Freestanding 3-D Card – Winner

Woot!  Woot!  This one’s a winner.  My card was chosen to be in the Designer Spotlight on Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  Here’s what was written: 

#182 Coffin Cards & Creations – Anna-Karin says: Tricia Ann’s 3-D stand-up card is amazing, it is like looking into a real aquarium. The colourful fish swimming around are wonderful and I like the frame and sea grass too.

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Hello Again,

This past spring our nephew, William, had to be in Atlanta for a Saturday morning business venture.  He invited my husband and me to join him at the Omni Hotel on Friday night.  We live about an hour from there, so we packed an overnight bag and jumped in the car to meet him at the Omni.  It was late when we all got there.  The next morning, William went to take care of his business and I slept in, since I have insomnia.  I don’t know what Jan did.  At 10:30, Jan woke me up.  I had just enough time to get ready for the day.  We met William downstairs and walked to Waffle House at noon.  William ordered a steak for breakfast with his eggs and so on, so I did, too.  I haven’t had steak for breakfast in years.  Jan got sausage and eggs, etc.  That was fun.  I enjoyed drinking their good coffee in their thick, white cups.  I know….I don’t get out much these days. 

From there we walked to the Georgia Aquarium.  There was a long line of people.  We went through the line and got our tickets.  We found out that the next opening of the doors wasn’t for another hour or so, so we went across the field to the World of Coca-Cola.  The ticket line there was not as long.  It wound around in loops.  When we were more than half-way through, an alarm went off for some reason.  We don’t know why.  My nephew called out, “Alright, who’s got the Pepsi?!  Up against the wall!”  It was so funny!  This gave everyone a laugh. 

We enjoyed going through the Coca-Cola Museum and wished we had more time.  After our allotted time passed, we hightailed it back to the GA Aquarium.  There we spent hours enjoying the wonders of creations God had placed in the oceans.   It was such a fun day of being together, getting to know our nephew better and having a mini vacation on the weekend.  We’ve always liked to be with William.  His personality came out that day, talking and laughing with us and strangers.   

That night we all headed back to our house.  But first we just HAD to stop at a seafood restaurant and partake of the food the Lord provided us from the sea.  We had yakked all day, and we continued to yak through the delicious meal.  When we left the restaurant, I got in the car with William, my brother’s son, and rode the rest of the way home.  I’m glad we had this one-on-one time together.  He is the first born grandchild in my family, cherished by all.  I was a senior in high school.  When they made the 5 hour trip to visit us every month, William became my baby.  His mom would hand him to me at the door and say, “Here.”  So he was my joy from the start.

The next week, I made this stand-up 3-D card for William as a thank you for the nice weekend we had together, and as a reminder of the good time we had together at the GA Aquarium. 

Fortunately I had just won a Prima Flowers 6 x 6 Paintables Watercolor Paper Pack FRENCH RIVIERA in my Flickr LOVE! Group.  It Includes (12) 6 x 6 inch sheets of watercolor paper featuring coordinating prints in white resist finish and black ink print. Use them with watercolor pencils, pastels and other mediums.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads pressed on a Ranger Craft Sheet to watercolor a sheet of the cardstock with a white resist finish.  I wet my 1″ round brush in a cup of water and applied the ink to the images on the cardstock.  A  6″ round brush was used to color the water around the images.  I had a rag to mop up any unwanted water.

I then took a page of black ink printed sea creatures out of the pad and colored them with the Distress inks thinned with water.  After they were dry, I cut them out with EK Success Cutter Bee Scissors.

To brighten up the sea creatures on the background and make them pop, I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Mowed Lawn and Rusty Hinge to trace on the lines of the images.  A Memento Tuxedo Black Marker was used to go around and darken the edges of the cut out images.  A Sakura Black Glaze Pen was used to accentuate the eyes on the creatures. 

