Adorned With Flowers...

Hi folks, the die-cutting production line in the cubbyhole has been running at full speed which inevitably means the floor has been carpeted every day in waste. I always start with great intentions, to poke the little bits and pieces into the bin as I go along but a leopard doesn't change it's spots and you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Thank goodness for the cubbyhole's faithful servant, Mr Dyson is all I can say, on standby 24/7 and certainly earning his keep.
So I thought it was time to turn all that effort into making some cards, starting off with the gorgeous and very detailed Tim Holtz/Sizzix Adorned Thinlits.

You may be a little confused following the step by step instructions for this card but I found myself going off on an entirely different tangent, so bear with me as I jump from one idea to another.

I began by stamping the Botanical background from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Botanical and Batik with Distress Archival Hickory Smoke ink on to a panel of Distress Watercolor card.

I covered the entire panel with the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Adorned Thinlits die-cuts, fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte and trimmed down to measure 3.3/4" x 5.3/4". I scribbled on Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress Crayons, rubbed them into the detail with my fingers and removed some of the colour from the die cuts with a soft cloth.

I then scraped Distress Grit Paste randomly over the background and left to dry naturally as advised by Ranger.

I die cut the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Wildflower Stems 1 Thinlits from Distress Watercolor card and black Classic Kraftstock but ended up not using the kraftstock stems.

This was the point where I had a change of heart and decided to go completely off piste with a different colour scheme. I spritzed the panel liberally with Hickory Smoke Distress Stain and a little water and moved the colour around with a small paintbrush until I was happy with the background. Once it was dry, I added splatters of White Gesso.

The dark background now needed an addition of something light, so I die-cut a panel from Distress Watercolor card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Stitched Rectangles, masked off the stitched edges and stamped using the Botanical background with Hickory Smoke Distress Archival and the Entomology background with Black Soot Archival. I removed the masking tape and used a small paintbrush to add Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink around the edge to accent the stitched detail. I darkened the edges with Black Soot Distress Oxide ink using a mini round blending tool and fixed in place with Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mini Foam Adhesive.

I coloured one of the flowerheads with Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide using a  Distress Detailer Brush and the other two with Wilted Violet to add a pop of colour to this otherwise grey landscape.

I coloured the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Crochet Thinlits die-cut with Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide, spritzed with water, scrunched up in my hand and dried. I tore the edges and fixed to the panel using dots of Distress Collage Medium Matte.  I matted the panel on to white card, then on to a panel of grey Classic Kraftstock, sanded back to reveal the kraft core and fixed to a 5" x 7" white card blank.

I highlighted the wording on an Idea-ology Quote Token using a Picket Fence Distress Crayon, fixed to the card with Mini Foam Adhesive and added a twine bow. 

I'm a little disconcerted that I don't appear to have made much of a dent in this pile of unruly die-cuts so the plan for this morning is to get the kettle on, get sorting, pop them into individual bags as a gift for some crafty friends I'm meeting up with next weekend. 

But I may have a job on my hands with those intertwined Adorned swirls which appear to have become a little too familiar with each other. 

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx

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