Sunshine and Rainbows

Today's card is a tri-fold shaker card designed in Cricut Design Space and features the Concord & 9th Brighter Days Stamp and Die Set.

The first step in making this card was to design the tri-fold card in Cricut Design Space.  For the yellow card base, I used a 9" x 4.4" rectangle and placed a score line at 3.5 inches.  For the blue circular piece, I used a 5.5" x 4" rectangle and welded a 4" circle to the rectangle.  I added a score line where the rectangle and circle meet.  I curved the words "Sunshine" and Rainbows" around a 3.2" white circle and welded the text to the outer edge of this circle.  To create the red ring around the shaker elements, I used a 3.2 inch circle and sliced a 2.7 inch circle out of the center of the larger circle.  The white rectangles used for the front and inside panels measured 3.2" x 4" and 5" x 3.8" respectively.

I stamped the inside white panel with the "Sending Sunshine and Rainbows" sentiment so that it would be concealed by the circle when the card was folded.  I added Amy Tangerine rainbow washi tape to the top and bottom of this panel and added a few of the hearts from the Brighter Days die set around the sentiment.

For the shaker element, I used four different colors of Distress Oxide inks to stamp the rainbow arches on the white circle containing the welded text.  For one of the cards, I accidentally placed the stamps backward on my stamp platform which made the arches of the rainbow wider with no white space separating them.  I liked the way it looked, so I decided not to restamp the rainbow. 

I tried two different methods for the placement of the clouds and the sun.  On one card, I stamped the sun next to the rainbow.  I stamped and die cut two clouds and glued them to the base of the rainbow.  On the second card, I die cut the sun from yellow cardstock and stamped and die cut two clouds.  I ended up adhering the sun and the two clouds to the outside of the card directly onto the acetate.  

I used a couple of different sequin mixtures for the shaker bits. One card contained turquoise and iridescent sequence with some of the hearts cut from the die set.  The other card contained iridescent and dark blue sequence mixed in with some iridescent stars and small silver gems.  I glued a circular piece of acetate to the red circular frame and used a double layer of Darice adhesive foam strips to seal in the shaker pieces.  I folded over the blue circle along the score line and adhered the shaker element to the blue circle.  I lined up the blue card base with the yellow card base and glued them together.  Finally, I folded the yellow card base along its score line.

All that remained was to find a coordinating piece of paper to add to the card front.  Since I could not find one in my stash, I decided to create my own.  I used the same colors of Distressed Oxide ink that were used to stamp the rainbow and repeatedly stamped the "Brighter Days Are Ahead" sentiment from the stamp set.  For the second card, I used the Heidi Swapp Mixed Media Arrow Stencil and some blending brushes to brush the Distressed Oxide inks through the stencil in the same order as the stamped rainbow.

I can't decide which one I like better.  Leave a comment below to tell me which one you prefer.

Sunshine and Rainbows

Supplies:

• Concord & 9th Brighter Days Stamp and Die Set
• Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink - Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet, and Fossilized Amber
• Heidi Swapp Mixed Media Arrow Stencil
• Ink Blending Brushes
• Amy Tangerine Slice of Life Washi Tape - Rainbows
• Sequins
• Tuesday Morning Sequins Tins - Starry Sky and Sailors
• Hobby Lobby - Treehouse Studio Lt. Blue Round Cup 5mm
• Hobby Lobby - Silver Christmas Craft Gems
• Acetate
• Darice Adhesive Foam Strips
• VersaFine Onyx Black Ink
• Cricut - Family Album Font
• Cardstock - blue, red, yellow, and white