The Beauty of Fall Colors

I think this new project has made it to my top five favorites of all time!  I grew up in New England where colorful fall foliage is a treat for the eyes this time of year. Combining those wonderful autumn colors with some copper foil and lights just makes me happy.  

This was a bit of a hybrid project as I used svg files from three different sources to create this lovely shadowbox:

1.  Large Square Shadowbox Frame from Bird's SVGs Picture Perfect Collection
2.  Falling Leaves Paper Sculpture from Dreaming Tree's Autumn Calling Bundle
3.  The Beauty of Fall Colors, a free download from Love SVG

I created the white shadowbox frame using the size it was designed to be - 11" square. I did not use the acetate on the front to close up the shadowbox, but you certainly could. I love being able to make my own shadowbox frame whenever I want. It's easy to customize and Bird designed it in a way that's very easy to put together.

I sized the Falling Leaves border to be 8.8" wide so it would fit inside of my frame. The leaves were all sized down at the same time.  Some of these leaves were cut from patterned paper, some were run through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder and some were just inked using Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I cut one extra layer of the border to use for lighting - I'll explain below.

The "Beauty" phrase was sized to 4.135" wide and cut from Cricut copper adhesive foil and transferred to the blue background layer. I also used a copper foil patterned cardstock for the front panel of the shadowbox frame, although it's hard to photograph the fantastic shine of it.  Here's a closeup where you can see it better:

Last but not least, I added a 5-foot long string of LED lights (I purchased these on Amazon) and sandwiched them between the layers of the leaf border. Because the lights are on a flexible wire strand, I bent them and taped them down near the tips of all of the leaves.  I added foam dots all over the top of that layer and added the finished leaf layer on top of it.  The sandwich from bottom to top goes like this:

1.  blue bottom layer
2.  double thick red border layer attached to blue layer with foam dots/tape for dimension
3.  light strand taped down to top of layer 2
4.  red border layer with decorative leaves attached over layer 2/lights using foam dots/tape

Prior to the layering, I decided where I wanted to mount the battery pack on the back of the frame and then punched a hole through the frame as well as layers 1 & 2 so I could thread my lights in though the back.  I wish I had taken a few pictures when working on it, but didn't think of it until after everything was already stuck down.  

If I've missed a step or you'd like a more detailed explanation, let me know and I'll try to help. It's really not hard, just a little time consuming. I think the end result is well worth it though!

Thanks for stopping by to check it out!  I'd love to hear what you think.  

Lovebirds

With Valentine's Day just two days away, I couldn't resist putting together this lovebird birdcage design which is from the recently released Love Birds kit from Bird's SVGs.

As you can see, this kit is filled with amazing projects. Isn't that heart-shaped bag just gorgeous? Paired with the swan card, I could see this as a unique an beautiful way to give a wedding gift to a special couple. 

Not only is the birdcage so pretty all by itself, the part that hooked me was the fact that it's also a lantern if you want it be.  By day, it's a pretty home decor piece. By night - SURPRISE! - there are a pair lovebirds in there!!

First I built the project as designed, but then decided to add some flowers for a pop of color since I went with some rather neutral paper to start with. 

These flowers can all be found as a completely free download from Bird's SVGs as well. The freebie bundle is called Flower and Leaf SVGs.  I used the first of the three rolled flowers shown below to add the yellow roses to my project.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this project is to put together. It looks very intricate and difficult, but really, it couldn't be easier and goes together rather quickly. 

I love this project so much, I decided to make a second one as a gift for a flower and bird loving family member. Her favorite color is red, so I had fun picking out some poppy paper from the DCWV Garden Charm stack and adding some poppies to the project, also free from the Flower and Leaf bundle.

The patterned paper was too creamy to be a white, but too white to be a true cream color, so I spent some time inking the edges with some Tim Holtz shabby shutters Distress Ink and used a cream colored cardstock for the base pieces. It might not stand out initially, but if you look at the pieces side-by-side below, I think you can see what a difference the inking makes. I love how much depth it can add to projects too.

