Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Cherry Blossom Time


Today is my first post on The Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog as a member of the Susan Tierney-Cockburn Design Team.   I have Spring Fever and am looking forward to all the beautiful flowers that should start blooming soon.  I have decorated a 10 inch square mirrored frame with a beautiful branch of Susan's Cherry Blossoms at the top.  Along the bottom I have included three white flowers using Susan's Garden-Anemone dies.  

Before I started creating my flowers, I used a couple of stencils and texture paste to create a background on the frame. 


This is a picture of the Susan's Garden - Cherry Blossom die.  

I die cut the cherry blossoms using a very light pink card stock.  There are two sets of dies to create flowers and you can see that the flower has only two die cut pieces to form the flower (one piece has 3 petals and the other 2 petals).  These flowers are so easy to create.  I wanted to add cherry blossom buds so I die cut the 3 piece petal in a darker pink to create them.  I shaped (cupped) the petals, added glue over most of the topside, then pinched the petals to form a bud.

Below is a Tutorial on how to create a realistic branch:


To form the branches,  I die cut two branches using Kraft card stock.  The branches were sponged with several colors of Distress Ink then both branches sprayed with a light mist of water to spread the ink and loosen the fibers of the card stock.  They were shaped using a ball stylus (just press down in the center of all the branches to give them shape). In the picture above the top branch has been sponged but has not been shaped.

You will need to let the branches dry thoroughly (either air dry or use a heat gun) then glue the two branches together.  This creates a sturdy branch and helps make it look realistic.  Once they are glued together, you can sponge a darker brown ink over the creates to help it look like bark, if you want to.


After your branches are ready, you can start attaching the cherry blossoms and buds.  I only have two branches pictured here but actually used three for the frame. 

In the center of the frame is a mirror.  It was not possible for me to get a picture without my reflection so I die cut a piece of card stock to cover most of the mirror.  The sentiment I used is the Susan's Garden "Sunshine and Love" sentiment stamp.  ( I will be removing the pink card stock and have the sentiment attached directly to the mirror when I use it for a piece of home decor.

Along the bottom of the frame, I attached several pieces of lace.  The flowers on the white lace were created using Susan's Garden - Anemone dies.  The pretty lavender butterfly was die cut using the Elizabeth Craft "Small Butterfly" dies. 

Have you signed up for the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog updates and the Newsletter?  You can do that at this LINK. You will find a lot of inspiration on the Blog including videos by Susan showing how to create her flowers. 

The products from Elizabeth Craft Design are linked below.



10 comments:

Desire Fourie said...

Beautiful wording Selma. Loving the branch with the flowers.
Hugs Desíre {Doing Life}

Petras Bastelschätze said...

This card looks so great, I like it very much. The cherry blossoms let us hope for the springtime ;-)
LG Petra

Eva van Buuren said...

Hi Selma, I already left an comment on the ECD blog, but also on your blog I want to tell you, how much I like your Cherry Blossom branch!! The flowers are GORGEOUS, sooooo real...I really love them!!
Thank you for the good explanation how you made it, Selma!!
I really look forward to see your next flowers!!
Hugs, Eva.

Rita said...

Absolutely Stunning. I love the branches and the blossom. Hugs Rita xxx

craftieodmae said...

Gorgeous!!!!! I love this, and I am so ready for Spring!!!!!!

Glenda said...

Wow this is gorgeous! You have created such lovely flowers and you are an asset for Susan's design team!Q

Joset said...

So many pretty details Selma. Just stunning!!

Karen (TLgirl353) said...

Just beautiful, Selma. I just spoke to my NC cousin yesterday and she said the cherry blossoms are ready to pop. Perfectly planned card!

Mary Mac said...

Your Cherry Blossoms are amazing Selma. Thank you for the picture showing the 'before' and 'after' branch, what a difference! It is the detail in your work and your patience that makes it all look so real.

Martie Rollin said...

Thanks for your photo tutorial, and narrative, on creating a realistic branch. Love your site for so many reasons!

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