Aloha, all!
Today's blog post is not just about a stamp set. It's also about a fun Sizzix Edgelits Set that goes with it. I definitely haven't heard the word, "edgelit," in a while, and I didn't even realize how this one worked until I got it in my hot little hands last week. The edgelit can be used by itself, but it's really a Blast when it's used the the Birthday Blast Stamp Set!
When I put the shape that the main die in this set cuts out over the starry image from the stamp set, the effect is amazing! Before I go into some hints for making a card like this, I'll share some details about the other parts of the card.
First of all, the colors in this card are both in the 2016-2018 Stampin' Up! In Color set – Emerald Envy and Peekaboo Peach. The greeting is also a part of the Birthday Blast stamp set – it's all in one stamp, so there's no need to stress over lining the two words up. The stars underneath the greeting are from the 2016-2018 Enamel Shapes Set. The final element on the card is the bow made with the Emerald Envy 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon. One of the nice things about showing off a card made with colors in a specific group is that there is usually a set of cardstock that you can buy that includes all the colors in the set. In this case, there's a pack of 8-1/2" x 11" Cardstock that include both of these colors as well as the other 3 colors in this In Color set.
Now about my trial and error in making this card. Die-cutting the top layer is not much of a hassle at all. I cut a piece of cardstock 4-1/2" high and 4-1/4" wide. I stamped "Happy Birthday" so that the top of the stamp is about 2-1/4" – 2-1/2" up from the bottom edge of the cardstock. Then I placed the edgelit across the cardstock, placing it about 1/4" above the top of the greeting and ran it through the Sizzix Big Shot.
I set that aside and went to work on the stamped image. For this part of the project, I cut Whisper White Cardstock 5-1/2" high and 4-1/4" wide. Then I stamped the star blast image so that the top of the arch is about 5/8" from the top of the cardstock.
Finally, I glued the top layer to the stamped layer. I applied adhesive only to the bottom rectangle of the top layer. Then I carefully placed the large center star over the stamped center star and made sure I got the left and right slashes so that they showed through the die-cut slashed leading up to the other two stars. Once I had that arranged, I (again carefully!) laid the lower rectangle down onto the stamped layer, adhering it securely.
What you have at that point may look like a mess! But not to worry. What you want to do is to cut this grouping into a rectangle that's 5" high and 3-3/4" wide. I began cutting the grouping by making sure that the bottom edge was parallel with the greeting on the top layer. Once I had that edge the way I wanted it I used that edge as much guide to cut the other sides, starting with either the left or right side. I made 3 of these cards, and I found that I trimmed them in a different order each time. One time I made sure I had a squared-off rectangle before I worked on getting the whole thing down to size. There are probably as many ways of doing this as cards I would make. But it's really worth the effort – and it's not really that much effort!
When it came to the ribbon, I just tied a small bow and adhered it to the base of the star "blast." But, when I had some of my downline make it in a class I had for them, some of them tied the ribbon around the die-cut base and then tied the bow. I think it looked good either way – whichever you prefer!
Here's a recap of the products I used for this project. Click on any of the photos to get to my Stampin' Up! store to find out more about any of them and even to order them right away! If you have any questions, you can always call me at the phone number shown up near the right top of this page.