Last but not least, I added a secret detail to my bird cages because it makes me giggle a little every time I think of it. What do most folks used to line the bottom of their bird cages? If you guessed newspaper, you'd be right!  So I created an extra panel of my own that was cut from some newsprint looking cardstock and added it to the inside. I'd like to think the recipient will like my little joke when they see it too!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit Bird's SVGs for some wonderful projects to fit your every need or creative whim. While you're there, you should check out Bird's newsletter too. It's a brand new feature and if you read Bird's latest blog post here you can learn how to receive future coupons and deals just by receiving the newsletter.

Have a happy Valentine's Day! 

Love Bug Box

From the moment I saw the 'coming soon' post on Instagram for this ladybug box, I was in love! Ladybugs hold a special place in my heart and as a result, I have a small but unique collection of ladybug treasures that I've accumulated over the past 25 years. Because of this, I was understandably excited to see two of my favorite things, ladybugs and paper, come together in this adorable 3D box from Dreaming Tree's Love You More bundle.

I have no intention of using this box as a mailbox or bank, so I hid the contours for the mail slot when I was laying this out in Cricut Design Space prior to cutting. You can see above that I added some hearts to the back center panel of the ladybug's body where the slot would have been. I also changed the direction in which the hearts point.

This side view shows how I redistributed the hearts on the ladybug body as well as some of the flower embellishments. 

I cut  the larger flower out of light pink glitter paper and inked the edges with some abandoned coral Distress ink. The smaller flowers were cut from the same pearl paper I used on the top of the box which is pearl heart print which I also inked with Distress, this time in shaded lilac.  

I liked how the purple gems in the original project tied the colors all together, but I didn't have any purple gems. Alcohol ink to the rescue! I simply dabbed some Purple Twilight alcohol ink from Ranger onto some clear gems and behold...purple gems! I use this little trick a lot to create gems, pearls and other embellishments that match my project color scheme.

The pipe cleaners I have are so thick and fuzzy that when I tried to loop them, they looked large and rather silly, so I kept them short and hot glued some glittery red pom poms to the ends.  

I love how this project came together and am so thrilled to finally have a 3D paper ladybug! I think I'll be making more of these in the future.  

Thanks for stopping by!  

Lever Love

With Valentine's Day just a month away, I decided to make this Celtic Heart Lever Card from Bird's SVGs Celtic Charm Collection.

Celtic Charm SVG Collection from Bird's SVGs

Lever cards are so cool because of the lever action of the main focal point when the card is opened and closed. What a fun surprise for the recipient!

Because I fell in love with this shabby floral print paper, I picked a less conventional brown and pink color scheme for this card as it seemed to go together really well. I added some very tiny gems here and there on the floral print just to add a little bit of sparkle. 

On the inside, I did some stenciling on the three hearts using distress ink and the Tim Holtz layering stencil called Doily. I think the vintage lace pattern matches the shabby look of the patterned paper.

The sentiment panel in the middle (where you see the empty brown spot) is just waiting for me to decide what I want to write and/or stamp in there. 

I frequently leave the sentiment panels unattached until I'm sure of who the card is going to and what I want to say. That way, if I want to use a rubber stamp or add some inking, it's not too late because it's already been glued down. And let's face it, sometimes a stamped image doesn't turn out as you'd hoped. I like the option to be able to flip it over and use the other side rather than having to cut a new piece to glue over the first one in order to hide the mistake. Can you guess this may have happened to me a time or two? 

For another fun Valentine's Day card, you can find my post about this pretty rose card that was made from Bird's Roses are Pink collection last year. 

And, in addition to these lovely collections, Bird has section of completely free Valentine's projects which can be found here.  

As always, thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear what you think about these projects.

Acorn Shaker Card

Happy first day of Fall!  This is my favorite season of the year and I had to celebrate with this fun acorn shaker card.  Or as I like to think of it in my head, a shake-orn!  

