Saturday, December 31, 2011

Flower Power

Saw a couple of great ideas recently while looking around the internet while at work home the last few days. So I had to try them, of course.  Before I share, though, I have to plug Pinterest.  A friend turned me on to it a few months ago.  I absolutely love it for helping me keep track of things I see to give me ideas for cards, or clothes, or recipes, or....Anyway, I didn't use it for these because one I saw pre-Pinterest, and the other one I just knew I'd remember.  So I'm afraid I don't know where the second one came from to give credit...probably Splitcoast Stampers ultimately.  Ok.  Now to the cards...

These stamps are by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K. Designs.    I was looking at Melanie's blog for ways to use her great set, A Year of Flowers.  I just love Melanie's designs!  Anyway, she showed how she made coneflowers out of her daisy stamp by using just a part of it.  How brilliant is that?  Versatility of stamps makes me very happy!  So, I stamped the flowers on my cs, and colored them with my Bic markers (can't afford copics, and if you check out Gina K's site, StampTV, she does a video on using the Bic markers instead.)  The background is done using my airbrush tool (an often forgotten tool) and my Stampin Up! markers. In the process, I made a mask for the flowers and liked the look so much that I colored in the masks and popped them off the base a little.  I also trimmed out the sections for the back petals so that the bottom layer shows them instead, creating a little more depth.  Then I used my swiss dots cuttlebug folder to emboss both the purple layer and part of my base.  I layered everything together, added some bling, and there you have it.



I've called these Manhattan Flowers because they are from the Stampin Up! Manhattan Flower embossing folder.  I know, I know, my creativity for naming has you overwhelmed.  :)

This was done by coloring the raised portions of the folder with markers (water based). When finished, you need to spritz it with water:  more like spritzing the air and waving the folder through the mist.  This is more effective than trying to huff an entire folder! Then run it through your embossing machine.

I did find this to be rather time consuming, so if I were to do it again, I'd use a folder with less surface area.  I'm thinking maybe I should try this with some of my border folders. Ooh, since I just thought of that, I know what I'll be playing around with today!

Go create your own garden, now!

No comments: