Hello stampers and happy Saturday to you. I was having too much fun yesterday to write a blog post but today I am going to share a Beauty of the Earth Shadowbox card. This shadowbox card is easy to make and impressive to receive. I had my original one sitting on the shelf for years!
Beauty of the Earth Shadowbox Card
What I like about this card is that it is just one long piece of cardstock folded and scored with an opening cut with a large die. To see all the measurements and directions, you can read this blog post.
One thing about being in Holland is that I am working with limited supplies and that can be a creative challenge. I find it useful because it helps me relate to newer stampers or those on a budget who have limited supplies as well. My shadow box card requires 12 x 12 cardstock and I had only two colours to choose from: Garden Green and Early Espresso. I ended up using Early Espresso because I felt it brought out the colours of the Beauty of the Earth paper better. Let’s take a look.
All The Bits and Pieces
All the bits and pieces from the tree on the front of my shadowbox card are die cut from the gorgeous designer series paper Beauty of the Earth. The layers really do look quite spectacular together. If you look closely you can see that the stamp set in there is from the March Paper Pumpkin. I still have of few of those for sale in case you missed out.
The Beautiful Inside
What I like best about this card is the surprise that happens when you open it. From the outside it looks just like an ordinary card. It looks so nice standing on a shelf or a window sill. Mine is quite simple but you could add more embellishments and layers if you wanted to.
A Little History Lesson from Holland
Yesterday I went to Rotterdam with my cousin Kees. Coincidentally it was the 81st anniversary of the bombing of Rotterdam by the Nazis. Over 1500 people were killed in one day and many, many more people injured. Not many buildings were left standing in downtown Rotterdam. Nazi Germany did this to bring the Netherlands to their knees so to speak and make them surrender. Hitler threatened to bomb Amsterdam and the Hague the following day if they didn’t surrender.
We had lunch in the Old Harbour with a view of one the buildings that was left unharmed by the bombs. It is called de WItte Huis which means the white house. It is a grand old apartment building that claims to be the first one with an elevator. I am including this photo from my phone. If I find better photos on my “real” camera, I will add them for sure.
Thanks!
Thanks for joining me today! Just a reminder of a few great things.
Hello stampers. Have you ever forgotten something? Well I have had this card sitting in the wings for almost a year!! I made it, meant to blog about it and do a class on it and then it never happened. Until today! This is a shadowbox card, or at least, that is what I am calling it. I love that from the outside it looks like an ordinary card, but when you open it you get a surprise. I have made a small photo tutorial and a video to show you how it is done. Then it’s your turn! Be sure to get those framelits if you don’t already have them since they are retiring. This is a total coincidence mind you, I had no intent on luring you to buy more stuff. Honestly!! Here is the card, I cased it from the very talented Lynn Starzl. Here is her card.
You can see the inner mechanism of the shadowbox card at the top. The card is made using dapper denim which I did know is retiring, so if you love this colour, make sure you enough cardstock and reinker to last you a while! The Color Theory Paper (and yes, I hate spelling it the American way) is also retiring. Here is a peek at the inside of the card:
You can see from the picture exactly why it is called a “shadowbox” card!! Here is a handy little shot of the dimensions used to make this card. You can get two cards out of one 12×12 sheet of cardstock.
After running the card base through the Big Shot with the label framelit you are going to put a piece of tear and tape on the little half inch flap. Before doing that make sure you use your bone folder to crisply score all your fold lines.
Now make sure that you do NOT adhere your card yet. Trust me, I have gotten ahead of myself before. The next thing you need to do is stamp your scene. This is also tricky. You have to make sure that your scene can be seen through the “window”. That means your sentiment needs to be in the middle and the birds have to be stamped very close to your words. Do you notice my accidental rhyming here in the last two sentences? Sorry, you don’t really care about that. Back to the card. Here is how I made sure that the images were in the right place. I did use my Stamparatus, it will be available in the new catalog on June 1.
So after I took this picture, I put the Stamparatus plate down and pressed it onto the stamp which is now positioned correctly and then I could move the card so I could stamp on the patterned paper without any overlap. Make sense?
One of the nice things about the Stamparatus is that it allows you to stamp the same image repeatedly and accurately to get a nice dark image. This great tool will be available in the new catalog on June 1. It is a must have in any stampers toolbox. After you have finished stamping this panel you can adhere it. The next step is to adhere the flap (see the video on how to do that most effectively). After that you can put on the white panel and lastly the front.
I had shared this card on my Facebook page yesterday and a follower shared a card that she had made after watching my video. I love her card so much. She added the lighthouse to the inside panel. Way to go Sharon Dalton. Sharon is from Australia and here is the link to her blog. Here is her card:
Finally, a reminder to get those items that are on the retiring list before they disappear. Today I used the following retiring products: dapper denim cardstock and ink, Color Theory designer series paper stack as well as Lots of Labels framelits. Here is the video showing you how to make this card. Happy stamping and have a super day!
