Mixed Media Sunflowers with Crafty Secrets Sunflowers Digital Art Stamps

Hello, Friends!  And welcome to September!  I took some time this weekend to play with the new Sunflowers Digital Art Stamps from Crafty Secrets.  These are some of the prettiest stamps Sandy has ever made. I put on my Mixed Media Boots for this sunflowers card.  I used alcohol pens, chalks, Distress Inks, Distress Paints, embossing folders, homemade gold mist, stitching and a great little technique that I will share with you below.  What fun!

I used a  paper tole technique to create this layered card, and I’ll share details with you below.  But first I wanted to give you a peeky at the whole stamp set because you are going to love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty of these stamps also come in rich sepia tones, so there are 43 digital images and sentiments in all for just $6.95.  I chose to work with the sunflower and bird framed image.  After sizing the image to 3.75″ x 5″ , it was copied into Microsoft word and pasted.  I did this 4 times in all, so that I could create dimensional layers within the focal image.

I colored the script background and the frame on the first copy.  On the second copy, I colored just the leaves.  For the third copy, I colored the sunflower and the sunflower center.  Finally, I colored the little bird on the 4th copy.  Next I fussy cut the colored layers.  DO NOT fussy cut the base layer.  Leave it exactly as it is.  All the cut edges were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I used Warm Honey Distress Ink on the sunflower in the base layer.  You don’t want to leave this blank, as you are going to be able to see it beneath your popped up sunflower crown.

First, the leaves were glued in place over the leaf images in the base layer.  The sunflower crown was shaped with a stylus to give it dimension and a cup shape in the center. When I was happy with the shape of the flower, I used foam dots to attach it over the sunflower in the base panel.  Then I filled the center with Czech beads and let it dry.  The little bird will be added later on.  Put him in a safe place so you don’t lose him amidst the jumble on your desk.

While the sunflower crown was drying, I printed out two patterned papers from the Birds and Blooms Digital Paper Kit.  For the brown wood flowers paper, I cropped a portion from the center away from the floral images in the corners.  This was sized to 4.75″ x 6.75″  and copied into Microsoft Word.  I printed it out, spritzed it very lightly with my homemade gold mist and then ran it through Spellbinder’s Bricks and Bark M-Bossabilities folder.  Before running it through the Big Shot, I inked the flat side of the embossing folder with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  This created wonderful texture and made the paper look like real wood.

Next, I printed out the blue quatrefoil canvas paper onto 8.5″ 11″ paper.  I die cut this with the two largest dies in Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles.

When the sunflower image was dry, I matted it onto pale yellow cardstock that was cut slightly larger than the image.  I layered the wood paper, die cut and focal image together and then very carefully stitched around them as you can see in the photo.  (If I did this again, I would not add the dimensional sunflower until AFTER I stitched, but the stitching was an “in the moment” decision.)  Once the card was stitched, I added the little bird to the front using foam dots to hold him in place.

The sentiment is part of the set, and I just printed it out onto white cardstock, inked it with Warm Honey Distress Ink, stamped it with a background stamp and die cut it with a tag die.  I splattered it with a little bit of Mermaid Lagoon Distress Paint and set it aside to dry.  The metal flowers were painted with Warm Honey Distress Paint.  I just kind of tapped the paint on with my fingertips as I wanted some of the base metal to show through. I used a brad to attach this to the tag.  I ran a piece of Glory Blue Seam Binding through the end of the tag, and then the tag was set in place with foam tape.

All that was left now was to add the finishing touch with a corner bow made with Glory Blue Seam Binding and Navy Burlap Center Stitch Ribbon.  The bow was topped with one of my precious vintage buttons from my grandmother’s button box.

It’s hard for me to part with these gorgeous vintage buttons, but it was the perfect accent for this card.

The inside of the card is simply finished.  I stamped the original Sunflower stamp onto the blue quatrefoil paper and added another stamped sentiment.

I hope you’ll give this paper tole technique a try.  It takes a little patience to fussy cut the layers, but the end result is so pretty, it’s well worth the effort.  What do you think?

And, if you’d like to purchase this card, it’s available in my ETSY shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy