This week I was playing with some Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg paper (6" x 6" Mini Deck) and my favorite little Kim Hughes Autumn Tree when I remembered making shadowbox cards a few years ago. Since stamping often seems cyclical, I thought that it might be time to re-share this oldie but goodie, the shadowbox card.
First I chose my papers from the Nutmeg Mini Deck. I already knew that I wanted to use the Autumn Trees stamp set, and I really liked the leaf prints as well as the sky paper to coordinate. For a card base, I used two squares of natural white (light ivory) cardstock cut to 5-1/2" square.
Pictured here are really two steps. First, I tool a Long Rectangle Nestability and cut a window into my card front with its attached brown leaf mat layer. I seemed to need some kind of accent, so I cut a second rectangle from an aqua cardstock, trimming a bit past the outside edges to form my frame. This gave me a more finished look on the front.
For the area inside the window, I created a little background by piecing the sky along with some rolling hills, all sanded so that they would stand out better. I left the sewing off, though I was tempted to put it!
I colored the little tree in the Copic markers shown above (E356, E37, BG72. YR15, and E07). The most time consuming part of this card was trimming carefully around the tree, but it was necessary and worth it.
My card back and front are scored at 1/2" and 1" in on both sides, the top so that it bows up, and the bottom so that it bows down.
I attached the back to the front with three eyelets on either side, wanting to make sure that it didn't pop open accidentally. Obviously, you would have to sign this kind of card on the back rather than on the inside (since it doesn't open), but it's a nice type of card to display.
If you make a shadowbox card, I would love to see a link! Thank you for visiting the CLASSroom today.
