Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Arianna Blooms Bird Haven

Happy Wednesday. My Heartfelt Creations project today is over the moon. Seriously, it brought me a great deal of joy in the making and I would encourage you to be brave and give a project that stretches you from where you are at now! This one really stretched me.


This is a gorgeous little frame from Ikea that costs a mere $10. Got to love that!! It's a nice, deep shadow box frame, which I personally have a hard time finding for a reasonable price. These frames come in black and white - nice and generic and perfect for altering.


I almost gave up on this project several times. There were so many parts that I cut out and that almost did me in. I have a wee touch of tendinitis, and cranking the handle on my Big Shot was brutal. Don't cry for me though - it's from having bad typing and texting technique. My bad!! I should have taken a picture of all the flower parts when they were laying out on my desk. That almost did me in too, because it was almost overwhelming - all the little bits and pieces and hoping the dogs didn't wag their tails too hard and blow everything off the desk.. Oy!! And then moulding the flower and leaf parts. It took a few sessions to get it done which almost made me quit.


And tipping everything with the copper painty pen! What was I thinking!! And then the dumb thing quit when I wasn't quite half way through, so I got my attitude in check and then went and got another one and, by the weight of the new pen compared to the old, I had emptied the old pen. D'Oh!!!

On the bright side, I just splurged on a new Spellbinders die, Feathers on the Wind, and just had to use it on this project - it was too perfect to pass up! And really, as I began assembling my vision for this project, I became buoyed and started to find the joy in being stretched.


As the flowers started coming together, I felt better about this project because the completed flowers were more manageable that all the little bits. In fact, as I started playing with the foliage placement, it became a lot of fun to play around with these paper blooms.


I have to tell you that I am really enjoying stamping and colouring on the Heartfelt Creations paper. It holds up really well to copic ink. I find I need a light hand with the ink because the Heartfelt Creations paper absorbs ink faster than blending cardstock. For me, it means that I don't have to work quite as hard at blending the ink. And I really love the printed texture that shows through the copic ink, giving the image more character that I didn't have to work for. DIVINE!!!

For many of my coloured images, I stamp them on lighter, more neutral coloured Heartfelt Creations paper. I don't find that the surface of the paper pills, just that I need to be very aware of the ink bleeding beyond the lines of the image. I'll be experimenting with ink bleeding in the future, so stay tuned...


And now, a little depth perception. This 9" square image has been built up to approximately 2" deep in several places. It's one of those projects that when I finished it, all I could think is, "Did I really do this?!!" It is officially one of my top ten favourites, and I want to recreate something similar for myself that goes with my home decor more than this project. I was so flattered when one of my kids said I should hang this one on the wall because we have so little art on our walls and they loved this one.

I have instructions on the Heartfelt Creations blog to make this project along with much stunning inspiration by the rest of the design team.

stamps;HCPC 3608 Arianna Blooms, HCPC 3611 Arianna Bird Haven (heartfelt creations)
ink; black memento ink (tsukineko)
paper; Timeless Amour Collection Paper (heartfelt creations), Java, Amsterdam (bazzill)
accessories; HCD 747 Arianna Lace Die, HCD 748 Arianna Blooms Die, HCD 736 Classic Leaf Die (heartfelt creations), Paper Shaping Tools (McGill), Captivating Squares, Marvelous Squares, Sm Classic Squares, Feathers on the Wind, Lotus, Create a Flake I (spellbinders), beetle black brads (bazzill), brown satin ribbon (offray), green picot edge trim, copper brads (making memories), copper painty pen (zig), Copic markers used; E04/07/29/53/55/57/59/70/71/84/87, YG91/95/99

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Loretta, this is stunning. Some many beautiful details. I also have had a couple of projects that I almost gave up on, and I'm glad I didn't.

Ujjwal said...

This has come out absolutely awesome! I love how all the elements have come together :)

Kathy/NorthCarolina said...

Oh my goodness! What an amazing, amazing work of art. I love all those layered blossoms, the wonderful color palette and I'm so glad you didn't give up on this one!

Liz said...

Wow this is stunning! Such a work of ate to be proud of.

Conniecrafter said...

Beautiful creation, so sorry you were hurting so bad while making it

Unknown said...

Hello Loretta

I live in the UK and am a great fan of HC I usually check what the design team have come up with for inspiration but seldom have time to comment.

However I do feel your beautiful creation deserves comment. It is stunning and I know only too well how painful tendonitis is so well done you for all those tricky little parts I love the feathers. Truly , truly beautiful.

Crafty Hugs
Heather xx

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