Aloha, all!
It may be Hawaii and we may not have the kind of winter those in the midwest and Atlantic states are having right now. But we do get colds, just like everyone else. And this week have I had a doozy! I have not wanted to do ANYthing. But it's hard for me just to sit, so I went into my craft room and just started picking up a bit and looking at a stash of Stampin' Up! products that I've had for a while, but haven't used. I didn't expect to end up with any completed projects, but I ended up with TWO!
The first card I made uses a die from the brand new Party Pop-Up Thinlits set. I already had the Cherry on Top Designer Series Paper Stack out on my work table (note – this is the paper I used for my new tutorial booklet!). That has some sheets in the set that definitely scream, "Birthday!" So I made the inside background out of the birthday cake sheet of paper. As this paper is only 6" wide (and deep – it's a square), I needed to join two sheets. So I matched the pattern, adhered the two sheets together and cut the new, larger, sheet to fit the inside of the card with a 1/8" border all around – so the final size was 8-1/4" x 5-1/4".
Before I used this die for the first time, I went to see if I could find a video with instructions on how to use it. I found a quick, simple video on the Stampin' Up! website here. Just click on the little red "Video" icon beneath the photo of the thinlits. Once I had the process down, I cut a piece of Whisper White Cardstock 4-1/4" high X 7-1/2" wide, folded it in half and followed the instructions. It was SO easy. If you watch the video, note that they recommend you use the Precision Base Plate. Just for giggles, I decided to use the Magnetic Base Plate instead, and it worked just fine in my Big Shot. I also put a piece of waxed paper between the Thinlit and the Cardstock. There's a bit of controversy "out there" about this. But my recommendation is that, if you're just a home-based crafter and don't make dozens of projects over a long period of time using the same die, don't worry about it.
I finished the inside off by adhering a strip of another sheet of paper from the Cherry on Top stack on either end of the White cardstock.
Here's the front of the card. I used the same sheet of paper from which I took the strips on the inside to make the card front. I didn't want to add too much to this background because it has lots of detail built in already. I used some stamps from the old Age Appreciation stamp set because it seemed to me like it had the same feel to it as the rest of the card. I used the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch at the top and bottom of the Whisper White Cardstock on which I stamped the sentiment, and then ran a short piece of the Watermelon Wonder 1" Dotted Lace Trim through them. Then I adhered the whole thing to the card front using Stampin' Dimensionals.
I'm done with this one and will share the other in a day or two. Still two more after that to design and make – on top of Valentine Cards I have to design for my class a week from Monday. It will work out just fine if I can stay healthy!
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