Pretty blossom with Sheena Douglass and Spellbinders

Hello lovely crafty peeps! I hope you are enjoying the sunshine!

I love this time of year, spring and summer, when everything that was dormant bursts forth and blooms, it is like a switch is flicked and the world is once again bright and beautiful. It always puts an extra glow in my heart and a spring in my step.

I wanted to create something pretty that reminded me of spring blossoms. I have a love of old Victorian botanical illustrations, they are so exquisitely detailed and what adventures the botanists must have had too, travelling all over to document the wonders of nature! So, I designed a card inspired by these. 

I decided that the Wild Rose Briar die and stamp set from Sheena Douglass would be perfect for this. For the background I chose a Debbi Moore vintage postcard paper which came with a magazine card making set.  The die cut frame is from Spellbinders, I really love this one and have used it several times. I cut out the die frame base with aged letter paper, I also added definition to the edge of this using Tea Dye Distress Ink. I wanted the ornate frame to float freely from its background, so, I only used glue in the centre, where the fan shapes meet and a spot in the middle of these fan corners, I wanted it to have depth, rather than be flat. I opted for a shabby chic look by sprinkling over it with Stampendous Frantage aged ivory and Papermania gold embossing powder, this gave me a speckled finish.

For the floral centrepiece I cut out a flourish with Tonic Regal fern and I then layered the Wild Rose Briar die cut over the top of this. After cutting out I stamped the leaves and roses with memento rich Cocoa ink, I chose this as I wanted it to look more natural, black would have been too stark. I then coloured these with Crafter’s Companion AquaBlend Spectrum Noir pencils, completing this process by adding water and blending. I also cut out Marianne fern dies to include a different foliage and create more interest. 

The small Spellbinders tag from the same die set was cut out and the edges embossed with gold powder. I stamped the sentiment on a separate die cut circle and layered these up.

The flower stamens were die cut, stamped and sprinkled with gold and vanilla embossing powder. I also used a yellow AquaBlend pencil on them too. After shaping, I worked out where I wanted the flowers to be placed, I decided I would like one, partially coming over the sentiment, I thought this would help tie all the individual pieces together. They were finished with several tiny gold pearls. I also added tiny white pearls to the Spellbinder’s tag and frame.

I have more projects planned with this Briar rose set as it’s so lovely, so watch this space!

Adele

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