May Your Home Be Filled with Love - Guest Designer Holly Craft

We'd like to welcome back Guest Designer for June: Holly Craft

 

 

 

For my second designer guest post for this month, I chose to use the new Home-Congratulations Stamp Set (SKU-5924) along with some Spellbinders die (Nestabilities Labels 22). I will often create a set of "new home" notes for a friend that has purchased a new home, first taking a photograph, painting a watercolor painting, scanning the image and making A2 sized cards. For this gift, I also make a "Congratulations on your new home" card to accompany the gift. This stamp set is perfect for the lever card I have chosen to make.
 

 

 

A friend recently posted a tutorial for a lever card on the newsletter of a popular stamping website (Split Coast Stampers - click here to go to the tutorial). I took her instructions and made them my own by enlarging the size of the card to 5 by 7 inches and using die to cut the openings in the front of the card. I combined the Quietfire images with Spellbinders die and M-Bossibilities to create this "Congratulations" card.

 

 

The mechanics of the card are easier than they look. The card consists of two pieces of cardstock along with the verse stamped and cut on a smaller diecut. I also used the most versatile house image as an embellishment.

I cut the outside portion of the 5 by 7 card, diecut an opening with the larger of the three Labels 22 die that I used and then embossed with the 3D Basket Weave (SKU 7586-E3D-004) on the front portion of the card. I think of baskets as a texture you would find in a home so I thought that was appropriate. The inside card is the same size, but scored in quarters rather than just in half. The scores are made into valley, mountain, valley.

 

The opening cut in the front with the second largest Labels 22 die is cut so that only half of it cuts, thus creating the lever. There are two ways to accomplish cutting a portion of a die, that I can think of doing.

• First, position the die in the desired position and then hang the portion off the base plate that you do not want to be cut. Only the portion that is between the cutting mats will cut. Tape it in place before running it through your diecutting machine.
• The other way to do it is to place the tan polymer mat up to the score line that you are cutting to. Slowly feed the portion into the diecutting machine that you want cut until you feel the resistance caused by the tan polymer mat. That portion will be too thick and you will be able to feel that and back out the plates.

Either way works great so it is a matter of preference. Once I have the front and inside diecut, I stamped my greetings inside and secured the very front and very back portions of the card pieces to each other. You can see in the photo that the middle portion separates in the folding process.

 

 

 

I embellished the front with the verse on the smallest of the Labels 2 die I used and a band stamped with the house image. This lever card design works so well with the beautiful sayings from Quietfire and Spellbinders die. Choose a die that the desired saying fits on and get started!

 

 

I also used the house image on the inside of the "new home" note, leaving a space in my computer generated message to add this touch of gold. As well, I used it on the back of the envelope above the gold stripe on the envelope.

This use of a stamped images allows me to add that touch of sparkle that the metallic gold adds which would not be possible with just the computer generated text.

 

 

As often is the case, Quietfire stamp sets include a stamp that is so versatile that it has many uses. On this shell card for a beach wedding, I simply stamped "Congratulations" inside the card in that elegant Quietfire look. I thought the outside (created with Spellbinders 3D Shell Beauty M-Bossibilites) complexity needed simplicity inside and that beautiful Congratulations image provides that.

These are all projects and cards from my real life that show I use Quietfire and Spellbinders products together so very often. You might not do watercolor paintings, but I am sure you can use this stamp set! I was so excited to see this set as there are few home stamps available. Hope you have enjoyed my postings!