you can never have too much happy

Hello friends!

I hope that you are all doing well! Can you believe there are only a couple more days in April ..and Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Summer will be here before we know it! I’m back today with a tutorial for a card and a couple gift enclosures that would work great for a Mother’s Day or a spring birthday. The card below was given to my sister for her birthday this past Sunday, and she loved it! Happy Birthday, Amy!

I created all of these using the new Funky Wreathes Thinlet Set and a Bigz die from the winter release called Tree Rings.

To give the Tree Rings a more spring look, I lightly blended them with Antique Linen Distress Ink in the center and instead of embossing them with the tree ring embossing folder, I lightly drew “tree rings” using an Antique Linen Distress Marker.

The Tree Rings were cut into a card shape by scoring a piece of cardstock, folding it on the score line, then running the card through my Vagabond. Bigz dies are for cutting through thick things like chipboard, felt, fabric and in this case, a folded and scored double thickness of cardstock.

 Let’s begin!

I cut a few of the tree rings out of Distress Watercolor Paper and blended the centers with Antique Linen Distress Ink using a blending tool.

Around the edge of the tree rings, I blended Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Then using the fine tip of the Antique Linen Distress Marker, I drew around and around and around until I had a large amount of rings in the center.

FYI: Distress Markers have been discontinued, which makes me very sad, I love them. If you’ve been gradually adding them to your collection, this is the time to stock up. Sorry for being the bearer of bad news. 🙁

I smooshed the ink pads onto my craft mat, spritzed it with water, then dipped the tree rings into the drips and dried them with my heat tool.

To give the tree rings more stability and bulk, I adhered an additional cut of each of the rings behind their corresponding decorated front.

I spritzed a piece of watercolor paper with water and then spritzed it with Shabby Shutters and Bundled Sage Distress Spray Stains, then dried it with my heat tool. Next, I dripped some Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Spray onto the paper, did a fine mist of water to activate the oxide and dried it with my heat tool again.

Then I cut several of the leafed funky wreathes out of the paper.

I colored the small bird from the Feathered Friends Thinlet Set by blending with Distress Ink and highlighting areas using Distress Markers and a detail water brush.

The flowers for the cards were all cut from pre-inked and spritzed watercolor papers that I found in my scrapbox…I NEVER throw out my scraps as they are perfect to use for tiny things like the flowers.

The flowers were all cut using the Funky Foliage Thinlet Set and the Sizzix Sidekick, which is perfect for small thinlets.

I folded a piece of cardstock (approximately a 3.25″ x 6.5″ for the largest tree ring) and placed the scored and folded edge over top of the Tree Rings, added a cutting pad where required, and ran it through the Vagabond.

I did this for both sizes of the tree rings. Then I adhered them together.

Next, I created the square card.

I added the funky wreath to a large tree ring and added the flowers.

I found a background in my stash, trimmed it into a square and stitched around the edge with my sewing machine.

If you look closely you can see that I added one of the funky wreathes behind the tree ring. This added a bit more bulk to the wreath as it is the focus of the card.

I stamped a phrase from the Tiny Text Stamp Set CMS394, using Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide Ink, sprinkled it with clear embossing powder, embossed it and snipped off the ends to create a tiny banner.

I adhered the wreath and tree ring combo to the front of the card using foam adhesive.

With that, my cards were complete.

Thanks so much for stopping by… have a wonderful day!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

What is an affiliate program, and why should I click on the link and buy through you?..

When you shop via the affiliate link on this blog, I receive a small commission, from the affiliate provider (Simon Says Stamp), at no extra cost to you whatsoever. These commissions help me to cover hosting fees and other costs to run my blog and be able to provide you with FREE inspiration. If you shop the links, THANK YOU! I truly appreciate being able to share my love of creating with you.

Gather Your Supplies-

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous- Tiny Text CMS394

Tim Holtz/Sizzix- Funky Wreathes, Feathered Friends, Funky Foliage, Tree Rings, Vagabond, Sizzix Sidekick

Tim Holtz/Tonic- Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer, Tonic Shears

Tim Holtz/Ranger- Distress Watercolor Paper

Distress Sprays- Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters Distress Spray Stains, Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Spray

Distress Ink- Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Stormy Sky

Distress Markers- Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge, Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass

Distress Tools/Mediums- Distress Sprayer, Media Mat, Heat it Heat Tool, Blending Tools, Distress Collage Matte Medium, Foam Tape