Today’s card project is another one of my ‘experiments’. All I had in mind was using one the sentiments from the Brightest Wish Stamp Set with a fairly simple background. However instead of the usual rectangular layers I thought it would be fun to try something different. Of course I was mindful that it would need to be an idea I could easily explain. So I came up with this design which turned out to be a bit of an optical illusion. And I have two pieces left over for later.

TWO SIMPLE CUTS

I began by choosing the pale blue starry background from the O Holy Night 12″ x 12″ Designer Seres paper (DSP). Obviously triangles can be tricky with all that calculating and measuring and I wasn’t in the mood, so that’s when I had my bright idea. First I cut a piece of DSP the same size an an A2 card front; 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″. Then I placed it onto my Paper Trimmer and cut the piece diagonally from corner to corner. Now, while keeping the two pieces together, I turned the paper and cut along the other diagonal. This gave me four triangles; one at each side, along with one at the top and one at the bottom. It was these last two I wanted to use for this project, and I set the slim ones aside.

For my A2 card base I decided to go with a high contrast and chose Night of Navy Card. First I cut a 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ piece, then with the long side at the top I used the scoring blade to score the card at 4-1/4″. After folding it along the scored line I sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. Finally I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach my two triangle pieces to the top and bottom of the card front.

Before moving on I thought I should decorate the inside of the card base and the accompanying envelope. So I began by cutting a 1″ x 6″ piece of the DSP and glued it along the bottom edge on the front of a Basic White Medium Envelope. Then I trimmed off the excess with Paper Snips, using the side of the envelope as my guide.

Next I cut a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card along with a 3/4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of the DSP. Using liquid glue I fixed the DSP down the right-hand side of the white layer. With that done I glued the layer inside the card base.

BRIGHTEST GLOW

Now it was back to the card front, and the sentiment. From the Brightest Glow Stamp Set I chose “wishing you a season of hope & light”. Using Night of Navy ink I stamped this onto a scrap of Basic White Card. Then I cut it out using the smallest ‘rectangle’ die from the Something Fancy Dies set.

As I thought about a mat layer I could have taken the easy route and used one of the larger ‘rectangle’ dies. But then I saw the ‘oval’ ones in the set. I wonder….

So taking a chance, I picked out the smallest of the two ‘oval’ dies and a scrap of Distressed Gold 12″ x 12″ Specialty Paper. After cutting out the shape I started to play with the layout on the card front. Eventually I decided that I liked it best with the sentiment across the centre, leaving the gold ends above and below.

Having made that decision I fixed the gold die-cut piece to the card front with liquid glue. Then I attached the sentiment on top with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Finally I decorated the sentiment with three Rhinestone Basic Jewels and my project was complete.

It was only afterwards that I realised that by covering the centre of the card where the triangles meet I’d created a sort of optical illusion. As I look at it I feel that the contrast between the DSP and card base really draws the eye in. I’d love to know your reaction to this card, please leave a comment below and tell me what you think.

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