When designing cards I often don’t have a plan other than “use this sentiment”, or “I like this paper”. But recently I’ve come to realise that many of my favourite cards consist of three basic layers. I’ve always known that odd numbers, and three in particular, are pleasing to the eye, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to create another variation on that theme.
POINSETTIA PLACE
This project began a few days ago when I decided to cut a piece of the white poinsettia and pine pattern from the Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper (DSP). I love the soft colours but wanted to add my own twist on the design.
So, after cutting a 3″ x 4-1/4″ piece, I added a drop of Shimmery Crystal Effects to every one of the little yellow berries. Then I set the piece aside for 24 hours to dry thoroughly.
In the meantime I cut a few extra pieces of paper for the other layers on my card.
First I cut a 2-1/4″ x 6″ piece of the white poinsettia paper and used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach it to the flap on a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. Then I trimmed the paper with Paper Snips using the edge of the flap as a guide.
Next I cut a 3/4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of the same paper and glued it down the edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card.
For my card base I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Thick Very Vanilla Card. After folding it along the scored line I sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. Then I glued the Very Vanilla layer on the inside with the DSP on the right.
THREE LAYERS
Now I was ready to start putting together the three layers for the front of my card.
Going back to the Poinsettia Place DSP I chose a plainer green pine pattern for the background. I cut this piece 1-7/8″ x 5-1/8″.
For my sentiment I couldn’t resist pulling out the Wrapped in Christmas Stamp Set. It’s one of my favourites from the Stampin’ Up! August to December 2020 Mini Catalogue. For my ink colour I chose the darkest colour from the white poinsettia paper, Soft Suede. Then I stamped the sentiment onto a 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ piece of Very Vanilla Card.
Coordinating with the ink I decided on Soft Suede Card as the backing for my three layers. Each one was cut 1/8″ larger than the piece I was mounting onto it.
Once the three pieces were ready I used liquid glue to fix the green pine layer directly onto the front of my card. That was followed by the white poinsettia panel using Stampin’ Dimensionals. Finally using more Stampin’ Dimensionals I added the sentiment onto the poinsettia panel.
At this point I remembered the inside of my card, and decided I needed to add something extra. So I cut a 1/8″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Soft Suede Card and glued that along the edge of the DSP strip. Now my project really was complete.
I love how this card turned out, it’s simple but the three layers and the pretty paper really stand out. What do you think?
For other examples of my three layer card designs see these previous blog posts:
Of course you can always step up the three layer design with some extra embellishments, like on these blog posts:
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