Today's Friday Free For All Challenge, F4A248 "Grab & Go" 11/21/14, is to grab the most recent crafty item that you have purchased and NOT used and USE it!
Oh, boy, did I ever have a lot of product to choose from!!!!
The first thing that caught my eye laying on my craft table was a package of Little B cardinal stickers, next I noticed a stack of watercolor backgrounds that I made a couple of weeks ago, also unused. I was going to use one of my birch tree dies when I remembered this nifty birch tree patterned drinking straws that I purchased months ago after seeing an awesome card here on SCS....these stupid straws have been nagging me for months to be used, but until now I was completely stumped on how to make them not look like straws glued to a card front. I accidentally squashed the straw cutting it and BINGO, I had a tree trunk that didn't look like a straw!!!!!
After that happy discovery, this card came together quickly. The background was done by swiping a piece of watercolor paper through some distress inks that had been smeared on a nonstick sheet and spritzed liberally with water. The result was this swirly, blue sky background. The birch straws were smashed and cut to fit the size of the bgd (and fussy cut at the bottom of one straw to make it look like it was a bent branch on the tree).
The hardest part of this card was making the fiddly little cluster of holly leaves on the sentiment panel. I used a new Memory Box mini holly die - once again another unused product! Finished it off by adding tiny rhinestones colored with a Bic marker and adding dimensionals to the sentiment panel to pop it up.
Thanks for dropping by to look at my straw birch trees. Do you have unused product that is nagging you to use? Do it, it is so fun!!! Please play along with this challenge, it will brighten your day!
Date: Friday, November 21, 2014 GMT Views: 2299
Favorited:10
Stamps: Layers of Color Artstamps - encouragement set
Paper: White confetti, handmade watercolor bgd
Paper Size: A2
Ink: Sentiment & sponge - SU Bermuda Bay, watercolor background - Tim Holtz distress Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Dusty Concord
Accessories: Watercolor paper,Kikkerland birch straws, Little B winter cardinals 3-D stickers, Paper Smootches hexalong die, Memory Box mini holly leaves, rhinestones colored with red Bic marker
Registered: August 15, 2007 Location: Twin Cities MN Posts: 50609
Fri, Nov 21, 2014 @ 10:56 AM
Those straw birch trees rock..I have to try that..they look so cute on your card and as photo props!! And I love the cardinal stickers..your bird is adorable..totally fab card!!
Registered: June 23, 2007 Location: Parksville BC, Canada Posts: 3292
Fri, Nov 21, 2014 @ 11:31 AM
Clever idea.. pretty card.
------------------------------ (picture of my beautiful Cockalier, Bonnie)
Remember~
"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground!"
What a clever idea to use straws for birch trees. They look great with that beautiful cardinal sitting on top with the holly leaves. Love your gorgeous blue sky. Beautiful card!