Tri Shutter Card - Dads Birthday

Here is my first attempt at a Tri Shutter Card. What a nightmare, cutting out all those panels and then trying to figure out where to put the embellishments so as the card would shut. But I did it and I'm very happy with the result.

The designer paper is by K & Company.

Flourish stamp - Tim Holtz

Butterfly - Marianne Design Creatables Butterflies 3. This was Cut from a lilac Bazzil card and then sponged with Tim Holtz Weathered Wood and Broken China Distress inks and then double heat embossed.

The flowers where made by me using EK Success Daisy punches. Again sponged with Tim Holtz Broken China Distress ink. The stamens I bought. The leaves are made using Nellie's Choice Jumbo leaf punch and embosser.

Metal frame and feather I found in my stash of goodies :o) The postage stamps are from Graphic 45 and the cameo is a Dress it Up button. I cut off the shank removed the cameo ant then sanded and painted the frame (which was black) with Smooch Azure ink. I left this for a couple of hours then wiped off the excess.

Very Best Wishes stamp is by Butterfly Kisses. Stamped with Toffee Versafine. Then the words were painted with Smooch Azure and Molasses. The Azure words were then gone over 3 or 4 times with Sakura Clear glaze gel pen.

Small butterflies are Martha Kay's' Medium Monarch Butterfly punch.

The poem is by Walter De la Mare and is called "The Sleeper", it's actually about Ann watching her mother sleep, but I changed it to father. You might be thinking what has that poem got to do with birthdays. Nothing, it's just that my Dad has a habit of falling asleep in the chair and it seemed appropriate, especially as the "watcher" is named Ann.
The dots around the box sides were made usin my Scor-Pal and Scor-Bug Embosser.

I'll show you how I made the flowers another time, but until then ...

thank you for looking and take care and keep smiling :o)

How to make a paper rose - Tutorial.

I did promise a while back that I would post a tutorial for paper roses. Now let me just make it clear this is NOT my tutorial, I got this from the Magnolia Ink Issue 3- Fun in the Sun magazine. The tutorial was done by Johanna , unfortunatley the rose tutorial is not on her blog (well I couldn't find it, but then I can't speak Swedish LOL ). So here is my version. The pictures are not very good I'm afraid, and I've done them small to fit them all on, so if you need a closer look please click on them :o)

First picture shows the tools used to make the roses. The punches are called Retro Flower and are by EK Success. You'll also need a mister, something sharp to make a hole and a small brad. I didn't have a mister when I first made one of these roses, I just flicked the water instead. Oh and you'll need some double sided paper/card.

You need to punch out - 4 large, 3medium and 3 small flowers. Then I stacked the large flowers together and made a hole in the middle, then did the same with the medium and small. I found it easier doing it that way than stacking them all up and trying to make sure they were all even.

Then load the flowers onto the brad, space out evenly and then fix brad. Then spray or flick water onto the flowers. Depending on the thickness of the paper/card will determine how much water you'll need to use. DON'T completely soak or the paper/card will tear. I tend to spray and then as I lift the petals if I think it needs it I'll spray again.

This piture shows what I mean by lifting the petals. Do it one layer at a time until it looks like this..

Now at this point I like to give it a good squeeze, but only because I like my petals to have a "veined" look, If you want your petals smoother don't squeeze the layers too much as you are lifting. Then VERY carefully peel back the petals one at a time. I say VERY as they can tear if you are to rough. I used the tool for piercing to help peel, but then I haven't got long nails.

Then you should end up with something like this...

Not very elegant, so at this stage I start to shape the petals. Using something like a cocktail stick gently curl back the petals until you are happy. Then leave to dry. I usually leave overnight to make sure it's completely dry and then it will keep it's shape and should look like this...

Johanna didn't do leaves in her tutorial, so I'll show you how I made mine.

The punch and embossing set is by Nellie's Choice and I used Bazzil card stock.

As you can see I sponged the edges of the punched leaves and drew a line down the middle of the leaves with red ink. Then it's time to emboss them...

Now I'm only a small person with little hands, and I found it hard to make a good impression, so I put it on the floor and trod on it with my heel :o) And here's a photo of before and after...

And here are the finished roses that I sprayed with some Glimmer mist.

There, hope I haven't bored you too much. They really are very simple and again I would like to thank Johanna for sharing her lovely roses.

Take care & keep smiling.