripen with all this sunshine, the idea in my head I wanted to create was a zest of flavour from the harvest of fruit. I think crafting and gardening are very similar, as in the way that they both continue to change and evolve. So, (if you are not already confused) the paintbrush represents the "painting your garden of Eden".

I used the Dreamees 8 x 8 Sweet as Strawberries paper pad to created the layers for my journal page. One of the design papers had lots of small strawberries, which made them ideal for the explosion of fruit.

They did take quite a while to cut out but I did have the precision scissors that I rely on to do the job and with a little shaping with a ball tool and a touch of glossy accent, they came alive. Just before the glossy accent set, I pricked the strawberries with my pokey tool to mimic the strawberry seeds.

I added structure paste to some Dreamees crocodile sparkle dinky inkie reinker to create the paint on the end of the paintbrush and the streak of paint.

For the brush head, I added raffia/jute ribbon and then created a panel for the paintbrush using cardboard. This was then painted silver with my Dreamees silver dinky inkie reinker. I covered the handle of the brush with some textured paper from my stash.

I was really stuck with the wording for my page, to begin with. Having an idea in your head is one thing but adding wording to match that makes sense, doesn't always follow.

So, I used the end part of one of the Dreamees sentiments "grow a happy life" and added the first part using alphabet stamps and cutting them out so that they looked as if they fit together.

I wasn't entirely sure where I was going with this when I started but I am happy with the outcome.

If I had thought about it, I would have added pictures of my strawberries which I have grown in hanging baskets this year. The baskets themselves look a wreck, as our resident nesting blackbird has decided to pull the basket liners apart,  to use to line her own nest.

Well, I did say my garden was wildlife friendly....

Have a great day whatever you have planned

Happy Crafting

Brush Art

I was inspired by a lot of the paintbrush art that is about at the moment and as I had a paintbrush mdf embellishment sheet by the Dreamees, I thought that I would attempt to create my interpretation in a smaller form.

These 2mm mdf paintbrush embellishment sheets are really easy to store away until you need to use them and also prevent smaller elements from getting broken, as well as making it easier to colour whilst in the carrier sheet.  The paintbrushes are about 12.5cm tall.

To recreate the brush head, I used raffia/jute ribbon and added a panel to the brush which I created out of cardboard, then painted with a little Dreamees silver dinky inkies reinker.

For the splash of paint on the end of the brush, I mixed a little strawberry fields sparkle dinky inkie with some structure paste.  I used some mini scrabble letters from my stash to embellish. I saved all the letters from an old travel game.....as, like always, think these things might come in handy in my crafting.

I added a slender paintbrush and glitter bottle using gel medium to stick them down as it gives a clear strong bond, especially on mixed media surfaces.  The 'Inspire' wording was also from one of my Dreamees embellishment sheets and mixed a little structure paste with my dinky inkies to get a textured topping on the letters, not forgetting a little drip on the button that I used for the 'i'. Another really handy mdf embellishment sheet they have are the faux bulldog clips; which I have painted and added to the base of the brush.

I covered the handle of my brush in some remnants of glitter paper that I had and really liked the colourways. The mdf brushes are light enough to add to a card if you just wanted to paint or just add your papers to them too.

I am enjoying making smaller projects, perhaps as my crafting pace has had to slow down to a crawl now at times, as long as I feel inspired to create something, no matter what it is then I will keep going.

Have a great day, whatever you have planned

Happy Crafting