I sympathize with her perfectionism. It's a problem that I've noticed on cards I've received, and no doubt recipients of my layered cards have noticed the same.
It took me a while to take the plunge and add this step to my card making, though. Yet here I am, once again taking the advice of a better stamper than myself and feeling really grateful for it!
The snow bank on this card was stamped using an old, discontinued, and treasured Hero Arts shadow stamp. The rest of the stamps are by Clearly Besotted, which is easily in my top-three favorite stamp companies, mainly for its commitment to clean-and-simple designs.
The top layer is backed with a layer of craft foam (a.k.a. fun foam). Jennifer attaches hers with a tape runner, but my tape runner isn't nearly strong enough to hold this. (No, I don't have one of those giant super-duper tape runners all the cool stampers have...and I'm okay with that.) I used my standard Scotch Quick-Dry liquid adhesive, which worked pretty well.
The dimensions of the craft foam are 1/8" smaller than the top layer, so there's just a 1/16" overhang all the way around. Hopefully, this holds up better, although I suspect since the card stock is pretty heavy, too, .I'll need to pay extra postage for thickness on anything with rhinestones or pearls on it.
No worries. If the card gets to its recipient intact, that's what's important. Besides, the solid feel of this card conveys a sense of quality construction lacking in my cards using just dimensionals. It feels worthy of a little extra postage!
Besides, most of my cards are one layer anyway.
Thanks, Leslie, for the link, and thanks, Jennifer, for the awesome tip!
Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted, Hero Arts
ink: Fresh Ink, VersaMagic, Memento Luxe
paper: Papertrey Ink
accessories: craft foam, glue
Once you run out of fun foam, consider just using a couple layers of your scraps. Because I make 4.25x4.25 square cards, I have a lot of white scraps which I use to pop up my panels. I was too lazy to go find fun foam! lol!
ReplyDeletePS - love the graphic 'ground' and pop of green on this, which is originally why I was here to comment!
ReplyDeleteGreat card, and what a good idea! Hmmm...I like Ardyth's idea, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these tips, using scraps is a great idea too, Cathy x
ReplyDeleteI just used fun foam as the middle layers to create a shaker card. Fabulous! As for 3D gems...I find that if I fold the card with the outside to the inside and add a layer of paper that's been run through a crimper I rarely have to add additional postage, unless of course the whole thing is just too thick. I do add a note saying that I've folded the card inside out to protect the card while enroute. Just some thoughts to share...I read your blog faithfully and am always amazed at what can be done with simplicity...I tend to overwork most ideas and don't do 'white' often.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you tried it. I still use my foam tape, mostly because I have miles of it, but I do occasionally use the Fun Foam. I got a pack of 12 8.5x11 sheets, so I'm set for a while.
ReplyDeleteOh, you posted a card. ;/ I, too, like the way you've grounded the pop-of-green tree. :D
Fabulous card - love it! Interesting tip with the fun foam!
ReplyDeleteVery nice card, great snow bank. I have also been using the fun foam, bought a pack at the reject shop, all mixed colours so will have to think on those darker colours but I have been very happy with the result on my cards. I also use glue, its easier.
ReplyDeleteI have started using fun foam too but today just added some thick cardstock to lift the feature panel up a little. Your colours are lovely on today's card.
ReplyDelete