This week's card is a simple, yet elegant birthday card made using Stampin' Up!'s Special Reason set of stamps and matching thinlet dies and a watercolor insert that you create! So every card you make is a little piece of art.
Let's get started.
Materials (everything for this week's card is from Stampin' Up):
Card Base: Whisper White (heavyweight)
– 8 ½” x 5 1/2”
First Layer: Basic Black – 5 ¼” x 4”
Top Layer: Rich Razzelberry – 5 1/8” x 3 7/8”
Watercolor background: Watercolor paper 3” x 3”
Sentiment First Layer: Basic Black – 3 “ x 1 ½”
Sentiment Top Layer: Whisper White – 2” x 1”
Inside First Layer: Basic
Black – 5 ¼” x 4”
Inside Top Layer: White – 5” x 3 ¾”
Ink - Sentiment: Rich
Razzelberry
Ink – Watercolor: Blushing Bride, Sweet Sugarplum, Wisteria
Wonder
Stamp Set: Special Reason
Thinlet Dies: Stylish Stems
Framelits AND Stitched Shapes Framelits
Ribbon: Sending Love Combo Pack – Whisper White 18”
grosgrain
Other Supplies: Aqua Painter Tool, 3D Foam adhesive, Snail adhesive,
Tear and Tape adhesive
Instructions:
Watercolor Background:
When you’re water coloring with Stampin' Up! inks,
the easiest way to get the ink is to squeeze the front
and back of the closed pad so a little of the ink transfers to the top
cover. Then open it and dip the Aqua Painter brush
into that transferred ink. You can also swipe the ink pad across a stamp block and dip from there, if you like to keep your stamp pad containers squeaky clean! ;-)
Whichever way you choose to go, use the Aqua painter to brush the ink onto the 3” x 3” watercolor paper, alternating between colors in arbitrary areas so
you get a random pattern. Once you’re
finished, use the metal die to check the painted area to make sure you’ve got
the entire flower area painted. The last
think you want is to have little white areas showing around the edges. Set it aside to dry, or you can use your heat
tool…just be sure to heat both front and back to minimize warping.
 |
| Here I used the ink on block method. |
The card front:
Line up the flower die in
the top center of the Rich Razzelberry paper and use a small piece of washi
tape to secure it in place. That way it
won’t slip during the cutting process. Run it through your
die-cutting/embossing machine (Big Shot, Cuttlebug, etc) several times to be
sure it cuts cleanly. Use a shim, if
necessary.
Place a glue dot in opposite
corners of the front of the dried watercolor image. Then hold it behind the Rich Razzelberry die
cut layer and move it around until you like how it looks through the opening. Once you’re satisfied, press the glue dots to
secure it in place. Adhere that layer to the 5 ¼” x 4” black cardstock using
snail adhesive.
Here's a close up of the water color once it's attached to the card:
Cut a piece of white
grosgrain ribbon long enough to lay horizontally along the black cardstock with
enough extra to be able to tuck it around the underside of the black cardstock
(approx. 6”).
Attach it to the back of
the assembled card front with tear and tape adhesive.
The card base:
Create the card base by
scoring the Whisper White cardstock at 4 ¼” (A2 size card); attach the card
front to it using snail adhesive.
Now
it’s ready for the sentiment. I forgot to take a picture at this point, but I always
attach the card front to the base BEFORE adding the sentiment if it’s going on dimensionals, just because it makes the assembly easier.
The Sentiment:
Use Rich Razzelberry ink to
stamp the ‘Happy Birthday’ stamp from the Special Reason set on the 1” x 2”
Whisper White Cardstock. Cut out the
sentiment using the smallest oval from the Stitched Shapes Framelits die set.
Use the next larger oval to
cut out the black supporting layer and attach the Happy Birthday sentiment to
it using snail. Using dimensionals, adhere
the sentiment to the center of the card front on top of the white ribbon. Cut another small piece of
the ribbon and tie a tiny bow; attach it to the bottom right corner of the
sentiment layer with a glue dot. Trim the edges at an
angle for the finishing touch.
The inside:
Using snail adhesive, attach
the white cardstock to the remaining black cardstock; then attach that to the
inside of the card base.
That's it! Now imagine all the different color combinations you can do with this very easy card. Give it a try; then post pictures of your creations in the comments so we can all enjoy!
Product List - just click on the image to purchase from my store:
