Spring is in the Air

Here is a project that I made to help get me in the mood for Spring. Our weather here in Vancouver has been quite crazy. When we needed the cold weather and snow for the Olympics, we had warm, sunny days. Now that Spring is just around the corner it got cold, even snowed a little bit one day and we have rain.

I got inspiration for making this wreath when I saw the Wedding set that Linda Duke posted on her blog. I just loved the way those flowers looked and when I saw them I new instantly that I wanted to make a wreath of flowers.

The flowers were made using the Peony Die Cut of Spellbinders. I used soft Spring colored cardstock in Purple, Peach/ Pink, Blue and Yellow for the flowers. Leaves were made using the Sunflower Die Cut of Spellbinders on light green cs. For the leaves I sponged some Peeled Paint distressing ink while the die was still on the cs. Flower soft was added to the center of each of the Flowers.

Linda thank you so much for showing off your beautiful Wedding projects.

Inspiration

August 3, 2009

Today I am sharing 2 cards.

The first cards was made for Darlene's Crafty Secrets challenge last week over at Paper Craft Planet. The flower pot was made using DP from the Pastel Paper pad and the Lattice border die from Nestabilities. All flowers were made using the Daisy Heads and Flower Creations 3 dies of Spellbinders along with DP from the Pastel Paper Deisigns pad. Sentiment is from the Garden Girls stamp set of Crafty Secrets. For this card I was inspired by this cute Flower pot hanging that I saw at the MLS blog.

For my second card, I was playing around with Flower Soft and the Classic Frame die from Spellbinders. I got inspire by this tutorial that I found on Markies Mom's blog. Bunch of flowers is from the Thanksgiving stamp set of Crafty Secrets which is stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and collored with Copic markers. I then used flower soft on the flowers. The frame surrounding the main image was made using the Classic Frame die and following Faith's tutorial. Ribbon was made using 'bow easy'.

Crafty Secrets DT Step-by-Step Sisters Vintage Shadow Box Frame

July 6, 2009

Today is a very exciting day for the Crafty Secrets Design Team. We are each sharing with you either a tutorial or step-by-step pictorial of our projects.

For this project I made a Sisters Frame, which I will be giving to my sister who will be having her birthday this month. She is the one who started me off in this craft. Thanks to her, I have been able to find the passion for this art form.

The project started off with a shadow box frame that I purchased in one of the Dollar Stores. As you can see in the raw picture, it was a very simple unfinished wood frame. The very first thing that I did was paint it with taupe acrylic paint and then the second layers was a brown acrylic paint. I lightly sanded the wood after the paint dried to bring out the woodgrain. By painting it with a lighter first base color I was able to enhance the woodgrain after sanding it. I then colored it more with some Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist to give it a shimmery glow. Then I proceeded to outline the frame with some strips of gold Class-A-Peel stickers. I then put the frame aside while I started to work on the borders.

The borders were die cut with the Classic Lace Border die of Spellbinders. I die cut 4 strips with a tan colored cs and embossed the strips. Before removing the strips from the die, I distressed it with Walnut Stain distressing ink. Some of the little pieces that were cut were dabbed with the Coffee Shop Glimmer mist which was later on glue back to the strip. Cut 4 single points of the borders for each of the corner of the frame. Here are all the pieces that I used to go around the frame.

Once the strips were done I then proceeded to work on the inside of the frame. I used an image from the Girfriends Images and Journal Notes for the main image. This I die cut using the Labels 4 from Spellbinders along with the matting that I used behind the image. I outlined the main image and the matting with a gold Sakura Glitter Pen, dotted the hats, sleeves along the wrists and collar with a Gold Spica pen and then added some half pearls to the points. The letters that spelled "SISTERS" was taken from the "Girls Alphabets & More" Heartwarming Vintage Booklets. These letters were cut and then distressed with Walnut Stain distressing ink then matted onto brown cs. Added some chipboard to the back of each letter to raise it up in the finished frame. Background paper is from the Pastel Paper Pad of Crafty Secrets, which I distressed the edges and added some ric-rak and flower stickers from the "Little Girls" Heartwarming Vintage stickers. I also used the sentiment from this same sticker collection.

After all the pieces were ready, I proceeded to finish the frame. I added the borders strips and corners to the frame and then sprayed it with Irridescent Gold Glimmers Mist. Added some of the little pieces from the die cut to the borders and added a norrow pink ribbon around the inside edge. All along the inside of the frame I added a biege lace. Also used a beaded strip along the bottom of the frame. Other accessories that I used to go on the frame are some glass leaf pieces on the 2 bottom corners, a Prima flower on the top left corner and some half pearls on the right corner. For the inside of the frame I assembled all the letters to spell "Sisters", added the main image and the sentiment.

Here is my finished project. Picture was taken without the glass cover that slides into the shadow box so that it will not produce a glare. I am hoping that you all enjoyed this special project with step-by-step pictures.

Now don't forget to check out the Heartwarming Vintage blog, Crafty Secrets gallery and all the blogs of our talented Design Team. They have made special project for you today. Just click on each of their names to access their blog.

* Vicki Chrisman

* Lisa Zappa

* Linda Duke

* Anna Wight

* Pam Hooten

* Michele Kovaks

* Heidi Blackenship

* Vivian Peters

* Michelle Van Etten

* Melissa Philipps

Hope you all have an enjoyable Monday.

Marisa