shining skyline

It seems that December has passed so quickly, I can hardly believe this will be last my post in the designer spotlight for Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge. What an honor to have my creations showcased alongside some of my favorite designers. It has been such a blessing and I am extremely grateful to Simon Says Stamp for this wonderful opportunity; as well as all of my visitors, for your lovely comments and kind words, they truly mean the world to me. 

I hope that you are excited about this week's challenge "party time"

I am excited to share my pop-up New Year's card with you today. I just love making different interactive cards; they really are a lot of fun to make as well as to receive. 

When I think of New Years Eve celebrations, I think of silver and black, the NYC crystal ball drop, fireworks around the world, and everything glitz and glam, ringing in a new year full of potential. I decided to use this as inspiration for my project this week.

I start with a 6"x12" piece of heavyweight black cardstock for the base, everything is built up from there. I create the card front as its own entity and attach it after it is completed, this way if I make any mistakes, I am not having to re-do the entire card, only the section I am working on. The card front is a layering of silver metallic kraft beneath a piece of craft cardstock that has been diecut in opposite corners using the harlequin mixed media die. The topmost layer is heavyweight black card stock that contains the same cutouts as the kraft layer, however, they are slightly shifted outward from the center. This allows a slim edge of the kraft layer to be exposed, and to add interest. 

I used the center diagonal that the cutouts formed to attach the 2019 numbers. I give the numbers depth by cutting 4 times with black and the top layer metallic kraft. All of these layers are glued together and then the thick number is adhered in place. 

The interior of the card features a glittery sky that shines behind the cityscape. This background is created by applying embossing ink through the speckles stencil, then sprinkling the design with sticky embossing powder and heating with a heat tool. The heat warms the powder creating a sticky substance. I sprinkle the sticky areas with a (super fine) silver glitter while the embossing is warm. When I have coated all of the areas with glitter, I re-heat with my heat gun to ensure that the glitter embeds itself and then set this piece aside to cool. When cool, I brush off any excess glitter with a dry paint brush. 

Next, I create each of the skyline pieces that will stand prominently in front of the sparkly sky. [disclaimer: I have seen many ways to make pop up cards, this is my first. Some of the methods I use may be able to be improved, especially with more knowledge and experience. My mechanisms work, however, there may be different ways to achieve the same outcome.] Using a sheet of black cardstock 6"w x 10"l I score at 5-3/4"l. I place the cityscape die along the score line. Using the dimensional plate, I locate the non-cutting seam at the location of the crease. This will ensure that the bottom edge of the die will not cut through the paper. I repeat the process with the second cityscape die however, this base is scored at 5-3/8" so that when placed on the card base, the two rows of buildings will be situated with a gap in between. 

*I have staggered the die and dimensional cutting plate to demonstrate the layering along the scoreline, when die cutting these pieces everything is layered directly on top of each other.* 

 Each cityscape is then cut from kraft paper and the section of skyline that will sit forefront in the card, is cut a third time from metallic kraft. The plain kraft paper cuts are layered onto the folded pieces creating shadow lines. The metallic kraft is then adhered onto its respective skyline, creating a similar layered appearance to the card front (but in reverse order.)

When all the glue has dried, these pieces are attached to the card base. Between the rear skyline and the sparkling sky I scored small strips of paper to be situated in the gap. These strips are attached to the building back then a scored flat 1/4" section that bridges the gap, then attached to the background panel. A similar mechanism ties the front row of buildings to the back row, this time the scores occur at 3/8" to create the flat area between the buildings. These strips of paper are what tie the card together and force the buildings to "stand upright" when the card is in the open position. 

The card sentiment is created with alphanumeric dies. I cut two pieces of cardstock (one black and one kraft) to the dimensions of the flat base area (in front of the cityscape buildings.) I align the letters to form the words MAY IT SHINE using a straight edge; and when the placement is correct, I attach a piece of post-it tape over the dies to keep them in place when passing through the die cutting machine. I cut one row at a time. When all three rows are complete, I trim the left edge of the kraft paper piece so that I can slide it to create a shadow line. A piece of metallic kraft is located beneath the diecut layers and this entire composition is adhered to the card base.

The card folds (relatively) flat for mailing and when opened, the buildings stand erect amidst a sky shining with possibility.

May your holidays be merry and bright and the new year filled with hope. 

~Ann

 xxx

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing how my pop-up card was created. Perhaps you are inspired to make a pop-up card of your own. We would love to have you create something for this week's "party time" theme on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This challenge runs for two weeks so there is plenty of time to get creative. One lucky winner will receive a gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!

Thanks again for visiting my blog today. I love reading your comments or answering questions, it's always a treat when you share your thoughts with me. I have included a list below with all of the supplies I used to create my card. Any of the products that are available from Simon Says Stamp are listed with links. 

Supplies used:

black cardstock heavyweight

kraft paper

Ranger: sticky embossing powder

Scor-Tape

superfine silver glitter

Sizzix dimensional cutting pad

Tim Holtz Ideaology: paper stash metallic kraft

Tim Holtz / Sizzix alterations dies:

alphanumeric (3/4"), cityscape skyline, mixed media, billboard

Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous: speckles stencil 

Versamark embossing ink