Design Team: Jennifer McCrae Week 1 Term 2

Jennifer McCrae: Of birds and bees... well, mostly bees!

It's Friday, and today is Jennifer's day! Which makes this her first project for our Design Team, and we cannot begin to tell you how excited we are to have her join this lovely group of crafty ladies!  We are sure Jennifer will become a one of your favorites, not just because of her amazing crafting style but also because she is hilarious! But don't take our word for it, read on...

If you’re a Dean Martin fan, then these words have danced in your head before...  “Let me tell you ‘bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees, the moon up above, and the thing called love.”

Now don’t start fidgeting in your seat, we’re not going to talk about THOSE birds and bees, we’re going to talk about another kind!  More colorful, but not in THAT way...goodness gracious the places people’s minds go...  With spring coming up (and hopefully SOON), its time to start getting in gear for gardens, sunshine and of course -- birds and bees!  Its a new year; time to shrug off the old and embrace something new.  And that’s exactly what I did!

Have you ever noticed that when you shop for supplies you tend to migrate towards the things that appeal to you the most?  Do you tend to come home with the same styles, colors and themes?  Have you looked at a paper stack, gave it that old high school ‘up and down’ and then, with upturned nose, walked away?  Well I sure have!  I’m the queen of avoiding anything yellow, orange or containing realistic bugs.  I mean seriously, how can THAT ever = cute?!?!?

Here’s how!

Not bad for a first attempt out of the proverbial ‘box’!

What I used:

eCraft aka Mischief - of course!

DCWV ‘Collage Musings’ stack

Mr. Cricut Crazy ‘Friends, Friends’ stamp set

Black Pigment Ink

Black Embossing Powder

Heat Embossing tool

Lettering Delights ‘Bee Yourself’ svg set

Glimmer Mist ‘Black Magic’

Ranger Distress Ink ‘Vintage Photo’

Ranger Blending tool

Brads

Craft knife

Glue Dots

Small Paint Brush

Embossing Tool/Pad

What I did:

The main portion of the card is made from a single sheet of card stock from the DCWV stack...  I love how realistic the flowers are and I wanted to really make them POP!  So I selected some of the petal and I cut along the edges with my craft knife about 3/4 of the way around the petal; I left it uncut where the petal connected to the center of the flower.  I also did this with the ends of the ribbon and the two flower buds at the top of the card.  Once I ‘freed’ those portions, I flipped the paper over and embossed the back of the pieces, being careful not to tear the paper.    Then I folded my card, but not the top flowers.  TIP if your embossing tool is skidding or ‘squeaking’ when you rub the paper...rub the embossing tip across some wax paper to help it slide better.

I found the bees on Letter Delights’ website, they’re part of the ‘Be Yourself’ svg cuts file.  Those were for Mischief, my eCraft, to cut out...and OMG what an amazing job she did!  Do you see those teeny tiny legs and those almost not even there antennae???  Crazy!  The more I use my eCraft, the more I’m impressed with what it can do...

WOW.  Mischief, you really out did yourself on those bees.  Good job!

Ok, back to the task at hand!  One of the other things that I really love about the paper I chose is the sparkle!  DCWV added the perfect amount of sparkle to the flowers and their stems and I wanted my bees to really look like they belonged.  To do that I used ‘Black Magic’ Glimmer Mist and the effect was perfect!  But instead of spritzing the glimmer mist on the paper, I used a paint brush.  I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss any spots, especially with those tiny parts...  I used mini glue dots to adhere them to the card.

Mr. Cricut Crazy Stamps had the perfect phrase for this card... ‘You’re the Bees Knees!’  Such a cute, old fashioned saying!  And since this card is all ‘garden’, I used another piece of card stock from the same DCWV stack that looks like wood.  I used Mischief to cut out my ‘piece of wood’ and the holes for the brads.  I used the Ranger Ink and Blending tool to deepen the color of the ‘wood’ and also to ink the edges of my ‘sign’.  My stamping skills are a little rough, and yeah...so are my heat embossing skills.  LOL  But, nothing ventured, nothing gained and those are two techniques that I wanted to learn this year.  Once that was done, I popped in the brads and adhered my little wooden sign to my card.

All in all, a challenging but very fun card to mark...  And proof that the old adage is true; If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.  So the next time you see a paper stack or colors or embellishments that are not what you tend to buy, instead of passing it by, why don’t you buy it and challenge yourself to break out of what you’ve always done...because you just might like when you get!

Jen

What a sweet card! Thank you Jen! Want more of Jen? Go visit her blog here:

firestormdesigns.com

The inspiration doesn't end on Friday! KimberlyRae Ford is our guest designer tomorrow! Don't forget to check it out!