If you’ve been following this blog, then you know that I’m in a full bloom love affair with Susan Tierney Cockburn’s products for Elizabeth Craft Designs. This week I was commissioned to make a birthday card for a woman turning 70 in March. Her only request was “Make something pretty” for my sister. Well, what’s prettier than a country scene!
My latest purchase of Susan’s dies was this adorable set: 1196 – Garden Edges Rose Hedge.
I also knew I wanted to use two other sets I bought of Susan’s dies: 1084 – New England Stone Wall & Gate and 1135 – CountryScapes Wishing Well.
Step 1: I like to assemble all or most of all the elements first when making one of these scene cards. Then I can get a better idea of how large a card I’ll need to create my scene. I started with the “Rose Hedge”. I couldn’t find a video of how to construct this hedge but it’s pretty simple. The set comes with a die that cuts a strip of what is the foundation for your roses and leaves. I cut this pc. out of a sort of olive colored cardstock. I cut enough of the rose piece to have 3 or 4 roses on each bush. I also cut a lot of the ” leaves” piece so I could make the bushes look full and cover the “olive” base. The flower piece is a funny little spiral that you wind around and then glue.
Step 2: Next, I cut and assembled the “Stone Wall and Gate” and “Wishing Well”. I would recommend watching this video because it’s the piece in both of these dies that create the stones that you will use for the wall and well.
Step 3: I’ve had the “Western Edges” die set from Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs for a while but had not used it until now!
This step was interesting for me. Because when you run the edge die with the two horses, all the paper around and above the horses drops away so you have to have this layer over another layer of paper. I was using this as my upper edge for the scene in my mind. So what I did was cut a piece of white cardstock 6.5 x 6.5 inches and placed the horses all the way at the top of one side and ran the die through. This layer was the layer that I would build my scene.
The above photo shows that layer after I colored the horses with Copic Markers and then colored the background on the rest of that piece with PanPastels and this grass stencil I had from a Silhouette file (the Negative). The piece behind it was another piece of white cardstock that I only colored the first two inches with PanPastels and another stencil I made by taping several “clouds” from a die set called The All Seasons Tree from Elizabeth Craft Designs, together on the edge of a 2 x 6 inch scrap of cardstock. Susan Tierney Cockburn now has a stencil for just this thing which I will be picking up at the Scrapbook Expo in Pleasanton, CA. Friday! YAY!
Step 4: Cut all the pieces of this adorable little duck die set from Impression Obsession Rubber Stamps.
I cut them out of cream cardstock and then colored with Copic Markers.
Step 5. THE FUN PART. Now you start assembling the card. Place the horse layer over the cloud and sky layer lining up the two bottoms. I first applied Elizabeth Craft Designs 10mm Clear Double Sided Adhesive to the horse layer. Now add the rest of your components for your scene as pictured.
Step 6. I wanted this to be an easel card for easy display. I chose a sort of taupe cardstock that went well with the color scheme of the scene for the base card. Cut a piece 12″ x 6.5″. Score on the long side at 6″ and 9″. Both score lines folded so they are “valley folds”.
In the picture above you see on the lower 3 inches on the half of your 12″ strip is what will make the easel stand up. So that’s the next step.
Step 7: Cut a piece of designer paper 3″ x 6.5″. I chose a wood grain paper from KaiserCraft’s “Base Coat” Collection called Hardwood. I cut two pieces of the “Grass” from “792 – Stand Up Helpers” die set from Elizabeth Craft Designs, out of the same olive cardstock as the “Rose Hedge” base pc. I cut a label from Karen Burniston’s 1208 – Label & Circles..
Sorry the photo is sideways. I stamped the sentiment on this label and adhered to the right side of this section. I used the Happy Birthday die set from A Way With Words 1161 – Happy Birthday 2.
I also cut the barbed wire from Western Edges set from Tim Holtz Metallic Craft paper. Adhere these pieces to the wood designer paper section as pictured. Attach the completed 6″ x 6.25 “Country Scene” piece to the upper 3″ of the base card so that when it’s in the opened display mode, the bottom of the scene is held in position by the two grass helper pieces as in the picture below.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing what beautiful little Keepsake scenes are possible with the die sets made by Susan Tierney Cockburn and the other talented designers at Elizabeth Craft Designs. I value your time and answer all questions personally.
Other Products Used:
White Soft Finish Cardstock – Elizabeth Craft Designs
Sizzix Big Shot Plus
Susan Tierney Cockburn’s PanPastel Garden 1 Kit and Flower Shaping Tool Kit
crazyforpaper 