Aloha, all!
This really is an “Aloha” project day. With all my posts beginning with a Hawaiian, “Aloha,” I rarely get a chance to focus on a card that really has a Hawaiian flavor to it. But I’m going to fix that for today. After all, being “sheltered in place” where I live in Hawai’i is not all that bad. So why not share the beauty!
The Recessed Panel Technique
While I’ve seen cards made with the Recessed Panel Technique, I’d never actually tried it myself until last week. There was a challenge in one of my online groups to make a card with the technique. So I figured that now was the time to try it.
I’ve seen some tutorials for this technique where there are very specific measurements. Cut at 5/8″ here, and 4-1/8″ there. That may be a good idea if you are attending a class where everyone is using the same products. The instructor may have spent quite a bit of time figuring out how the Designer Series Paper (DSP) she is using would best show itself off with specific measurements. But my message is, cut where you want to cut based on your DSP and what else you’re going to do with the design.
A Mini Tutorial – Making the Mat
The real trick here is cutting the mat between the DSP and the top layer of your card. I began by cutting all three layers of the card front the same size as the card base. Then I figured out where I wanted my top layer cut – and I cut it! I then laid both pieces of the top layer onto the cardstock that was going to be my mat and made light pencil marks on both side edges of the mat cardstock, 1/8″ from the cut edges of the top layer. I used my Paper Trimmer to cut the top and bottom sections of the mat cardstock between the pencil marks.
Finally, I glued the top layer and the mat together. And then I ran the glue-together sections through my die-cutting and embossing machine with the Coastal Weave Embossing Folder. This had the effect of flattening the two pieces together so that they were not as thick as if I’d just done the top layer first.
Do You Really Need a Whole Piece of the DSP?
The answer to that question is, “Probably not.” But I felt as if I would have a lot less trouble fiddling with the DSP layer if I just made it the same size as all the other layers. So at this point, I was ready to first glue the DSP to the card base (Whisper White Thick Cardstock) and then I just lined up the top and bottom pieces of the matted top layer into place. No muss, no fuss.
Decorating With Tropical Flowers and Leaves
Now I was ready to decorate my card front. To complement the DSP I chose to stamp and die-cut three plumeria flowers. I stamped the flowers using the Saddle Brown StazOn ink pad that’s in the Mini Catalog. Then I got busy with my Stampin’ Blends Alcohol Markers. I first colored the petals using Petal Pink Stampin’ Blends, blending the color onto the white flowers with the Stampin’ Blend Color Lifter. Some So Saffron Stampin’ Blending in the center finished off the flowers.
I used the Tropical Dies (from Stampin’ Up!’s Annual Catalog) to cut the leaves. For the monstera, I first stamped the leaf using the Tropical Chic Stamp Set. Then I cut it with the coordinating Tropical die. It was then that I noticed that the monstera in the DSP had a yellow tinge to it. So I colored the white sections in using the Light Mango Melody Stampin’ Blend.
And There Are Other Ways to Do This!
I think that the diagonal cut in this card is really eye catching. But It does get a bit complicated as you’re trying to line everything up, not to mention a bit of paper wasted doing it the way that I explained. How about just trying some straight vertical or horizontal cuts, with the DSP showing in between two solid side strips? If you’d like to try that out and share it with me I’d be more than happy to share it here on my blog, too!
Whether you’re doing something plain or something a bit fancier, have a great time stamping if you’re stuck at home!
