The Open House card---A big success!

I already showed you the little milk carton projects we put together at my Open House last Saturday.  Well, now I'm going to show you the card.  Yes, I admit I do get a bit fancy with my projects, but people seem to enjoy being challenged and love the results.

This card  is a take-off on the previous card I posted with the three Secret Garden flowers.  I kept the concept but changed it out somewhat.

Okay, the elements of the card that are the same are the base cardstock of Midnight Muse, the second layer of cardstock which is Summer Starfruit (but in this card I did not use the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder), the Whisper White cardstock layer that I've embossed using the Honeycomb embossing folder, the splatter left by the Colour Spritzer tool, the stamped cannery jar die-cut out of Window Sheet material and the Secret Garden flower cut out with the matching framelit.  Yes, a lot in this card matches what I did in the other card.

There are major differences as well.  For example, look at that sweet little Pinwheel.  The size is the perfect balance for the flower and, besides that, it's just absolutely cute!  I have to tell you that the new Pinwheel Sizzlits S die makes pinwheels a breeze.  It even punches the holes for the brad.  After the first fiddly try, putting the brad in becomes really easy.  I discovered that gathering the holes with the tip of the brad and then pushing the whole shebang through the centre hole is the way to go.  And the results are stunning!  This one was cut from the newest In-Colour Designer Series paper.

Yes, you do see Designer Paper in two of those honeycomb patterns.  Since Stampin' Up! hasn't included a honeycomb punch or framelits in this catalogue, I had to get creative.  That Honeycomb embossing folder is rough on paper--it's all those sharp angles.  Normal cardstock can hold up to it but Designer Paper is much lighter weight and if you emboss it and hold the paper up to the light, you'll see the light filtering through a lot of spots.  So I took advantage of that and put a shim under the plates when I put the Designer Paper through my Big Shot (the Cuttlebug works, too, if you still haven't purchased a Big Shot) and  voila!  The paper was really just hanging together.  It was nothing to take my little scissors and cut two of those hexagonal shapes from it and adhere them to my cardstock.

The sentiment is one of the cute little That's the Ticket stamps.  I was so happy that this stamp set was included in the catalogue and I could finally have more stamps that co-ordinate with my Ticket Builder punch.  And finally, the adorable little butterfly was cut with the brand new Bitty Butterfly punch.  It's such a relief not to have to cut the small butterfly from Papillon Potpourri stamp set out by hand any longer.

I have to post a warning about the Whisper White cardstock that I used for my honeycomb layer.  Even though the Whisper White is technically the same weight as the rest of the cardstock, it has been compressed so tightly to give us that wonderful polished surface we love to stamp on, it is more fragile than the rest of the cardstock.  What I suggest is that you do your shading around the white cardstock before going on to put it through the Honeycomb embossing folder.  That way you won't accidentally tear it along one of the angled lines.

Anyway, that should help if you want to try your hand at this card.  Everyone had a wonderful time making this card.  I love it---don't you?