When I saw the adorable acorn shaker placecard in the new Autumn Leaves kit from Bird's SVGs, I just knew I had to make it. What's better than sequins and celebrating the colors of Fall?

Autumn Leaves from Bird's SVGs

I decided to make this into a full-sized card by enlarging the shaker pieces in my Cricut software. The acetate piece is 3.88" in height if you want specifics. 

I also decided to pull out some of my rubber stamps to add a sentiment and a few autumn flourishes. Before I glued the acorn walls to the card front, I strategically stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder a Happy Fall message that would go inside the acorn.  

Because I wanted to make sure the message was visible, I didn't add as many sequins as I normally would for a shaker, but I think it's still enough to add some fun movement to the card. I went with browns and golds for the acorn cap, and a mix of some yellow, orange, red and gold leaves for the bottom of the acorn. 

These colors remind me so much of the seasonal changing of the leaves. I used a piece of brown glitter card stock as the card base which adds an extra layer of sparkle.  

With this acorn being eight layers thick, there were a bunch of leftover acorn caps and bottoms when all was said and done. 

Using some Distress inks and an embossing folder, I added some color to the leftover pieces and built myself some more acorns which I can use on other projects, cards or even as little gift tags!  

Bird generously offers her new kits at a discount during the first week of sale, so be sure to check out the the Autumn Leaves kit in the next few days to enjoy the special!

Did you know that if you make one of Bird's projects and share it on her Facebook page, you have a chance to win a $10 gift card to her shop? At least one winner will be chosen every month, so don't be shy - share!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Distressed Bunny Marquee

**UPDATED AT BOTTOM**

I've had so much fun combining two of my favorite things to create this distressed bunny marquee. Those two things are a wonderful design from SVGCuts and digging into my stash of Tim Holtz supplies!

The Bunny Marquee Sign is from SVGCuts Happy Easter kit and I was eager to make it as I love having seasonal marquee signs around the house.   I actually already have a very Spring-ish Heidi Swapp butterfly marquee done in pastel colors, so I wanted to go another way with this project.

I've had this sheet of wonderful Tim Holtz Easter paper in my supply for years! It was time to do something fun with it.  I build the base of the bunny with a dark chocolate brown cardstock and actually then hand cut the bunny paper panel because if I cut it at the angle that my Cricut would allow, the bunny art would have been on a diagonal. I could have used my 24" Cricut mat and adjusted it for that, but it was such an easy manual cut, I just traced the cutout of the back panel and used my scissors.

 

I had a piece of some really cool ruler paper from another Tim Holtz paper pack and decided to use that as the outside band. I think it really gives this such a fun and vintage, distressed look.  I distressed around the edges of all the papers with some Ranger Distress ink in walnut stain.

You might wonder why I went multicolored with the bulb caps.  I have a few reasons and actually, this is still kind of a work in progress.  I alternated the pink and mint bulb caps on my butterfly marquee, and really loved the effect. However, this left me with 12 of each color for this project. It actually works pretty well with the bunny paper I used and I think it looks nice when lit.

BUT...I have a vision to make this even better and I just need to get to the craft store and buy some clear faceted bulb caps to finish this off.  As I mentioned, I love using Tim Holtz distress products and I really think this project would look so cool with some vintage looking mercury glass bulbs.  I experimented with some alcohol ink and clear bulb caps and came up with this altered bulb:

I LOVE how it came out!  I think I will love it even more if I can do this to a faceted bulb where the alcohol ink will get into all the nooks and crannies!  Here was my experiment with the distressed bulb on the lit bunny. 

 This is just what I envisioned! It also knocks down some of the brightness which I like too. So hopefully I'll get my hands on some clear faceted bulb caps this weekend, distress the heck out of them and give my bunny a quick and grungy makeover!

Thanks for stopping by and as always, I'd love to hear what you think!

**3/30/16 Update**

I forgot to update with the final version. Here's my bunny with the distressed bulbs - I think I love it!