Monday, March 6, 2017

MAKE IT MONDAY! Watercolor Background Die Cut


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:





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