Birthday Bird House by Sue Smyth

Hi! Couture Creations Designer Sue Smyth here today. I love to make little off-the-page gifts and decorative pieces. Creating this standing bird house with everyday items and Couture Creations dies
is so easy to do. Just follow the instructions below.

I have used a small terracotta pot, which I have painted with gesso and misted with colored sprays.
I like to flick over other colors to give the pot an aged mossy look.

Add a faux bird nest and bird to the top of the pot, along with moss, feathers die-cut leaves and sticks.

To start, hand draw a bird house shape onto thick chipboard. Tip: If you struggle, just download a template from the net.

Smear the bottom of the house with texture paste and stamp into the texture paste with the Vine Frame Embossing Folder. Allow to dry.

Note: Clean the embossing folder immediately with water and a sturdy brush.

Paint the pot, chipboard house and a sturdy stick with white gesso. Allow to dry.

Spray the house with a selections of mists. Note: I have used a coffee and olive spray. When dry,
brush over the house with a little gesso to highlight the raised texture paste.

Cover the roof with Double-Sided Tape and peel off the backing with a Handheld Piercing Tool.

Cut four or five scallop rectangles from a terracotta colored cardstock using the Scallop Rectangle Nesting Dies. Trim off the long ends of each.

Layer the scallop cardstock over the tape, overlapping each strip, just like a tiled roof. Keep layering until the roof is covered.

Flip over the house and trim off excess cardstock from the roof with a Craft Knife.

Swipe gesso over the scalloped roof. Use a Paper Piercer to flick up each little scallop to resemble a dimensional roof top.

Cut a small scallop circle and circle from scrap cardstock using the Scallop Circle Nesting Dies and Circle Nesting Dies. Layer with Foam Mounting Tape and attach to the front of the bird house.

Use the Fence Die to cut a fence from white cardstock and adhere it to the top of the painted pot. Use a hot glue gun to attach a thick braided ribbon below the fence.

Attach an organza bow to the front of the pot using 3D Glue Spots.

Decorate the pot with paper roses, a faux bird nest and bird feathers. Cut leaves from green cardstock using the Ivy Die.

Adhere the house to the painted stick and insert the stick into the pot. Note: I have wedged a large piece of styrofoam into the pot to hold the stick secure.

Add finishing touches like a scroll with happy birthday, tiny daisies, moss and painted sticks. Make some handmade flowers using the Retro Flowers Die and a brad and secure them to the top of the house.

You can personalize the house to your taste and to that of recipient. Happy crafting!
~Sue

Couture Creations Supplies:
CO723041 Scallop Circle Nesting Dies
CO723040 Circle Nesting Dies
CO723047 Scallop Rectangle Nesting Dies
CO723531 Secret Treasures Collection - Ivy Decorative Die
CO723524 Secret Treasures Collection - Retro Flowers Decorative Die
CO723488 Sophia Collection - Fence Decorative Die
CO723642 Harmony Collection - Vine Frame Embossing Folder
CO721964 Double-Sided Tape
CO723963 Foam Mounting Tape
CO723817 3D Glue Spots
CO721986 Handheld Essentials Tool Kit

Peacock Delight Projects by Adriana Bolzon

Hi! Couture Creations Designer Adriana Bolzon here today sharing how I create my two projects that are featured on the cover of the latest issue of the Couture Creations Creative Inspiration Magazine.

Peacock Pride Instructions

Roughly hand-draw the head and body of a peacock on Dark Blue cardstock. Cut out the figure.

Ink the edges and shadow highlights of the neck and the eye of peacock with a black inkpad and a Sponge Dauber. Highlight the features of the eye and face of the peacock with a fine white pen.

Cut small strips of Orange cardstock and use them to create a crown on the head of peacock. Cut a small beak from Orange cardstock and glue to the end of the peacock face. Place Crystal and Green Envy Self-Adhesive Gemstones to the head of peacock as shown in photograph. Highlight areas with a white pen as shown. Add a Moonlight Self-Adhesive Pearl to the center of the peacock eye.

Punch an assortment of small oval shaped pieces (you can use a small oval nesting die) and leaves from Lime Green and Ocean Blue cardstock. Ink the edges of the oval shapes and leaves with black ink and a Sponge Dauber.

