"What's in a name....

....That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" 

One of Shakespeare's most quotable lines from Romeo and Juliet. Lets hope this blog post ends better than the aforementioned play?

In case you haven't guessed we are working with roses this week, paper roses that is. I first used this Thinlits die set back in December and I am sure that it is going to be a huge success because it's such stunning value for money.

The set comprises of 15 separate dies, six leaves and nine spiral flowers three of which are the roses I have used today. The set is called Thinlits set 15pk w/Quilling tool - Tiny Tattered Florals and is the brainchild of Tim Holtz. I didn't have access to the quilling tool at the time of writing this blog which is a shame because it makes things a whole lot easier; if you want to see the set together with the tool, follow the link above. Although spiral flower dies are nothing new the style and scale is perfect for smaller more intricate detail so beloved of mixed media and collage fans.

There are three sizes of rose in total and I die-cut a couple of each from medium weight white card. To turn the flat spiral flower into a beautiful miniature rose couldn't be simpler. First grip the end with your tweezers (Quilling tool is preferable) and start to twist in a clockwise direction until you arrive at the centre. At this point, you can allow the rose to relax making it as tight or as loose as you prefer. I like to use a hot glue gun to secure the flower as it is both quick and permanent. Once secure you can then use your tweezers to curl back some of the individual petals to create a more realistic bloom.

Crease each leaf down the centre and pinch in the centre as shown below to add realistic detail and dimension before attaching a couple to the base of each assembled rose. For the next stage, I wanted the card to be less absorbent so I painted each assembled rose with white gesso which dried in no time at all. To add a little vintage colour, I pressed my Broken China Distress Ink pad onto my craft sheet and gently spritzed with clean water to thin the pigment down before brushing it onto each flower allowing the colour to pool in places. this gives the flowers a shabby chic appearance.

To create the background, I started by applying Broken China and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink to the white base card using a sponge applicator.

Next, I applied clean water using a mister allowing the water to run down the front of the card as shown below.

Next I used a combination of stamps from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous range, the grey splats which you see are actually created using a rubber stamp!

Finally, I used a Dear Lizzy roller stamp to add the multiple phrases.......

 ...... Before attaching the roses to the face of the card with a glue gun, 

I'm sure that if Romeo had given his fair Juliet a card like this one, the story would have had a very different outcome? If only the bard had access to a Sizzix Big Shot! I guess we'll never know?