Sunday, June 19, 2016

Make Today Beautiful


My Favorite Things is having a "Camp Create" event. It began on June 13, and runs through the 23rd. Each day of the first 5 days, they issued a different challenge. The theme for Day 1 was "Glitzy Glitter." I admit, I'm not all that much into glitter. Not because of the mess, but just because it's not really my thing. I have glitter that has been in my stash for years I think now, and rarely sees the light of day! Recently, though, I saw Jennifer McGuire demonstrate a technique with glitter, and it made me want to try that. (Unfortunately, I can't find the exact video or blog post where she did this!)
I began by covering a 4.25x5.5" piece of white cardstock with a sheet of Scor-Tape. I used several dies from the "Wild Garden" set from Essentials by Ellen, and die cut the images into the adhesive side of the panel. Because the Scor-Tape is kind of thick, my dies mostly did not cut quite all the way through. Even so, I was very careful when I removed my dies, to leave the die cuts in their negative spaces. My initial plan involved making that whole panel my card front. The more I thought it through, though, I realized I'd be hard-pressed to stamp a greeting onto adhesive! So my plan changed somewhat.

After I'd finished my die cutting, I carefully peeled the liner paper from the adhesive, just for the center area of one of the large flowers. I covered the area with fine gold glitter, and burnished it into the adhesive. Once I'd finished that, I peeled off the liner from the next part I wanted to glitter, and sprinkled glitter on, then burnished it in. I repeated this process for each flower & leaf. I used a Swiffer Sweeper cloth to clean up the glittery mess as I went. It doesn't get every speck of glitter, but it still does a pretty good job!

When I had all my images glittered, I removed them from the negative piece. I cut a piece of light blue cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and placed the negative die cut piece over it. I used that to help me place my images on the blue background, so they were in the same position I'd had them on the adhesive-covered panel. Once they were glued in place, I removed the negative piece.

For my greeting, I used two stamps from My Favorite Things' "Simply Fabulous Sayings." This set has some nice, bold, scripty words, with supporting greetings in a sans-serif font. I placed the "Beautiful" stamp on my panel, using my MISTI to make sure it was straight. I also went ahead & placed the "Make today" stamp above the other. I did a "test stamping" on my plastic grid sheet with black ink, just to make sure the greeting was straight & placed well. I decided the "Make today" was not close enough to the "Beautiful." But both stamps were straight, so I was loathe to move either one. So, I cleaned my stamps, and masked off the "Make today" with painter's tape. I inked up the "Beautiful" with Versamark, and stamped it onto my panel. I heat embossed that with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I removed that stamp from the lid of my MISTI; replaced my cardstock panel, scootching it up about 1/16" of an inch; and then stamped the first part of my greeting. I heat embossed that as well.

I felt the top of the card was a bit bare. I trimmed off 1/4" to lessen the amount of blank space, but it still felt empty. So I took a sparkle stamp from Lawn Fawn's "Peace Joy Love" set, and stamped it in a few spots in Versamark ink. I heat embossed those in Liquid Platinum. I felt that helped the balance the composition a bit.

To finish my card, I cut two 1/8" wide strips of blue glitter paper. I adhered one along the fold of a white A2 card base, then adhered my panel below, butted against the strip. Finally, I glued the remaining strip in place. I will send this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids. Hopefully all that glittery goodness will brighten a hospitalized child's day!

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

Send a Smile 4 Kids: "Punches and/or Die Cuts 4 Kids"
Die Cut Divas: "Anything Goes"
Pile It On: "Old, New, & Blue" (old glitter, new technique, blue background)
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
Virginia's View Challenge: "Make It Colorful"

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful creation! Thank you so much for entering the Anything Goes challenge at Through The Craft Room Door this week. Looking forward to see you again next challenge.
    Happy crafting,
    AngelaTTCRD DT
    Taste Of Craftiness {My Blog}
    Through The Craft Room Door
    ttcrd.blogspot.com

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  2. Lovely. Beautiful flowers.

    So glad you joined us at Die Cut Divas.

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  3. Wow - the flowers have such pretty sparkle! Love this card. Thanks so much for joining us this time at the Pile it On challenge, Elizabeth (DT)

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  4. I'm with you - I also have glitter in my stash that I never use but I definitely want to try this technique. Thank you for joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Diecut Divas. Cathie DT

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