Secure the oval shapes and leaves to the upper part of the body of the peacock with 3D Foam Dots,
layering shapes on top of each other. Place Crystal Self-Adhesive Gemstones on top of the punched shapes.

Peacock Feather Instructions

Cut 25 feathers from both Lime Green and Ocean Blue cardstock using the Peacock Delight Decorative Die.

Place one peacock feather die-cut on top of another peacock feather die-cut, slightly off center, and adhere with glue. Alternate the color of feather on the top.

Use a Sponge Dauber to apply black ink to the edges of each feather. Apply Crystalina and Green Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue down the center of each double-layered peacock feather. Let dry. Repeat the above process for each peacock feather. You will require around 25 doubled layered feathers to complete this project.

To create the background of the project, place a stencil on top of black cardstock and gently apply white ink over the stencil using a Sponge Dauber.

Place and adhere the body of the peacock on the black cardstock with 3D Foam Dots. Adhere 3D Foam Dots or Foam Mounting Tape underneath each feather. Arrange clusters of feathers as shown.

Highlight the edges of the feathers with Green, Gold and Crystalina Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue. Let dry.

Couture Creations Supplies - Peacock Pride
CO723707 Glamour Days Collection - Peacock Delight Decorative Die
CO721996 Crystal Self-Adhesive Gemstones
CO721991 Green Envy Self-Adhesive Gemstones
CO721978 Green Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue 
CO721971 Crystalina Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue
CO721976 Gold Glitzin' Glamour Glitter Glue
CO723780 Foam Mounting Tape
CO723623 Sponge Daubers

Other Supplies: Cardstock, Stencil; Leaf Punch; Oval Punch; Ink; White Pen

Peacock Mask

Peacock Mask Instructions

Use Mod Podge to adhere torn pieces of vintage music paper to a plastic mask. Let dry.

Adhere lace trim and Seaspray and Vintage Gold Self-Adhesive Gemstones to the top section of mask as shown below.

Create 10 doubled layered peacock feathers using the same technique shown in the step-by-step above for the Peacock Pride project.

Arrange a cluster of bird feathers and paper peacock feathers and adhere to each end of mask with Double Sided Tape and 3D Foam Dots.

Create bows with sheer ribbon and layered blue silk flowers with a pearl brad center. Adhere these clusters to each side of the mask.

Create a background with a stencil and a white inkpad, attach the mask to background.

Couture Creations Supplies - Peacock Mask
C0723707 Glamour Days Collection - Peacock Delight Decorative Die
C0721996 Crystal Self-Adhesive Gemstones
C0721990 Vintage Gold Self-Adhesive Gemstones
C0723780 3D Foam Dots
C0721963 Foam Mounting Tape
C0721983 Doubled Sided Tape
C0723623 Sponge Daubers

Thanks for looking!
Cheers, Adriana

37 Weeks by Patti Hamil

 

Hi! Couture Creations Designer Patti Hamil here today. I wanted to show how to create a layout using scraps. I had some pieces left from the Damask Delight paper that I wanted to use. The colors were perfect for our daughter's photo taken during the last week of her pregnancy!

First I decided to take my smaller scrap, which was a striped pattern, and cut several sizes of circles using the Circle Nesting Dies. I started laying out a basic pattern that I liked for the page. Once I liked the look, I used Double-Sided Tape to adhered the circles to white cardstock. I took a green and blue marker that matched the paper and did some "faux stitching" around the larger pieces.

 

I wanted some blooms on the page, I'm a flower junkie, so I decided to just make some by hand. Very easy. You can use any of the Couture Creations Floral Nesting Dies or Circle Nesting Dies. For this type bloom cut 3 circles, 2 the same size and one smaller.

I then took blue ink and a Sponge Dauber and inked the edges of the die-cut layers.

I then layered and pinched them together. I crumbled each die-cut up first and then carefully unfolded it, then attached the layers together. Then you can just play with the petals until you get the look that you like! I used the cut off part of a stem from a manufactured flower, the kind that have the twisted ends, you can fray it and it makes a great flower center!

I needed some accent blooms, so I used the Retro Flower Die to make 4 flowers. I placed a  Moonlight Self-Adhesive Pearl in the center of each flower. I layered two flowers together for each little bloom.

