Hello crafters! Today I'm showing you a background I created for the United We Flourish Better Together birds with masking and Copic airbrushing, behind a custom "stretched" frame I created with the Strands die!
(Click on any photo for a larger view)
Here's how this card came together . . .
The branch on my card was created by "stretching" the length of the 3" x 3" Strands die to 4.50"! Here's the die:
To do this, I die cut the Strands die towards the left center of a 5.50" x 4.25" panel of Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White cardstock. Then I slid the die over to the right side of the cardstock panel, flipped both over so I could adjust the die to where the die cut strands lined up as closely as possible to where the die would cut a second time:
Then I partially die cut just the right side of the cardstock showing above, by placing my top die cutting plate (shown above) a tad short of where the paper was already die cut, so you end up with this:
Then I chose one of the lower strands that (almost) connected the closest, and finished snipping the strand so it was continuous.
Then I just snipped away the rest of the unwanted strands, leaving my one long strand to serve as a branch for my birds:
Next, I used my Misti to line up the United We Flourish Better Together birds on an additional 5.50" x 4.25" Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White panel on which I had lightly traced my branch.
Once the birds were lined up, I replaced my die cut Strand "branch" frame on top of the blank panel and stamped the birds on top of both panels:
Now to add some color! I created a mask with wide Eclipse Tape and airbrushed Copic G21 to the lower part of the stamped panel:
I created an additional mask of the birds (here's where your Misti comes in handy -- just stamp the birds again onto your masking paper!), positioned the mask over the birds, and airbrushed the "sky" with Copic B21. I intentially airbrushed some areas a little darker, to create the look of clouds:
Once the masks were removed, here's what I had (pretty white birds to color!):
Then I had a ton of fun coloring the birds with these Copic markers:
Aren't they adorable?!! My homemade branch frame was colored, then the frame placed over the airbrushed and colored bird panel. I finished the card by coloring the two end bird's tails on the frame and added the sentiments.
I hope you'll try this die cutting technique, to stretch (literally!) your die uses!
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