It’s my wedding anniversary this month, and after the success of a Valentine’s card and a birthday card for my darling husband, I decided it was time to make him another card. The May My Greeting Box contained three fun turtle-themed designs. It suggested they could be used for Father’s Day, but as I am a DDC* member I don’t do Father’s Day. However my husband totally rocks, so I thought the ‘You Turtely Rock’ card would be perfect for him!
Here are the various bits needed. This card uses a new technique, stenciling.
The first thing to do was to create the background. A piece of card was cut out and taped to the stencil. Then I used the ink dabber – a little tube with a soft top – to apply the blue ink to the paper.
After dabbing the blue ink, I did the exact same thing with the black ink. At first I was a little concerned because the ink colour wasn’t perfectly even, and for some reason I thought it should be. But once the stencil was removed I could see the effect properly. Looks nice, huh?
Now for more cutting and sticking. The stenciled paper was cut into strips and stuck on another piece of card, on a diagonal. The instructions said to use more strips of blue than black. Then the edges were all trimmed down.
Yay, stamping and colouring! I stamped the turtle twice, because I’ve learned it’s always useful to have a backup. It also meant I could experiment with colours. I used my trusty fineliners and highlighters and more or less followed the colours on the instructions card. Of course, because I was careful, I didn’t actually need my spare turtle stamp!
Time to assemble the card. The trimmed-down wave card was stuck on, and outlined with narrower strips of blue card. The strips were stuck on with foam tape, which gives a slightly raised effect. It’s also crazy sticky stuff! My little turtle was cut out, and the sentiment was stamped and cut out.
Here I went just a tiny bit off-piste. Because the sentiment was white against white, I tried a little trick I read about somewhere – gently pressing the edge of the card onto the back inkpad. It gives just the tiniest bit of definition to the piece of card without actually giving it a border.
After sticking the turtle and sentiment and turtle on (with foam tape again) I added the final touch – glossy accents. I had to look this stuff up, as I had no idea what it was! Apparently it’s rather like thick glue that dries raised and very shiny, so it gives a glossy slightly 3D look. Can you tell from this picture?
And it’s finished!
As always, this was great fun to make. It was also relatively simple, and for once I managed not to make any mistakes!
I enjoyed trying out the stencil, and after my initial uncertainty I was very impressed with the effect. I hope there will be more stencils in future boxes.
Crafting subscription boxes are very popular now, and making your own cards is a lovely thing to do. My Greeting Box gives you everything you need! A handmade card is a gift in itself, and much more meaningful than something bought. I love the process of making these cards, and I’m always amazed at how well they turn out! The themes are well thought out, and you can accumulate a stash of cards for almost any occasion.
This was a really terrific fun card for my husband, and I’m glad to report he loved it!
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Want to read some more? You can find all the My Greeting Box posts here!
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*Dead Dads Club. If you don’t know what that is then hopefully you’re not a member.
