Guest Post for Spellbinders | Romancing The Swirl

Hello everyone!
I am really excited and honoured to be guesting today on the Spellbinders Paper Arts blog. I am sharing two projects I made using the dies from the Romancing The Swirl collection by Amazing Paper Grace/Becca Feeken. This is another spectacular collection from Spellbinders with amazing Nestabilities shapes, tags, and intricate dies. I have made a paper gift box and a card for today's post. I will start with the gift box first:

The entire gift box is completely handmade using White cardstock and the Swirl Booklet Insert dies from the Romancing the Swirl collection. I have always loved working with Becca's dies because of the endless possibilities they offer! They are extremely versatile, and can be used for a number of different projects. I used the Booklet Insert die to die-cut and create a gift box, and doesn't it look so gorgeous!?

To create this gift box, I took some 80 LBS White cardstock and die cut four panels for the box using the Swirl Booklet Insert die. Once I die cut the four sides of the box, I glued everything together to create a box. If you are interested in knowing the full step by step tutorial for creating a gift box like the one I have made today, please be sure to check out THIS tutorial from Joanna Krogulec. I have followed her measurements to create this gift box. I have used acetate to line the insides of the box instead of vellum as I wanted to convert this into a gift box.

To embellish the front of the box, I die cut the flowers using the flower dies included in the Card Creator A2 Corner Cotillion Dies out of white cardstock. I also added a label behind the flower from the Shapeabilities Swirl Tags Etched die set which was cut from gold mirror cardstock. The leaves are also from the Card Creator A2 Corner Cotillion Dies set and are coloured using the Ranger Twisted Citron Re Inker.

I wanted this box to have a shabby chic feel, so I decided to go with a very soft, pastel color pattern paper for the lid of the box. I die cut the patterned paper using the largest square die from the Nestabilities Hemstitch Square Etches dies.

For my floral cluster, I first die cut a very delicate motif from the Swirl Booklet Insert Etched dies using gold mirror cardstock. I snipped the die cut piece into half so that I could place it behind my floral cluster in a way that it would be seen. Next, I started working on my flowers and leaves. I absolutely love making my own flowers, and hence decided to use the flower dies from the Card Creator A2 Corner Cotillion Dies set to create my florals. I die cut them from white heavy-weight cardstock, embossed them, and lightly colored the centers using a pink dye ink. To complete the look the flowers, I added cream color thread pollens to the centers.

I also added some artificial fillers in white and pink to accentuate my design. For the leaves, I used the leaf dies included in the Card Creator A2 Corner Cotillion Dies and colored them using Ranger Twisted Citron Re-inker. I love the fresh, springy look of the leaves.

This is how the gift box looks from the sides.

The die cut is really intricate and looks so elegant and beautiful!

 
Another view of my floral cluster :)

This is how the box looks without the lid.

And here's a final picture of the box and the lid together. I think this would make for such a wonderful gifting piece, and is sure to bring a smile on the recipient's face. What do you think?

Moving on to my second project for today which is a floral card. To create this card, I first took a card base measuring 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches. Then, I matted some pink textured cardstock onto it. Next, I die cut a frame using the large frame die from the Card Creator A2 Corner Cotillion Dies from Gold Mirror cardstock. The design looks very bold and gorgeous, and I am absolutely in love with it.

To create the focal of my card, I first ink blended the negative space of the Card Creator frame die using Distress inks in shades of pink. I also heat embossed my sentiment in gold which is from the Oh Happy Day 3D Vignettes Stamp and Die set collection.

I also ink blended and added two die-cut pieces on the top and bottom of the sentiment. The die I used is from the Swirl Booklet Insert Etched dies, and I think it looks really good with the rest of the design.

To create the floral cluster on the left side of my card, I used the same die cutting and embossing techniques I used on my gift box. I die cut the flowers from white heavy-weight cardstock, embossed them, and lightly colored the centers using a blue dye ink. To complete the look the flowers, I added cream color thread pollens to the centers.

To further embellish my card, I added few rose buds in pink, and fillers in pink and white.

I also created my own handmade fillers by die cutting the smallest flower die from the Card Creator A2 Corner Cotillion Dies and colored them using blue dye ink. For the centres, I used a round, white styrofoam bud, coloured it using red dye ink, and covered it with micro pearl beads.

Here's a view of the complete floral arrangement.

I love how the flowers turned out! Here's a closer look at one of them.

This is how my final crd looks. I hope you like it! :)

Spellbinders supplies used :
S4-926 Shapeabilities Swirl Tags Etched Dies
S4-929 Nestabilities Hemstitch Squares Etched Dies
S5-363 Shapeabilities Swirl Booklet Insert Etched Dies
S5-364 Card Creator A2 Corner Cotillion Dies
SDS-116 Oh Happy Day Elegant 3D Vignettes Stamp and Die Set
T-001 Tool' N One
PE-100 Platinum 6 Die Cutting and Embossing Machine - 6" Platform


Other supplies used : Neenah Solar White 110 LB cardstock, American Crafts Colored 12×12 cardstock, White 80 LBS Cardstock Sheets, Gold Foil Cardstock, White Fun Foam; Stick It Double Sided Adhesive Sheets; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Double Sided Foam Tape; Versafine Onyx Black Ink Pad, Distress inks, Distress Re-inkers, McGill Inc. Paper Blossoms Tool kit, Thread Pollens, Fillers, Micro Pearl Beads.

Thank you so much, for taking out time and reading my post. If you liked my projects, please do leave me a comment below. I always love to hear what you think of my projects. :)

Have a nice day everyone!