Saturday, October 29, 2016

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Natalia Valkovskaya

This is Natasha Valkovskaya and I’m so happy and truly honored to be here today sharing three (that’s right!) projects featuring a whole lot of amazing Wplus9 products.

I fell in love with the Woodland Basics Die the moment I saw them, and oh boy I was not disappointed when I got them! I have three cards for you today for three different seasons and occasions using the same design and featuring Woodland Basics and burlap. If you know me, you know I love burlap – it just gives so much texture and warmth to the project!

Although Christmas preparations are already in full swing in the cardmaking world, I couldn’t resist using this adorable acorn for an autumn card. I die-cut two acorns and the leaves and used a Tim Holtz Distress blending tool and Distress Inks to color them. For the base panel I die-cut a rectangle from Neenah Desert Storm cardstock and stamped the background with my absolutely favorite stamp set - Autumn Leaves - in PURE COLOR Appletini dye ink.

For the focal point, I die-cut a square from burlap and sewed it to the base panel. I adhered the leaves using Multi-Medium Matte, and the acorns with a bit of foam tape. Finally I stamped the sentiment with Hand lettered Thanks. For the card base I used Jellybean Green cardstock from My Favorite Things which turned out to be a perfect match to Appletini ink. If you don’t have a sewing machine or you don’t like sewing, you can totally use Scoretape or Ranger Multi Medium Matte to adhere burlap, like I did in my second project, going for a simple (almost) one-layer card.

Here, I heat embossed my card base using Background Builders: Knit in white. I just love this knitted look! So cozy! I also stamped some knitted rows in Gala Red for additional texture. Then I heat embossed the sentiment and finished the card off by adhering the burlap panel, which I made exactly the same way as the previous one. This time I die-cut a pine-cone and evergreen brunches and sponged them with Distress Inks.

I don’t mind frayed burlap edges, but if they bother you, you can go over them with a light coat of Multi Medium Matte and they will stay put.

For the final project I decided to use the smaller birds from the die set. The generic bird profile of these means they can be used for a variety of occasions. In Russia, doves are symbols of love and faithfulness, that’s why they are often used for wedding cards and decorations. So, I decided to create a wedding card.

Perhaps you don't have any burlap on hand? As you can see, the layout is the same as the previous cards, but this time, I swapped out the burlap for a stamped panel. I started by stamping the background with some floral images from the Happy Wishes stamp set in Lake House dye ink. Created the focal panel by die-cutting a stitched square and stamping it with Romantic Script background stamp from My Favorite Things. I used Delicata Gold ink for that.

Then I smooshed Lake House ink on my mat, spritzed it with some water and dipped my die-cut birds into this puddle. That’s why they have this subtle and a bit distressed look. I really like it! For a little something-something I decided to gold heat emboss some elements of flowers and the sentiment from the same Happy Wishes stamp set.

OK, I’m sorry, but I had to do it – a wedding card with burlap! I love how Oatmeal card stock adds to the rustic look. Sweet? I know!

That’s all from me today. Thank you for reading until the very end! See, how versatile this awesome set is?! Visit me on Instagram at @craftawaywithme for more ideas and inspiration using the Woodland Basics dies.

Take care and do more of what makes you happy! - Natalia

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the supplies (or equivalents) used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list does contain some affiliate links.

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful! All of these are just fantastic!

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  2. Natalia I'm so happy you've resisted - I'm not quite ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving! Your little acorns are darling! perfect pinecones, and OH am I grateful to see that last with the embossed buds, and burlap!
    =]

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  3. These are awesome! I especially love the blue with the gold accents!

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