Believe Wish Dream

I combined a sketch challenge, a travel challenge, and an "ingredient" challenge to come up with my card today. Did you notice I don't have a color challenge in there? I like color challenges, but I have to tell you, it sure was fun putting colors together randomly this time. ;)

For Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday "Date" Challenge this week, I needed to use the November ingredients: a stamped sentiment and a tag. Using the Viva la Verve April 2013 Week 5 sketch challenge, I turned the main focal panel into a burlap tag with a sentiment on it, and tilted it a little bit. I worked the Simon Says Stamp & Show travel theme into the card with My Mind's Eye Traveler dp. I used my Copic air brush to color the red pearls, and I adhered the burlap to a piece of kraft cs with iron-on adhesive so it wouldn't unravel.

See the green design on the burlap? That's a leafy stamp. I first stamped it with Distress Ink, which worked well, but I also added a red butterfly, which didn't work at all, so I had to cover it up with acrylic paint, which I also added to other parts of the burlap to keep it from looking like a mistake. Then, I re-stamped the leafy image in green acrylic paint. It took me longer to figure out how to fix that one mistake than it did to make the rest of the card!!! :-/

I used leftover pieces of dp on the inside of the card. To bring a little more red inside the card, I scribbled a red Sharpie marker inside the "Adventure" text. The teal sparkly dots in the corners are Stickles.

DIE-CUTTING TIP: In my last post, I had a tip about using cereal bags when die-cutting to keep intricate die cuts from getting stuck inside the die. That's still the best thing I've used for die-cutting, but I don't have very many of those bags, so I tried out several other items to try to find one that was fairly comparable, but easier to come by. Waxed paper works, but not as good as I would like. I also tried parchment paper, but it worked about as good as the waxed paper. I found something called Silicone Release Paper on Amazon, and I'm thinking that would be ideal, but I couldn't find any locally. Then, I saw that Wilton says their parchment paper is coated with silicone, so I gave that a try. Bingo! That works almost as good as the cereal bags. I tried a single layer, double layer, and triple layer of parchment paper between the die and cs, and I recommend using a double layer. I cut multiple intricate dies using this sandwich, and it worked well every time.

So here's my sandwich for die cutting now:

cutting plate
sheet of white scrap paper (helps you get a cleaner cut, and keeps your cutting plate clean)
cardstock or paper, facing up
2 layers of Wilton Parchment Paper
die with the cutting side facing down
metal shim (optional, but it does help with intricate dies)
base plate

Seeing that all written out, it seems like a lot, but really it's not. If you cut intricate dies and can get your hands on some Wilton Parchment Paper, test it out. And, if you've found anything better, I'd love to know about it. I can think of about a zillion things I'd rather do that fiddle around with getting a stuck die cut out of a die. :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a crafty week!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve April 2013 Week 5 Sketch Challenge (VLVApr2013)
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #218 (FTTC218): It's All in the Date! (November)
Simon Says Stamp & Show: Passport to Fun 
Simon Says Challenge: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Pears (Flourishes); Sunny Days (Verve)
Paper: Traveler (My Mind's Eye); Best of K&Co
Ink: Versafine; Distress; Copics; Sharpie
Dies: Banner Stacklets (Taylored Expressions); Std Circles Lg & Sm, Labels 18 (Spellbinders)
Accessories: 1.5" circle punch (EK Success); ribbon; rhinestones; pearls (colored with Copic air brush); acrylic paint; burlap; mini staples; Stickles; Angle Corner Chomper; iron-on adhesive
Size: A2 (4.25 x 5.5")

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