Elizabeth Craft Designs General Els van de Burgt Studio Krista Schneider ModaScrap Soft Finish Cardstock

Springtime with Riikka

March 5, 2017

Hi there again! It’s Riikka here with spring feelings! There’s still snow on the ground here, but the sun is shining more and the ever increasing amount of light really marks the start of springtime! Soon the birds will begin to migrate north and blooms will emerge and… well, it’s a wonderful time of the year!

To celebrate springtime, I made some ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) using green and brown – brown for the earth, soon to be revealed when the snow melts, and and green for the new plants emerging. I also made a layout using the same colors and dies and other supplies, but first let me show you how I made the cards!

Step 1. Back a page from an old book (or similar) with Clear Double Sided Adhesive Sheet. Using the Honeycomb die, cut the page two or three times.

Step 2. Cut ATC sized pieces out of the white Soft Finish Cardstock. ATCs always measure 2.5″ x 3.5″. Use the frame piece from the Honeycomb as a guide and adhere the little hexagons in place. Don’t adhere the frame!

Step 3. Use a pencil to draw a casual border around the card. (No need for a ruler.) Then use tea to color and spatter the center of the card. Instead of tea, use watercolors. Air dry or use a heat tool.

Step 4. Color a piece of White Soft Finish Cardstock using watercolors in various shades of green. Let air dry or use a heat tool. When the piece is dry, use a leaf die to cut it. Shown: Leaves from the Pair of Leaves 2 set and the Leafy Branch 3 die.

Step 5. Add some thread on top of the leaf and then staple both the leaf and the thread to the ATC.

Step 6. Using permanent black ink, stamp Feathered Friends on the smooth (back) side of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Cut out with the coordinating dies. Color with watercolors. Adhere the birdies, flowers or cherries using foam dots for dimension.

Step 7. Add an adhesive-backed gem or two. Don’t forget to add information on the back of the ATCs: The title, maker, and date, at minimum. Optional: Include your blog address or other contact info.

Here are the all four ATCs I made. Two have birds on them and two have summer treats – flowers and cherries. All of them are made similarly, just used different leaves and different stamped, colored, and die cut focal points.

Below is the layout I made using the same steps and supplies, but with a twist! Instead of using the hexagons I used the Honeycomb frames. I adhered toward the bottom, side by side and angled to fill the space as shown and to give a horizontal feel. Then I added the tea stains on top to form the ‘ground,’ so to say. This lets the green leaves and paper layers ‘grow’ up from it.

The topic of the page is new potatoes and like the title says, I’m really looking forward to the time when we’re able to get the fresh crop of potatoes! They are so yummy, almost like candy! In addition to the supplies I used for the ATCs, I used the Alphabet 2 Lower Case die set, Green Soft Finish Cardstock from the SFC Sampler Set 3 – Timeless, and some patterned cardstock from the Through the Lens – Wood pack.d

Thank you for stopping by today! Hopefully you’ll have a great spring day!

xoxo Riikka

Materials from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

Clear Double Sided Adhesive Sheet 5×11″

Honeycomb 

Soft Finish Cardstock in White

Pair of Leaves 2 

Leafy Branch 3 

Feathered Friends Clear Stamps

Feathered Friends Coordinating Die Set

Alphabet 2 Lower Case

Through the Lens – Wood

Soft Finish Cardstock Sampler Set 3 Timeless

Other:

Prima Marketing: Watercolor Confections Tropicals

Pencil

Stapler

Old book page

Tea

Thread

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  • donna mikasa March 6, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    Beautiful ATCs, and I love your layout, too!

  • Karen Aicken March 6, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    Wow – great projects! Loved seeing the ATC’s especially

  • Monica March 5, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    Loved all of them … thank you for sharing !

  • Vickie March 5, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    Love these. I think I need those Stamps and dies

  • Tona March 5, 2017 at 10:42 am

    Wonderful projects!

  • Patricia Howarth March 5, 2017 at 9:33 am

    Hi Riikka, Wow !! these are fabulous !! I’m loving these little cards and those cute birdies, and the layout is ‘yummy’, I’m loving how you have used the ‘waste’ from the honeycomb die-cut for the cards, and the frame part for the layout, genius !!
    New potatoes and lots of butter, mmmmm my idea of heaven.
    Enjoy your day, hope your snow goes soon, we have got strong wind and rain, rain, rain, and occasionally hail and sleet, yucky haha.
    Lots of love from Patricia xx

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