Skip to main content

Shell-abrate Summer: Sharing Summer Week #1

Hello, and welcome to an exciting day! Today, I participated in my very first Instagram hop! I feel honored and privileged to be part of the Sharing Summer Cardmaking Challenge hosted by @thatcraftygolden. 

The week 1 theme, Shell-abrate Summer, posed a bit of a challenge for me because, in all my crafty stash, I have nothing that screams, or even whispers, beaches, shells, water, or tropical vibes. Nothing. 

Lucky for me, what I lack in stamps and dies, I make up for in DMC floss. To pull off the theme, I turned to the Spellbinders Stitched Fanfare die and semi-patriotic, but definitely tropical, colors. 

Fanfare (noun): ballyhoo, hullabaloo, panoply, and obviously, shell-abration. Yep. All synonyms. Dilemma solved. I dived right in. 

Diecut Surgery:

My goal with this design was to have all the "fans" in the fanfare radiating away from the a center point instead of facing the same direction. Here, it will help to see the starting point. 


I cut two of these diecuts from Neenah Classic Crest Solar White in 110#. 


I cut each diecut panel into two usable pieces, which left a sacrificial tiny strip in the middle of each. Notice that the "fans" on the two panels are fanning in opposite directions. 


Now, watch this sleight of hand. Discard the tiny strips, and then swap the two larger pieces. Ta-da! Now the sentiment can be placed in the empty spot and all the fans will radiate toward (the left panel) or away from (the right panel) that center point. 

Stitching:

Next, I stitched up one set of diecuts using five shades of coral and three shades of peacock blue, creating an ombré effect. 

Here are the colors:
  • DMC 352 - Light Coral
  • DMC 351 - Coral
  • DMC 350 - Medium Coral
  • DMC 349 - Dark Coral
  • DMC 817 - Very Dark Coral Red
  • DMC 3766 - Light Peacock Blue
  • DMC 807 - Peacock Blue
  • DMC 3765 - Very Dark Peacock Blue

Card Assembly:


To soften the background, I adhered vellum behind each diecut. It's weird. I have no idea why this makes such a difference; it just does. I adhered the coral piece to the top of an A2 top-folding notecard and then adhered the peacock piece to the bottom of that same notecard. This left a void between the two sections. Since I don't trust myself with scissors, I used my trimmer to cut out that center void. 

The Key to Assembly: The Sentiment

The sentiment holds the two pieces of the front panel together, so size is everything. The sentiment needed to be large enough to span the gap and provide stability to the card. I used the Honey Bee Celebrate word die, which was an exclusive product from the Crop & Create Delivered Cardmaking event in March 2022. 

I cut the largest, stitched shadow from white twice and vellum once, cut the smaller shadow from white, and cut the word detail die from Spellbinders Brushed Silver card stock. I stacked these up and positioned the diecut between the two stitched pieces, being careful to only glue where the sentiment would touch the front panel. 

Finishing Touches:


I finished the card with Pinkfresh Studio Metallic Pearls in Matte Silver. 

And there you have it: my shell-abratory card for my first Instagram hop!

I hope this inspires you to look at your diecuts in creative ways. Don't be afraid to cut them up and reimagine what they can be!

Thanks for stopping by!
Tammy









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beyond Basic Backgrounds || AECP

Hello, and welcome to my first card share since graduating to Level 2 in the Altenew Educator Certification Program!  I am pretty excited about these cards. They are clean, simple, modern, and maybe even a little on the funky side. And I just kind of like that. The Course: The lessons in this course didn't necessarily include new or different techniques, but the way design is used, its  purpose, is unique. Each of the lessons in this class encourages techniques that put the focus on the background while keeping the rest of the card elements rather understated.  So, even though I do appreciate a clean and simple design, I was still forced to look at my supplies with a new eye, as I kept in mind that whatever stamp or die I chose would be the focus of that card. The background would be the focus. Does that make it the foreground? Or is it still the background? Hmmm... Enough. Let's get started. Technique: Stenciled Images Is it okay if I say I am a little blown away by this car
2 comments
Read more

Back to School 2023

Hey, long time, no see!  It was bound to happen. It seems, no matter how many years I teach, back to school always kicks my butt. It was probably a bit more brutal this year because, for whatever reason, I holed up in my craft room this summer and refused to leave until the first required work day. Why? Because I just want to make cards. The woes of the employed.  But here I am, and ready for a big, big share!  For the past few years, I have recognized the teachers and staff in my building with cards and tiny gifts whenever possible -- first day of school, holidays, birthdays, teacher appreciation week, and other seasonal celebrations. This year was no exception! I made cards and cookies, gift tags, and card sets aplenty!  Just wait til I show you!  DIY Stencils: I am pretty excited about these cards because I actually used  my brand new Silhouette Cameo 4! I was inspired by these oversized fruit cards Jennifer McGuire and her sidekick Lila made. Oh man, I wanted those stencils! But I
Post a Comment
Read more

Create It 3 Ways: Sympathy

Hello, and welcome to another card share for the Create It 3 Ways Instagram Hop! This hop is hosted by  @amritapettus ,  and it's held on the 3rd Saturday of every month at 3PM ET. Check it out, and i f you'd like to participate, just message Amrita on Instagram! The monthly theme is determined, and each hopper chooses one category to feature on three cards.  The theme for August 2023 is sympathy, and I chose to feature Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils on all three of my cards.  I love how versatile these watercolor pencils are. They are perfect for techniques -- some of which you shouldn't even think about trying with other watercolor pencils.  Wait! Sorry, did I scare you off? It's easy; trust me!  Let's get into the cards... Technique: Traditional Watercoloring Despite all the unique uses of Distress Watercolor Pencils, they can be used in the traditional way, too! That's what I did for this card.  Using Versafine Onyx Black ink, I stamped two of the cr
Post a Comment
Read more