Hello Poppy Peeps!
Sphoorti again!
Did the title of this post throw you off? It's weird, when I made this card, I had no plan, but in the end I started thinking it looks very similar to the Monster Book of Monsters from Harry Potter. Here's how it looks in case you don't remember:
What do you think? Am I completely off? Well, anyway, let's get into how I ended up with this card.
Do you all remember my post from September where I color blended over a hot-foiled panel? During that hot-foiling frenzy, I didn't quite use the right settings for one of the runs using the PSF809 Leaf and Tendril Hot Foil Plate and ended up with a panel that didn't entirely foil properly. It was patchy. I couldn't get myself to throw it away, so I color blended over it to see if that would make it any better. It helped a little, but it still looked as if something was wrong with it. Check out these close ups of the strips. See what I mean?
So I tried out this super cool technique that my awesome friend Rachel (@colourandsparkle) showed off in her reels—it’s all about getting creative with card stock, but like, in a fun way, not just shredding it to pieces! It’s similar to what Laura Bassen calls the "Stripping it up" technique. Rachel is all about that eco-friendly life, always finding ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. She took Laura's technique one step further and strips up random bits of card stock, old gift wrap, and pretty much any cute paper she can find, and turns them into these amazing cards. Seriously, you should see what she can do with just scraps—it’s so gorgeous! Check them out here: https://www.instagram.com/colourandsparkle/?hl=en
I thought I'd give it a shot and shredded the panel into very thin strips. I took some clear packaging tape and adhered it to my table with the sticky side facing up so that I could lay out the strips in order. If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see the packaging tape on the table.
I wanted a random assortment of shapes and sizes and colors so I put them together willy-nilly. Then I cut out the bottom side of the strips. I ended up with tiny pieces that were left over, so I just kept continuing along the sides, decreasing in height as I went so it tapered off on both ends.
Originally, I thought I'd make a two fold card with the strips mounted up on foam tape, but somehow I decided to go with a tri-fold card using this panel as one of the three sides. I couldn't bring myself to throw away the leftover skinny strip that I cut out, so I adhered to the second panel on the inside like so:
Then I adhered the main strip panel to the first flap of the card (I trimmed it slightly so that the strips look like they're floating and don't have any of the front panel / flap showing behind them). Oh, I also adhered an extra layer of card stock behind the skinny floating strips to give them some extra sturdiness.
The unfinished card was sitting on my desk for weeks like this. I just did not know how to finish it up or what else to do. I felt like something was missing. Unexpectedly, I received the package of latest release products from Poppystamps store owner, Dave. One of the goodies included the 2580 Nordic Flourishes craft die, and it looked so pretty, I just started die cutting away. I didn't plan to use it on this card or anything. I just went on a die-cutting spree with all the Nordic beauties from the Poppystamps Winter 2023 Release.
I had a bowl-full of the flourishes sitting on my desk and one day I just absentmindedly placed some on the second panel (opposite side of the one I adhered the skinny inner strips to). It looked lovely, so I went with it! I adhered them in the areas where we could see the second panel.
I had die cuts of 2453 Freestyle Hugs die set and decided to use that as the sentiment.
Then came the toughest part of all, and that was the sentiment placement. After days of contemplating and second guessing myself I asked my friends, Claire and Tracy, which of the below orientations they like most.
They told me which one they liked most and that's the one I went with! The end result?
I never expected to end up with such a card, but I absolutely love it! It was totally worth the wait, I think! I'm so glad I didn't throw away the scraps! Special thanks to Rachel, Claire, and Tracy for their ideas and support! The only problem is - how will I ever be able to replicate the patchy reversed foiled look? I guess that's the problem with repurposing junk and making it beautiful - you may not have more of the same junk to replicate in the future! Sigh. First world problems, I know.
I couldn't help but take a ridiculous amount of pictures to show the full effect and colors, so here's a lengthy scroll-able gallery of them in case you'd like to flip through.
Thoughts? Questions? Epiphanies? Doesn't this totally look like a pretty, pastelly version of the Monster Book of Monsters? Or is it just me?
Would you want to remake this card? Would you do anything differently? Let us know in the comments below! Thank you for visiting and sticking with me through the end of my very long post!
Lots of Love,
Sphoorti
Supplies
2580 Nordic Flourishes
2453 Freestyle Hugs
PSF809 Leaf and Tendril Hot Foil Plate
2455 Freestyle Hello
2456 Freestyle Smile