Can't Say Thanks Enough

One technique I've seen a few times lately on Jennifer McGuire's YouTube channel is layering die cuts to create more dimension. I've been wanting to try that, but never have until now. I got the "Really Big Thanks" die & stamp set by Simon Says Stamp recently, and decided the die would be great to try this technique.

I began by choosing the products I wanted to work with. Since the current challenge at Simon Says Stamp's Monday blog is to use paint, and the challenge at their Wednesday blog is to "Stencil It," I decided to combine the two, and paint over a stencil onto kraft cardstock to create my background. So I pulled 4 Adirondack paint daubers: Snow Cap, Purple Twilight, Pool, and Lettuce. I used a stencil by Prima (sorry, but I don't know the name), and dabbed the colors over it onto the cardstock.

While that dried, I chose my sketch from my collection of Operation Write Home sketches:

I knew I wanted one with a large background space for my stenciled piece, as well as a good-sized area for the greeting.

I die cut the "thanks" die from black paper 6 times, then (carefully) glued the layers together to create a thicker die cut. I stamped the rest of the greeting onto a piece of white cardstock in Versafine Onyx Black ink, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. After that, I glued down the die cut "thanks." Finally, I decided that the greeting strip was too white, so I blended Shabby Shutters Distress ink over it. In hindsight, I wish I had done the ink blending before I adhered the die cut, as it was difficult to get an even coverage around that.

I cut a piece of paper from The Paper Studio's "Linen Door" 4.5x6.5" paper stack, rounded the top corners with my 1/4" Corner Chomper, and adhered it to a piece of black cardstock that I'd cut slightly larger than the center mat in the sketch. I adhered a strip of white cardstock, which I'd inked with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, to the top back of the greeting strip. I rounded the bottom corners of the greeting strip, and all four corners of the mat. After gluing the greeting strip to the mat, I adhered it to the stenciled kraft panel. Finally, I adhered that to an A2 card base.

Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Pool	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Snow Cap	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Lettuce	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Purple Twilight
Distress Ink Pad, Shabby Shutters	Distress Ink Pad, Chipped Sapphire

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