Country Village Cottages

I never really got to play with these toppers, and needed a thank you card to send, so I chose this scene from the Country Village Cottages set. I cut out the foreground piece, then used temporary adhesive to hold the two pieces of the scene together while I die cut them. I added some dimension to the foreground piece using an embossing stylus from the back side, then adding Marigold and Meadow Flower Soft to the rose bush on the right. I used a glaze pen on the windows to give them a little shine, then used Meadow and Polar White Flower Soft on the vines against the house. The topper is set down into a diecut frame which gives it a little negative border. The taglet is also part of the topper set. What a fun way to create a quick and beautiful card!

Country Village

The Country Village Toppers feature beautiful artwork and are so fun to embellish! Here's a simple card I made from the Cottages kit. I cut out the foreground panel first, then layered the two panels together to die cut them (I used Spellbinders Labels 8). Next I embossed and debossed with a large ball stencil, cut out the door area, and used a glitter pen on the windows. I used Flower Soft on several of the floral areas - to the vines on the roof I added Ultrafine Sage and Raspberry Fizz. There is Lilac Flower Soft on the potted flowers, Polar White on the plant by the open door, and I mixed Polar White and Ultrafine Ocean for the plant in the foreground.Here are some close-ups of different areas of the card, so you can see the dimension!
Thanks for stopping by!
Dina

Easter Fun

This week's Sprinkle challenge over at the Flower Soft Forum (FSC24) is to use Flower Soft on your Easter cards. We'd love to have you join us, wherever that theme takes your imagination!

For my card I've used Flower Soft's new Easter Fun decoupage kit - Each sheet has all the pieces you need to create a layered, dimensional scene, and the artwork is super cute!

I used foam tape in between my layers, and shaped the pieces here and there with the wooden end of my ball stylus. You can get more of an idea of the dimension in the picture below. I also used Polar White Flower Soft on the egg shell, and Citrus Crush Ultrafine in the flower centers.

If you'd like to join in on the challenge, pull out the Flower Soft - you might even win a prize! Post your project in the Splitcoast Gallery using the keywords flowersoft (one word) and FSC24. We'd love to have you join us!

Tutorial: Die Cut Dimensions - adding dimension

Thought I'd show some photos of the process of creating the focal panel on this card. You can find other card details by clicking here.

This concept is one I have used on many stamped images lately to add dimension... the bonus here is having the cuts already made for you! Hope this gives you some ideas for your dimensional projects!

Die Cut Dimensions

I'm sure there will be much more information coming on these new products in the near future, but I wanted to share this card I made with the new Die Cut Dimensions Wildflowers! This is a super-versatile preprinted die-cut kit that will stretch to embellish many, many projects. I'll have a photo tutorial soon, to show how you can add realistic dimension to your flowers. For now, here's my card! All stamps are from Impression Obsession. I used glass microbeads and Polar White Flower Soft in the flower centers to add texture and dimension.

Keep your eyes peeled for more new products coming your way soon... there are some sneak peeks at Flower Soft's Facebook page!

Tutorial: Layering Flower Soft

Below are some photos of the process of creating this card, which uses several colors of Flower Soft on the focal panel... hopefully it will give you some help and ideas for mixing and layering Flower Soft on your projects! This image is from the Country Village Download.

Those are the steps I used!

Some tips:

--If you only have one shade of green, that would work just as well. Additional shades add to the depth of the scene, but if you have lighter colors, you can actually shade the Flower Soft **after the glue is dry** using alcohol markers.

--In the last step, I added Sand Flower Soft to the whole scene. This isn't really necessary... but I think it adds a bit of highlight and also gives a more vintage look. If you only have bright colors to work with, mixing them with Sand will give the area a lighter appearance.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask them here!

Dina

Special Delivery

I love to color, so I'll be honest and say that preprinted and precolored images aren't my first choice when it comes to cardmaking, but I adore these Sepia Toppers from the Charlie's Ark line... these come 6 in a package, 3 each of 2 designs, and there are 4 holiday designs to choose from at this time. You can leave the cards as is, or alter them according to your style with inks, pencils, sponging, paints, or whatever it is that makes your work uniquely 'you'.

This is the set I used for my card, which is called Special Delivery. I just couldn't leave it alone - I was itching to color Charlie... so I pulled out my colored pencils (I prefer Prismacolors, but I have a variety of other brands thrown in my collection, too) and a sharpener. I used very sharp pencils and colored very lightly (my friend Jacki says 'tickle the paper'... if that gives you an idea of the pressure!). This is the result!

I added a little dimension using a large stylus, by embossing over a foam pad. I also made some cuts in a few places with a craft knife, and popped up corners for a 3-D effect. I used a glaze pen from Sakura in the window areas, and added a sprinkle of Polar White Flower Soft here and there. I embossed around the edges of the topper too, using a Scor-Pal. Those details show better in the photo below...

I hope I've given you some ideas! Cheers - Dina

Gotta Love Lavender

If you watched Flower Soft TV yesterday or if you checked out right here on the Flower Soft blog, you know that Flower Soft released an exciting new product. These images are fun for several reasons, one being that you can print them on whatever papers you would like and another reason is because they coordinate with Spellbinders Nestabilities. What a great match! BUT...I didn't have this particular set of Nestabilities so I hand cut my scallop heart out, showing you that it is even more versatile then you thought. By handcutting it, I wasn't able to get that great embossed edge that you get with the Nestabilities but it is still nice.

I printed mine by setting my printer on the best setting and I printed it on Core'dinations cardstock, cardstock that has a slight texture to it, making for a rather rich look. I don't often work with purple and lavender so I was excited to create with this set so I could create a purple card.

This view shows you a close-up of where I added my Flower Soft accents on the sprigs of flowers. I used the Heather Flower Soft since it has a great mix of colors. You can also see that I highlighted the edges of my cut out heart with 3-D Glitter Fashion Paint by Tulip. I like this glitter because it gives a very subtle look of glitter while letting the underneath color show through.

I also added some of the Heather Flower Soft to portions of one of the butterflies in this printable set, cut that out and added it to my card with foam tape for added dimension.
Thanks for visiting, Linda Beeson, Design Team member

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE card
Materials list:
Downloadable topper – Lavender and Lace/Flower Soft
Flower Soft - Heather
Tacky Glue – Aleene’s
Glitter 3-D Fashion paint - Tulip
Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – BasicGrey
Rub-on sentiment – BasicGrey
Self Adhesive rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Foam tape
Sandpaper

Sweet as Apple Pie!

Hi! Jeanne here today with a Recipe Topper.

Here is another card made with the new toppers available today at Flower Soft! The Toppers at Flower Soft are pre-colored (beautifully!) all you do is apply it to your card and decorate. How fun is that?

Here is my card using the new Recipe Toppers:

Here’s a close up:

Topper: Yummy Recipes Toppers - Flower Soft
Papers: Bazzill
Ultra Fine Flower Soft (Toffee)
Flower Soft glue, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L™