I also am working on a tutorial on how to create dimension on a card without using adhesive foam strips (which I seem to use in almost every card I make!). I decided to do both with this card!
I started by creating the houses (in red, orange and yellow) by using the Stampin' Up "Holiday Home" set to stamp on SU Real Red and Tangerine Tango cardstock. I then die cut each house using it's matching die from the SU "Homemade Holidays" framelits die set.
I then stamped the same houses again on SU So Saffron cardstock to allow me to hand cut out the windows (as if they are glowing with candlelight) with paper snips. I then used Tombow glue to overlay the house windows with the yellow ones in both houses. I did the same thing with the doors and one chimney using opposite colors from the house itself.
To create the dimension/depth for the houses, I die-cut each of the houses from chipboard multiple times, and glued them together to create a "stack" of chipboard houses. I used a stack of three for the orange house, and only one for the taller red house. I used different thicknesses to create a sense of distance/depth between the houses to match the sentiment I planned on using.
Next, because I wanted to double mat my main panel, I cut it from SU Whisper White sized 3-3/4"x 5". I then stamped the birch trees from the SU "White Christmas" set so they extended beyond the left and right edges of the panel. This gave me room to place the houses, and also allowed me another opportunity to create "distance" between the houses by off-setting the bases so one appeared farther away than the other.
The "front" house is the orange one which has a stack of three chipboard layers behind it. The "back" house has only one layer of chipboard and is positioned a bit higher on the panel as if it is farther away. Both were glued to the white panel using Tombow glue.
The final step was to create the holiday sentiment. I felt that just stamping it with red or black was too "blah". So I experimented on a piece of scrap cardstock with using all three colors from the challenge, and offsetting them up and to the left, while going from darkest to lightest color. This added interest, and again graphically supported the sentiment theme of from/to, or distance. Since the "Holiday Home" stamp is photopolymer, you can see where you are stamping, so it made it pretty easy to first stamp red, then offset a bit and stamp orange, then offset a bit more and stamp yellow.
Except for the "fussy cutting" of the windows and doors, this card is pretty straightforward to make. So I am giving it a difficulty rating of "2" out of "5".
Don't forget when you add dimension with chipboard, it means you will have to pay extra postage, and I'd recommend padding the card before mailing so that when your card runs through automated mailing machines it isn't crushed so your card arrives with depressions where it is thicker. It probably would be best if you marked the envelope "Hand Cancel" if you decide to use more than a single layer of chipboard.
Date: Saturday, June 9, 2018 GMT Views: 1471
Favorited:5
Registered: June 4, 2009 Location: Deatsville, Alabama Posts: 82958
Sat, Jun 09, 2018 @ 6:03 PM
This is so great! Love the fun houses and the super fun way you did the sentiment!
------------------------------ Nancy Williams - Hope your day is Spirit-filled and ink-filled (in that order)!DRS Designs-DT, Punchkateerforever, Dirty Dozen Alumni