I placed circles and blooms in several places and added a few Seaspray Self-Adhesive Gemstones as accents.

Here is another close-up of the little cluster.

 

Here you see the larger bloom and the little ones around it.

 

Thanks for stopping by today!
~Patti

Couture Creations Supplies:

CO723545 Damask Delight Paper Pad
CO723040 Circles Nesting Dies 

CO723524 Secret Treasures Collection - Retro Flowers

CO721989 Seaspray Self-Adhesive Gemstones

CO721994 Pink Diva Self-Adhesive Gemstones

CO721998 Moonlight Self-Adhesive Pearls

CO721956 Sharp Point Scissors

CO721954 Precision LED Tweezers

CO723623 Sponge Daubers

CO721984 Double-Side Tape

Devonshire Lady and Gentleman Card Set by Dana Tatar

Hi! Dana Tatar here today sharing a set of cards that I created for the Couture Creations Winter CHA Booth today. I used dies from the NEW Glamour Days Collection, as well as some of my favorite Nesting Dies to create this romantic set of cards. This card set is published in Issue 2 of the Couture Creations Creative Inspiration Magazine! This magazine is FREE! Please take a look. You will not want to miss the projects and tutorials that my fellow Couture Creations Designers share in this issue.

I went all out designing these cards! I had a lot of fun embellishing not only the front of each card, but also the inside! The inside of each card is stamped with a sentiment from the A Banner Day Clear Stamp Set from Paper Wings Productions. The sentiments reads:

Life is not measured

by the number of breaths we take

but by the number of

moments that take our

breath away.

How romantic! *Sigh*

I used a two-step process to create the silhouette pendants for this card set.

Part One: Use the Devonshire Lady and Gentleman Die to cut a lady and gentleman silhouette from black cardstock. Attach the lady and gentleman die-cuts to pieces of patterned paper with Double-Sided Tape. Add a small amount of glaze to the top of each die-cut and press a clear pendant over the top of each die-cut. Once the glaze is dry, trim any excess patterned paper from around the pendants and glue a gold rose to the top.

Part Two: Follow the Beaded Cabochon Tutorial by the mega-talented Sandie Edwards. Cut two pieces of light brown cardstock with the smallest Oval Nesting Die. Cut two pieces of white cardstock with the smallest Scallop Oval Nesting Die. Ink the edges of all die-cuts with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Secure the brown oval die-cuts to the white scallop die-cuts with Double-Sided Tape. Glue the now beaded pendants to each oval mat and secure to the embellished card bases with Foam Mounting Tape. Finish each card by adding a floral cluster under each pendant.

Here is the matching Devonshite Gentleman card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope I have inspired you! Don't forget to check out the latest issue of Creative Inspiration Magazine!

Couture Creations Supplies:
CO723720 Glamour Days Collection - Devonshire Lady and Gentleman
CO723044 Oval Nesting Dies
CO723045 Scallop Oval Nesting Dies
CO721998 Moonlight Self-Adhesive Pearls
CO721965 Double-Sided Tape
CO721962 Foam Mounting Tape
CO723039 Precision Trimmer

French Country Card by Pam Bray

 

Hi! Pam Bray here today sharing my French Country Card. I love the country vintage feel of the papers and they work perfectly with the Fubu Embossing Folder.

 

I started by first running Red Kraft Distress Core'dinations Cardstock through my embossing folder and then sanding it lightly with a Sanding Block. 

I die-cut one Ivy Doily using the Ivy Die Set from a piece of the green patterned paper.

 

I placed part of the Ivy Doily on top of a piece of the black patterned paper that I adhered to the top of the red Fubu embossed cardstock using Double-Sided Tape.

 

I also added a few of the patterned die-cut pieces to the front of my card using Foam Mounting Tape. I hope you try adding die-cut layers to your projects.

Hugs, Pammejo

Couture Creations Supplies:

CO723306 Fubu Embossing Folder
CO723222 Ivy Set Doily Dies
CO721985 Double Sided Tape
CO721961 Foam Mounting Tape
CO721955 Precision Scissors
CO721957 Cutting Mat
CO723039 Precision Trimmer
CO723060 Sanding Block
CO721986 Handheld Essentials
CO723039 Precision Trimmer