Spring Is in the Air

Morning all,

Spring is late this year so any way to bring spring into your home is a welcome sight. I shouldn't complain as I am not in feet of snow or slush or anything of the like. I am just ready for shorts, bare feet and warm weather. I love when the cactus is in bloom and gives us such a wonderful array of color. To fill some of this need of which we are lacking, I made the Apple Blossom Lantern from the Spring Has Sprung SVG Bundle. The paper is a favorite of mine and one I know I will use a lot in the future. It is Called Spring Market by Carta Bella. I printed my paper but this paper might have to be purchased in large quantities and kept hidden from hubs in safe place. I love this collection that much. Kuddos to you Carta Bella this rivals another favorite of my by Graphic 45. Lets get to the lantern though.

I didn't do anything special to this amazing file except my choice of paper. I buy from Snap Click Supply online and print my paper. I chose two papers, one with the flowers the other with the white wood look for spring. I chose two more for the vellum.  In the past I have used pigment ink and a sponge to make colored vellum. It is messy but works quite well. I asked in the eclips group if anyone had printed on vellum as yet. Cheryl Hoogenstyn Becker said she had tried and that you couldn't use a laser printer that it melted and wanted me to ask her how she knew. Um, no thanks Cheryl, I really could imagine what had happened and I was really sorry for her loss.
Since the CSI system I purchased was pigment ink I was pretty confident that my Stampin Up Card Stock Vellum could go through the printer and do quite well. It did but I did have to keep an eye on it as it ended up with some ink catches on the bottom of the paper. I set both sheets aside I had printed from the Spring Market collection to dry while I cut the rest of my lantern peices. The pink is a lattice look paper I printed onto the vellum, they were both heat set with my heat tool on low.

The leaves were cut using Bazzill Rainforest, blossoms Pinkini and Pollen for the stems. Ink the leaves using Tim Holtz Distress Ink forest moss and festive berries for the flowers . I used a sponge dauber and softened the edges doing small circles to the inside of the flower as well.  I drew lines onto the petals with a really red Stampin up Marker. Using a Crushed Curry marker from Stampin up I made small dots for the pollen and tipped the very edge with the crushed curry.

I had cut the framing bars at the top of the lantern using white but it just didn't look right so I printed another wood look paper from this collection and recut the framing bars. I also inked the edges of the bars with a copic C3 marker.

The top piece took me a hour to figure out what I wanted. I wanted one of those beautiful knobs Tim Holtz sells but I didn't have any and knew I wanted to get this up for y'all. Digging through my stash I found a decorative brad plate and a small flat bead and the crystal look button. I used Ranger Glossy accents to glue them together and left it alone for an hour to dry. The brad plate came from some of the things I was gifted with from Close To My Heart. I did order some of those beautiful knobs and some hinges as well. I have my eye on a few more pieces from Tim Holtz I just know will come in handy some day and having it on hand to use is better than trying to figure out what do I do now????
The enamel dots are from My Minds Eye, Lost and Found Record it Collection. I bought about 4 or 5 packages of those as I knew they would be something I would use again and again.

The White Card Stock I used for the base of the Lantern was My Mind's Eye, My Colors. That was the first time I used this cardstock and I really liked it. It is a smooth cardstock and I think It would print very well if my printer could accept it. I tried but it is a thick cardstock and it did not like it. I found it cut very well with the eclips and was wonderful to work with. I will purchase more of this cardstock in different colors to use as bases, or card bases. Both will be great.

That is all I did to make this lantern as I said the paper was the star in this case.  I followed Leo Kowal's video Tutorial when putting it together. He cracks me up with some of his comments. One was " and I have pearls all over me" lol You aren't alone in this Leo Dear.
Thank you so much for all your kind remarks on Dreaming Trees Facebook page. Honestly the design is wonderful and picking your papers can make something really pop! Check out Carta Bella's Spring Market and I think you will love it too. Leave some for me to buy y'all.
Thanks Again for stopping by and visiting my blog and  Happy Craftin' Y'all!!!
Blessings, Sharalyn