Hello again. I have created a card for one of my friends going through some tough stuff at the moment, and decided to use patterned paper from my stash:

I wanted to create a Z fold card for the current challenge at Die Cut Divas, together with the theme of ‘bees’ from Double D challenge.

I knew I had some honeycomb/bee papers from 49 & Market somewhere, and I hunted them out, picked several of the papers and decided which ones I wanted.

I created the Z fold using an A2 card base, matted one piece on the inside, and another piece to the front narrower panel, also covering the rear of that folded piece.

I used the ‘Honey Bees’ die set from The Greetery to create the three bees – all coming from the same die set. The yellow part of the bees is from a previously created panel – ink smooshing, acrylic paint splattering, and I think there was even some water droplets thrown in for good measure. I liked the almost honey-like colour on the panel.

The black stripes of the main bee were cut at the same time, from the same yellow piece, and coloured with a W9 Copic marker – not black – as I wanted the legs and antennae to look a little warmer, and stand out from the black hexagon.

The black hexagon piece is from the same patterned paper pack, but onto that I also used some Distress paste – the translucent paste – and a Simon says Stamp honeycomb stencil to create a little more detail and interest behind the bee, scraped through quite haphazardly.

The wings for all three bees were die cut from vellum, and all the layers attached. I had to wait until the following day for the paste to dry, but then it was putting everything together to make the card you see.

I added the sentiment strip, layered with a piece of black for stability.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Double D Challenge – use bees and/or the word happy

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Die Cut Divas – die cutting and Z fold card

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Love Those Patterned Papers – patterned papers option of summertime