Sara Emily hosts the current "Home Sweet Home" challenge at the Frilly and Funkie blog. After seeing her incredible make and reading the story behind it, I was stumped - home means so many different things to me, after having lived in 23 distinct homes across the US and in Holland throughout my life.
But on reflection, I realized that at last, I really am home, hopefully my last (and that I will be here many years, might I add!) As they say in the pet rescue world, I've found my forever home, lol!
I retired from nursing and teaching last year, moved to my new house in Northern Idaho in summer, and finished the nascent landscaping by the skin of my teeth ... with my new puppy Boo on the case...
before the snows of winter descended.
In the spring, we sowed a bunch of wildflower seeds, and eventually, they produced a glorious meadow, a joy to behold.
And this became my "home sweet home" motif!
I have been into pop-ups lately; something about the interactive nature of them has always fascinated me, and having been somewhat successful in my last make with this little gear pop-up, I decided to try something "pop-up" again.
After traveling down the Pinterest rabbit hole way too many times, I found this tutorial, which seemed to lend itself to my idea of re-creating a meadow in my card. She uses a small hinge mechanism in her card to provide some depth to the pop-ups.
I die cut a full set of each of the smaller Tim Holtz Wildflower sets in Distress Watercolor Paper, and colored with a variety of Distress Ink Markers, by dabbing and swiping loosely on the die cut, then using a water brush to meld the colors.
I inserted my colored wildflowers into the hinge mechanism within the card, and added a sentiment from an Alexandra Renke die.
For the outside of my card, I cut from Distress Watercolor paper the recent Sizzix/Tim Holtz Organics cover die, and again colored with the Distress markers. On some areas, I misted the die cut first, and on others, I colored as before. Note To Self: Use distress ink pads on your mat, with a water brush, rather than dipping the markers into small pools of water! Much more effective, and less wasteful of your markers. Like I haven't seen hundreds of people do the right thing before, lol!
And here is the card in its natural setting:
Thank you so much for visiting, and please do leave a comment if you can - I appreciate them all! I am entering this into the Frilly and Funkie "Home Sweet Home" challenge.
Thanks,
Lynn
Hi Lynn, it was so great to hear from you and thank you for the love you left on my blog!! I'm glad you're finally all settled and back at crafting/posting. I enjoyed your pics above - the wildflower meadow is beautiful, and congrats on your new pup, Boo :-) Your "Home Sweet Home" project is gorgeous and amazing, as is the pop-up with gears. I see taking time off had no negative impact on your talent and creativity. I'm so happy to see your paper projects again and look forward to more. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL!!!! Lynn, I'm DELIGHTED you played along in my challenge, and I'm floored not only by your gorgeous pop-up card, but by your thoughtfulness as to what 'home' means to you at this stage of your life. You really grasped the feel of this challenge. I loved reading about the evolution of 'home' for you, and how your wildflower garden came about--how lovely to wake up to that every day, but not without lots of hard work last fall. (I have to admit I had to look up 'nascent', and now I have another word for Scrabble!) I loved seeing your photos--what a fabulous view!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, so back to your card--your flowers are just gorgeous and the pop up tickles me pink! Thank you for sharing your Pinterest exploration--it is indeed a rabbit hole! I've always wanted to do a pop up, and this is the push I need. The colors and design of your card are such a perfect depiction of the view you have at home. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful post and artwork with us at Frilly and Funkie in the Home, Sweet Home challenge! Big hugs! Sara Emily PS Your pop up gears card is so cool, and now I'm off to take a closer look at that!
Lynn, your wildflower meadow, both in real life and in your card are gorgeous - how lovely that the card is a pop up one too, that just makes it even more special. You really have captured the essence of your wildflower garden beautifully! Love the outside of the card too, and seeing the photos of where you live. Boo is pretty cute too! Hugs, Anne xx
ReplyDeleteBoth your wildflower meadows are stunning. I love the pop-up card and all the great colours you gave to the wildflower stems. The outside is as lovely as the inside and looks fabulous photographed against the real thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at Frilly and Funkie.
Hugs!
Cec
This is absolutely delightful! Wonderful design & colors!
ReplyDeleteTruly glorious - you've captured your amazing meadow flowers on the card to perfection. The watercolouring with the markers is perfect - that grid on the front is breathtakingly lovely - and your pop up stems on the inside are magical. Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteAlison x
Utterly breathtaking Lynn!!!!! My jaw hit the floor when I saw just how much detail you'd gone into getting each of those flowers standing in your wild meadow. You've totally captured it's beauty and then to use the die cut picture on the front to coordinate with it is a work of genius! Thank you so much for joining us at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog xx
ReplyDeleteBack to say congratulations on being one of our Top Picks AND for winning the shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique! Yippee!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post Lynn. Your card has totally captured the beauty of your real meadow - they are both just stunning. It looks like you have found the most beautiful place for your 'forever home' and I hope you'll have many years of happiness and tranquility there - it looks idyllic.
ReplyDeleteDiana xx