Friday, June 22, 2012

Flourish Birdcage

Today I headed to Opus (artist's supply store) in Langley with Jeremy.  He wanted to pick up acrylic paints and canvasses ... he's planning on painting a set of three geometric design panels for his new apartment.  I found a nice piece of thin balsa wood and used it in today's card.  I wasn't sure if it was too thick to cut with dies, but after running it through a few times, the Big Shot compressed the wood enough that it was able to cut all the way through.  Just love the look of the wood pieces on the card ... and the great thing about balsa, is that it is extremely lightweight - perfect for embellishing a card.

Today's card is for the Color Throwdown Challenge (CTD197 - Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Cajun Craze, Kiwi Kiss).  I just love the combination of these colors!  I used mostly dies for my card (and again I used my newest toy, the flourish die from Cheery Lynn - it is my favorite die I have!!).  I also used the birdcage die (and bird) that I've had for a while, but haven't used yet.  I still have several unopened dies ... need to get on that!!  Hope you like today's CAS card.

"Flourish Birdcage"


Stamp:  Vintage Labels (SU!)
Paper:  White cardstock (C.C. Designs); Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Cajun Craze, Everyday Enchantment DP (SU!)
Ink:  Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Kiwi Kiss (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Nestabilities Labels Two (Spellbinders), Fanciful Flourish die (Cheery Lynn); Birdcage and bird dies (Poppy Stamps), Hydrangea punch (Martha Stewart); balsa wood, mat, stylus, glue, and dimensionals



I ran the balsa wood through my Big Shot with the Nestabilities Labels Two and bird dies and then sponged both pieces with Crumb Cake ink.  I cut out the Flourish die from Kiwi Kiss cardstock and then sponged the edges with Kiwi Kiss ink.  I die-cut the birdcage from Basic Black cardstock.  The blossoms were punched from Cajun Craze cardstock and Calypso Coral DP from the Everyday Enchantment paper series and then molded using my mat and stylus.

I mounted all the pieces as shown, tacking down the flourish, birdcages and flowers with glue and popping up the bird to add depth.  The whole image was mounted on the cardbase and popped up for added dimension.

9 comments:

canadian_liner said...

So neat that you used balsa wood to cut your die shapes! I love that idea! Did it take much experimenting to find the right "sandwich" for your die-cut machine? Thanks for sharing.

nancy littrell said...

Wow....absolutely stunning 3-D card. Love your new balsa wood die cut panel....actually every single die cut image. You go girl...can't wait to see more of your die cut toys. TFS Nancy L

Margaret said...

Oh my! What an absolutely fantastic card. I love everything about it!

Loll said...

Not much experimenting. First I ran it through like I would an embossing folder ... but it wasn't "snug" enough. So I ended up running it through as I would with any of the die-cuts and cardstock. Took a little pressure to get it through the first time, but ran it back and forth a couple of times and the wood seemed to compress and it cut. Fun to work with!

Esther Asbury said...

Very pretty card.... I love all things bird related. Especially like those pretty flowers on the vine!

Wanda Cullen said...

OMGoodness, Loll, I LOVE this card!! That leafy flourish die is my fave as well and paired with the bird cage over the backdrop of the balsa wood...STUNNING! You totally rocked the throwdown colors! So happy you were able to play along with us this week!

Shari said...

Love this card! I can't believe you used wood! It looks great, you did a fantastic job!

Leanne ... said...

I love this card. It looks as if it's dangeling from the flourish. Nicely done. Love all your work as I look through your site.
Blessings...Leanne

Papercraft Cafe said...

Fabulous card! I've die cut wood veneer before ... the type that comes on a roll, but it has a tendency to split. I'll have to try the Balsa.