Secret Meadow

The idea for this card popped into my head this morning on the train to work. I’d been thinking about The Paper Players‘ sketch, and Cupcake Inspiration‘s “sweet inside” (Edit – where it was a sweet pick). When I had the idea I realised I could tie in Butterfly Spot‘s challenge (Edit – where it was a top 3) to use kraft and a kaleidoscope of colour. And as I came to write this I realised I could also include Sweet Stampin’s no designer paper challenge.

So my idea started with realising I could turn the layout into a fancy/unusual fold card. And with the sweet inside challenge I knew I wanted to have the main decoration of the card be on the inside. The idea in my mind involved lots of flowers, and I figured I’d have a look for some suitable stamps whilst I went to buy my kraft card (because I didn’t have any of a suitable weight). I found some suitable stamps – they are from Heyda and I think they are just called “Stamp Set Flowers” – and as an added bonus I won on a scratchcard immediately after, and my winnings covered the cost of the stamps and card, plus a bit extra!

Anyway, I started by cutting down the card stock for my card base. I measured the size of the back/inner panel and added 1 cm on each side so that I could score folds to attach the front panels on to. I then cut down my outer panels, making sure they would overlap slightly. I decided I wouldn’t attach them until after all the decorating was done, in case something went wrong.

I started by picking out various green pigment inks and stamping the different greenery images from the stamp set. I tried to slightly vary the placement each time, so that they were different heights and had different spacings. I then began adding in flowers using a variety of colours for the kaleidoscope requirement. I mostly stayed with smaller flowers, but added a larger flower on each of the outer edges.

Next I decided I really should add some sort of decoration to the front. I masked off the edges and then used my Marabu Honeycomb stencil (I’ve really been enjoying my stencils since I bought them!) and seedless preserves distress ink which I applied with a sponge. I wasn’t too careful how I did it, but tried to go for it being darker towards the bottom and lighter towards the top. I realised afterwards I should have done the two panels together so that the background would have lined up better… Never mind!

I then stamped my butterfly, which is from My Mind’s Eye My Girl stamp set. I used two yellow for it, with a slightly darker shade towards the centre. I then fussy cut the butterfly. I was planning on leaving a border around it but messed up the cutting so did without.

Finally I just needed to assemble. I used Tombow Multi Mono Liquid glue to attach the panels to the flaps I had scored and folded. I also used the liquid glue to attach the butterfly. And that was that!

I’m really happy with how this turned out. It’s pretty much exactly how I imagined it! Of course that’s a lot to do with managing to find a near enough perfect stamp set to use for it. I really like the surprise of the little meadow hiding inside the card. I would be very happy to make something like this again.

Love,

Lady Joyful