March Sincerely...

I'm a designer for Kiwi Lane Designs.  They are a company that make AWESOME templates that you use to make scrapbook pages, cards and other craft projects.  If you haven't heard of them, you can visit them at www.kiwilane.com and/or find them on Facebook.  

Anyway, my monthly designing assignment is to make cards for their monthly "Sincerely..." card ideas.  I will try to post them here every month (from now on), but if you don't see them here, you can see them on their blog at http://kiwilanedesigns.blogspot.com/

This month I was asked to do some Easter/Spring cards and Glimmer mist.  I only have one color of Glimmer Mist right now- and that is Pearl, which is just what it sounds like.  It adds a great pearly sheen, but is difficult to capture in photos.  So zoom in as much as you can to see the sparkle!!  And this assignment has brought me to this conclusion:  I need to get more colors of Glimmer Mist!  It is so much fun to use, and so versatile.  I don't know why I haven't used them on everything!!

Card #1- Spring Birds

Finished card size: 5”x7”

Templates used: Nature 1, Tiny Nature 1T, Mini Paisley Place 2B, Tiny Wacky 2T

Supplies:  Cardstock (the Paper Company); patterned paper (3 Bugs in a Rug); ink (Ranger); Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels); brads (Basic Grey); vellum (Provo Craft); stamp (Hampton Art); pens (Staedtler); fringe scissors (Martha Stewart Crafts); googly eyes (craft supply)

I felt inspired by the cards that Kiwi Lane posted for Valentine's Day- especially the one with the two love birds.  I couldn't wait to transform leaves into birds and this card was the perfect chance for me to do so! If you missed the how-to for the birds, go to http://kiwilanedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/01/mini-madison-swak-card.html and check it out.  My new favorite tool:  Martha Stewart fringe scissors!  They are scissors with multiple blades that let you cut multiple parallel cuts at once.  I've had them for a few months but hadn't used them yet and they let you create the look of grass so easily.  I sprayed the birds, grass and cloud with Pearl Glimmer Mist and let them dry without manipulating them at all.  I liked the slightly warped look that I ended up with.  Warning- Glimmer mist will make some inks bleed!  Like distress ink, which is what I stamped my sentiment with.  So either cover your sentiment before you spray or stamp after you spray.  Experiment to see what one looks better to you.  I wanted the ink from the pen

I used to outline the cloud to bleed and not be as harsh, but not the sentiment, so I covered the sentiment with a sticky note and then sprayed a light coat of Glimmer Mist on the cloud.  I didn’t want the beak of my birds to bleed, so I drew them on last.  I drew their legs after everything was glued on the card.  To add dimension, I used foam adhesive to attach the birds to the card.  I made the wings of the birds out of clear vellum, inked the edges and attached them with brads.  Things you could also do with this card (that I wish I had done, but didn’t):  use a distress tool around the edges of the birds (wouldn’t it look like feathers?  Love it!); use a different paper for the beaks; ink the edges of the blades of grass to make them stand out more; add a sunshine in the corner using Tiny Accents 4T.

Card #2- Happy Spring

Finished card size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/4" (slightly off the standard notecard size, but what can I say?  Tip: measure twice, cut once :P )

Templates used:  Tiny Nature 1T, Tiny Accents 1T, Sentiments 2A and 2B

Supplies:  Cardstock (The Paper Company); paper (3 Bugs in a Rug); Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angles); fringe scissors (Martha Stewart Crafts); punches (Marvy Uchida); ink (Ranger); baker's twine (The Twinery)

I tried masking for this card and it turned out great!  But, you can't see it in this picture.  

If you don't know how to use a mask, it's pretty simple.  You just use a paper or other material to prevent the Glimmer Mist from getting to the paper in some spots.  I was masking small areas, so I used the sticky part of a few sticky notes to cut my shapes from:

I used a 1/2" circle punch, a small flower and hand cut lines.  Then I applied my masks, sprayed the eggs (ovals) with Glimmer Mist, let the mist dry completely, and removed the masking.  And this is what I ended up with:

The light is weird for this pic, but that was the only way I could get the masked patterns to show up.

I made the grass using card-size border template (both A and B) and my fringe scissors.  I also sprayed the flower layers with Glimmer Mist, let them dry and put them together.  For the flower center, I used a 1" circle punch for the base, covered it with adhesive (Terrifically Tacky Tape works great, as would Glubers or Glue Dots XL).  I then tied a knot at the end of the baker's twine, cut the tail off really close to the knot, put the knot in the center of the circle and then started wrapping the twine around the knot.  This made a fun and whimsical flower center with some texture.  

My sentiment "happy Spring" is hand written, but feel free to use a rub-on, stamp or leave it blank.

Card #3- Easter Bunny

Finished card size: 5"x7"

Templates used:  Rings 2 (trace the outside, not the inside), Tiny Shapes 4T and 8T, Tiny Brackets 2T and 4T

Supplies:  Cardstock (The Paper Company); patterned paper (3 Bugs in a Rug); brads (Doodlebug); flower and ribbon (Making Memories); scalloped scissors (Provo Craft); jewels (Doodlebug, Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

This is a simple card! More info is on the Kiwi Lane blog at http://kiwilanedesigns.blogspot.com/ 

One more tip- adhere everything on a background piece 1/4" smaller than the card, including the brads and ribbon.  This way nothing shows on the inside of the card.

Thanks for looking at my Sincerely... cards for this month!  I would love to see what this inspired for you- feel free to post them on Kiwi Lane's Facebook page.