Flying High

Hi All,

Well it's not long to wait now and we will be into another new year,  2014.    Have  you  something planned for New Year's Eve or you opting to stay indoors and watch the television where it is snug and warm to see the New Year in ?     Whatever you plan to do, I hope you enjoy your evening.

The card I would like to show you this evening was made for Sue and Harvey of Imagination Craft's in April 2011 and uses their 'Birds and Leaves' Stamp Set  from the Stencil Stamp Range.    I also used their Leaf Spray Stencil which is vey pretty.   The colours I chose for this card were turquoise,  silver, dark blue and white.   Well let's get started.

       
Make a base card from white card stock.  Onto this matt some silver mirror card leaving a border of white showing and then matt some turquoise card onto the silver, again leaving a border of the silver showing.   Next matt a piece of dark blue card onto the turquoise card.   Trim another piece of turquoise card smaller than the dark blue and lay the stencil onto it and dab some Versamark through the design.  Remove the stencil and brush with some green, blue and a little silver mica powders.   Remove the excess powder.   Wrap some ribbon along the bottom of this card and secure on the reverse, then fix this to the base card.

      
Take a piece of white card and  using the Spellbinder's Peony Die and  a die cutting machine, cut out and emboss.   Whilst the die is still in place, colour the card with Weathered Wood and Broken China Distress Inks.  Remove die and lay the leaf stencil on it and dab some Versamark as before and dust with th mica powders.   Die cut a slightly larger peony shape and glue the stencilled piece onto it and fix this to the base card using sticky foam pads to give a little dimension to the card.   Make a small narrow strip in the same manner as before using the leaf stencil and mica powders, then glue this along the centre of   the ribbon.    Gather up a small piece of ribbon and glue to the bottom left corner and add a ribbon bow to the centre.  Glue six clear gemstones to the bottom right of the card.

        
Make nine roses varying in size from dark blue card and rub some silver metallic pigment ink onto the tips and heat emboss with silver embossing powder.   Glue them around the bottom and up the right- hand side of the peony die- cut  but on the leaf stem as though they were growing there.


We are nearly there now, just the beautiful bird to make..   Stamp the bird onto a piece of firm white card and fussy cut around it.

Cover the bird with pink, blue and purple pigment inks  and cover with Magi-Boss Chunky -' Diamond Clear Water' embossing powder.  This is a fabulous product and comes in other colours but because I'm using coloured ink pads, I use the clear powder.  Heat this until it softens and whilst the embossing is still hot add more powder and heat again.    Before doing the next layer add some silver embossing powder to the tips of the wings, add more embossing powder  and heat until you achieve a smooth,  glossy effect.    Once dried pop it into the fridge to harden for a little while, then bring it out and twist it slightly until it begins to crack all over but not deep cracks.  This gives quite a nice effect.   The last thing to do is to glue the bird to the centre of the peony die-cut.   That's it finished.   Thank heavens I hear you say !   It is a bit time consuming but I feel well worth it lol.   Take care of yourselves and enjoy your New Year celebrations whatever you are doing.   I'll be back in 2014 with more cards.
                                                                      Crafty Hugs,

                                                                       Jennifer  xx