AECP Level 2 - Polychromatic

Hey there, crafty friends!

Thanks for coming back for another Paper Play post.  It’s been hot here in New England!  High temps and lots of humidity . . . good weather to stay in and craft to stay cool.  Doing so gave me time to focus on completing another course.  I just wrapped up AECP Level 2 course, Polychromatic.  As the definition of this word states, polychromatic is "of many colors", and the course focused on how to use multiple colors or multiple shades of colors in your card designs.  I'm not one who is afraid of color, so this class was right up my alley and I had a lot of fun making the card for it.

As I said, it's been hot here in New England, which makes it tough to think about winter holidays.  But I've been seeing so many "Christmas in July" card shares on Instagram and Facebook, and watching some Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, so it wasn't too tough to think about it.  The first thing that I thought of after the course lesson on white cards with pops of color was a Christmas card; lucky for me, I had the perfect Altenew stamps and dies to use.  What better way to show pops of color than with Christmas lights?  I also wanted to incorporate a non-traditional card design to jazz it up a bit.  I decided to go with a slide and lock card with left and right panels that open up and are held together with a sliding element.  Hmmm . . . Christmas lights on the card . . . why not go with a brightly colored ornament as the slider?!

I used the following items in making this card:

• Altenew All is Bright Stamp Set
• Altenew Lovely Ornaments Stamp & Die Set
• Altenew Crisp Dye Inks: Green Opal, Ruby Red, Marigold, Sunray, Grass Fields, Azurite, Ultraviolet, Jet Black
• Tim Holtz Distress Mica Spray - Cocktail Party
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Here's how I made the card:

• Cut a piece of 110lb white card stock to 10” x 7”.  I used 110 lb card stock for two reasons: 1). I wanted the card base to be very sturdy since I was making a slide & lock card; a lighter card stock may not have been sturdy enough; and 2). I wanted a heavier card stock since I’d be stamping the lights in bright colors and didn’t want to be able to see it on the inside panels of the card.  Here’s a TIP: if you only have a lighter card stock, for example 65 lb, and you can see the stamped colors on the inside panels, cut another piece of card stock to fit the inside of each panel and adhere it to your card.  This will cover up the ink, and will also add some strength to your panels.  Don’t be afraid to use patterned Christmas paper for those inside panels.  That would be a nice touch - make it your own!
• Placed the paper into my scoring tool and scored the 10” side at 2.5” and 7.5”.  This created a 5x7 sized card with two folding front panels.
• Used a bone folder to crease and flatten the two front panels.
• Placed the folded card base onto my stamping platform and taped it down with some Post-It tape.
• Positioned the Christmas light stamp onto card, inked it with green opal ink, and stamped the card.  Repeated one more time to ensure good ink coverage.

 

• Chose a light bulb stamp and stamped each light socket with a different color.  I chose to follow a traditional red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple color palette, but you can use whatever  colors you’d like!

• Once all of the lights were stamped, I took Ranger Glossy Accents and applied it over each light bulb.  This gave each light a glossy, glassy look.

• While the glossy accents dried, I made the locking mechanism by:
• Used the circle die from the Lovely Ornaments Die set and cut out two circles with my die cutting machine.
• Colored one circle on both sides with the Tim Holtz Cocktail Party Mica Spray, and dried it with my heat tool.
• Stamped the Happy Holidays sentiment from the Lovely Oranments stamp set in black ink and them traced over it with a gray glitter pen.
• Used a paint brush to brush some glossy accents over the front of the ornament to make it pop.
• Once dry, adhered three snowflakes to the ornament.
• Cut the ornament hanger using the die and colored it with a silver gel pen; adhered it to the ornament.

• Scored the uncolored ornament down the middle and attached it to the back of the colored ornament with a combination of micro glie dots and liquid craft glue.  Set it aside ro dry.  Tip:  use a second die cut or same sized piece of paper for the lock side.  It will ensure that the lock is large enough to close the two front panels.

• Stamped sentiment inside of the card and traced over the first part with red and green glitter pens.
• Once everything was dry, slid the ornament between the two front panels and the card was finished.

I really like this card.  Not only is it a great example of white with pops of color, it’s also fun & festive.  Merry Christmas in July!  Until next time . . . be well!