Folk Art But Not for Christmas

I love folk art, particular canal boat style, and the new collection from Waffle Flower reminded me of that style so I couldn't wait to play with it.  I was so not in the mood for Christmas this week though with temperatures over 28 degrees in the office by mid-morning it just feels too warm to go there just yet.   So I took the Folk Art Birds and Folk Art Florals dies, added some oranges and purples for an autumnal theme and made an anniversary card instead.  I love a set that can be both Christmas and all year round too.

To give it the twist I did a couple of different things - one - I cut extra flower centres, and added those to the "berry layer" on the floral die - I also die cut two sets of bird and flipped one over so I could have it facing the first bird.

So I cut the berry layer from kraft, the leaves from sprout, the flowers from fig and grape soda (the latter all Concord and 9th colours)   The birds from spiced cider and clementine (again C9th)  The layering is very simple you just layer the flowers over the flowers and use the score lines for inner flower alignment.  I added some orange pearl drops to the centres of the flowers and some red on the birds with yellow and black for beaks and eyes.

I also cut a 3rd floral set and tried to turn it so the berry layer was the opposite side - the flower isn't symmetrical so it didn't work, so I just cut the petals off the kraft layer and just had a thin strip behind the leaf layer.   In the end it was too much so I cut it apart, added the flower to the centre behind the bird and then added the extra leaves and 3 flowers separately - so don't think of it as a "whole" you can cut it apart to make more options.

For the flipped over bird - my cutting plate is quite old so lots of "texture" came out on the reverse side when I fliipped him over.  If you want to cut down on that - add a paper shim to protect the card - I forgot so I just rubbed it over with the side of my bone folder until I'd smoothed it out again.

To create the actual card I just used a couple of the ovals, one in the same white as my base card, one in the spiced cider underneath so I could get an inner oval of colour.  Popped up on foam tape for a little dimension.  I finished with a sentiment stamped in Fig ink to match the flowers.

Hope this has given you some more inspiration for the folk art beyond Christmas themes.  I might be back with a Christmas version on Sunday.....

Happy Crafting.

Tara