More Embellishments

I got some more embellishment/focal dies, and am working to make some up for my stash before I put them away.   All of these are from Spellbinders.

Gnome Drive Holiday: (above)

First up, is a set I bought for the car.  I like that it is facing forward - so many you see from the back.  I'm not that big on gnomes, but I THOUGHT I had seen that it would work with the Elizabeth Craft animals.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  They are too big for the car.  It IS the right size for the Karen Burniston animals, but I don't have any of them!  So, gnome driver it is, I guess.    As gnomes go, I DO like this one - really easy to put together.  The tree and star aren't much different from others in my collection, but I really like the bows on the packages - much nicer than others I have.  The car itself is pretty cute - quite a few pieces, but not hard once you get the hang of it.  

Beautiful Wreaths Collection: 

Build a Wreath:

I really like the elements in this set!  The green sprigs and little branches, the flowers, and the pretty bow - all are really nice and can be used in far more situations than simply making wreaths!  They will be a really nice addition to my other floral sets.

Birthday Wreath Add-Ons:

I can't imagine using these on a wreath as they were intended, but they will be great for birthday cards!

Snowman Scene Etched Dies from the Simon's Snow Globes Collection:

So far, this is the only die set I have from this collection - I don't have the snow globe itself and don't know if these will fit with the HOTP snow globe I have.  I bought it because I don't have much in the way of decent snowman dies and this seemed reasonable (Hmmm, I wonder if they are the right size to drive the car????).  Anyway, I partly got it so I would have decent snowmen and partly because I thought it might work with the "window with a view" (see below) set for winter scenes.  We'll see if they're the right size for that.  Anyway, one of the things I discovered is that tiny scraps of gold metallic card stock works great for these little Christmas tree ornaments.  The star that comes with the snowman also works great for a topper for the Christmas tree.  I also found that it works great to use scraps of glossy photo paper to cut some of these pieces - then they can be colored with Sharpies to great a glossy look.  Especially nice for the top hat and Christmas tree ornaments!

Holiday Blooms Etched Dies from the Celebrate the Season Collection:

This is the only set I have from this collection and I don't expect to get others.  I bought it simply so I'd have more layering Christmas flowers for my various makes.  I cut these all from white card stock and then inked them with Distress and/or Distress Oxide inks.  I really like the cat tails that I made using Peeled Paint - and Vintage Photo pounced to create the brown cat tail parts.

Country Road Collection by Annie Williams:

I currently only have a couple of these sets, but another is on order.  It has nice greenery bits and I like the smaller flowers.  The poinsettias are okay, the large roses? are not my favorites.

Rustic Garden:

I LOVED playing with this set!  I cut all from white, then colored them with a mix of Distress inks, Distress Oxides, and permanent markers (Sharpies & Bic).  It was fun to create the look of an old copper pump with patina using a greenish metallic over the copper - smearing it before it could dry.  Not at first realizing that I could cut the rim & the spokes at the same time, I ended up with extra spokes & innies - which I tried to turn into game boards (darts).  They could also make a ferris wheel or a windmill! :)

Garden Builder:

What a lot of nice plants and flowers - and a cat!  These were again all die cut from white scraps & then colored - mostly with distress inks - before being assembled.

Windows with a View Collection by Tina Smith:

I currently have 3 sets from this collection - and I believe all the rest are on order.  I think it will be the only one where I have the entire collection, and I'm looking forward to the enormous variety of scenes it will allow me to make!

Backyard Haven View:

I LOVE this set!  So many fun elements!  But they are TINY.  I found myself using my finest point marker to place eyes for the squirrel & owl.  Speaking of the owl - I used the innies from the tire swing to back the owl (trimming as needed) to create the little eyes.  Most pieces were colored with Distress inks, though I used markers & water brush for the little birds.

Coastal Escape View:

This is another set that was SO MUCH FUN! However, I THOUGHT the fish would be easiest to color - I was wrong.  I had a REALLY hard time with them for some reason.  I felt the coloring on the other elements was more realistic.  I'm sure I'll learn.  I really had fun playing with these.  Mostly I used my distress inks - with Copper & Silver Sharpies.  Since I don't have yellow distress ink, I had to use the distress oxide.  I prefer the plain distress inks for these.  The background of the brown/framed water was done with distress oxide and I find it harder to create light/dark with the same ink.  But, I sprayed it with a sparkle spray and it created a lovely water effect.

Up in the Air View:

What a fun set of die cut elements - small but so much fun!  I didn't finish coloring all the umbrella's balloons, and flowers because I figured I'd wait and color them specifically to fit a card or scrapbook page.  In the meantime, I've got lots of other elements to choose from.  Once again, these were mostly colored with distress inks or Sharpies, but I did use some patterned papers as well as scraps of silver card stock.  It works really well to use a silver Sharpie to color metal bits like on the umbrellas.  Also, when I used regular Sharpies to color over a silver metallic piece, the color ended up looking a bit metallic!

That's all I have for now - but my next shipment is on the way.  I haven't bought much in some time but really found some things I liked recently and went a little crazy.  The next shipment has the rest of the elements from the Window with a View set and another of the Country Road.  It will be fun to put them all together.