To make the card base, I used a Creative Memories 12″ Straight Trimmer to cut a 7” x 6″ piece of white cardstock.  I then used a Martha Stewart Score Board to score a line 1″ from the edge of the paper.  I pressed this down the scoreline with a bone folder to sharpen the crease.  I now had a 6″ x  6″ piece of cardstock with 1″ folded down.  I then cut a piece of white cardstock to 9″ x 6″.  I used the score board to score a line 3″ from the edge of the paper.  I pressed this down the scoreline with a bone folder to sharpen the crease.  I now had a 6″ x  6″ piece of cardstock with 3″ folded down.  I’m sorry, I don’t have a picture of this and I should.

It was time to glue the standup card base together.  Taking the 6″ x  6″ piece of cardstock with 1″ folded down, I ran Liquitex Matte Gel Medium along the 1″ strip.  This was glued to the 9″ x 6″ cardstock at the end of the 6″ x  6″ side of the card stock, pressed down and held together.  A large acrylic block was laid on top of this until the glue dried.

I now had a front 6″ x  6″ piece of card stock glued to the back 6″ x  6″ piece of card stock.  It now looked like an easel with the 3″ piece of cardstock folded under it at the bottom. 

I make a stopper in front of the card so it wouldn’t fall forward and collapse, I cut a piece of 6″ x 1″ cardstock  and adhered it to the front edge of the 3″ bottom section with Scotch Foam Adhesive. 

To the front 6″ x 6″ panel, I used Scrapbook Adhesives E-Z Runner Tape to adhere the colored background to the card base.  Foam Dots were used to adhere the sea creatures to the colored background.

I then cut a 6″ x 6″ piece of Hot Off the Press Heat-Resistant Acetate.  I was careful to keep my fingerprints and adhesive smears off this.  I put 1/2″  Scotch Foam Adhesive on the edges of the 6″ square.  I doubled the tape so it would be higher than the foam dotted sea creatures. I laid the 6″ x 6″ acrylic piece on top of the tape and press down on the edges.

To cover the edges, I used a finger dauber to color four 1/2″ strips of white cardstock with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tattered Rose. 

  A thin line of Liquitex Matte Gel Medium was run around the four sides of the card, being sure not to get any smudges on the acrylic.  The strips were adhered to the four edges of acrylic, trimming them to fit at the corners.  Acrylic blocks were laid on the strips until they dried.

Having not thought it through, I had to color another strip of cardstock.  This time the cardstock was cut to 6″ x 1″  and again, covered with Tattered Rose with the finger dauber.  I adhered the strip to the Scotch Foam Tape that was already on the card front.  I placed a couple of acrylic blocks on the strip until it dried.  

Laying the card flat, I glued small black triangles I had in my stash from another project to the corners using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium I had in my Multi Medium Matte bottle with the Quilled Creations PRECISION TIP.  I built the triangles up on the corners until they matched each corner and covered the areas where the strips came together.

 I then remembered that I had wanted to use sea weed from my Hero Arts Color Layering Goldfish Stamps and Die Set.  So I stamped the sea weed with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Antique Linen and die cut them.  These were adhered to the sides of the acrylic window with the bottom portions slid under the black corners.

I got out my Cricket Create  and cut out the letters GA Aquarium from a package of  65# Recollections Multicolored Blue, selecting the best color in the pack to match the ocean water. Again the Liquitex Matte Gel Medium was used to glue down the letters and acrylic blocks were placed over the letters until they dried.

The card was now complete on the outside, so I could photograph it.  On the inside of the card, I wrote our thanks for an adventurous weekend.  I adhered a picture of us together in Atlanta and I also added a Coca-Cola emblem. 

Here’s my husband Jan, me, and our nephew William at  Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park.  It was a chilly, windy day.

If you like my post, please click on LIKE at the bottom of this page.  I would love to receive a comment from you.  Have you been to Atlanta?  Have you visited an aquarium?  How about The World of Coca-Cola?  Waffle House?  Ha!  Just kidding! 

Wishing you an adventurous, fun weekend soon,

Tricia Ann, Jan and William

 

CHALLENGES ENTERED

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Nautical/ By the Sea  http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/

Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday for June  http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/blog/category/events/work-it-wednesday/

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes
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Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge Weeks #240-#241
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