Happy Birthday, Our Darnell

Good morning...Happy 4th of July to those who celebrate this USA holiday, and also a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to someone who is very special to all of us in Blogland...Miss Darnell. Darnell celebrated a birthday on July 2, but I didn't have a card ready in time for that day. There's a big card party going on over at MASKerade where you can send a Cyber card to Our Darnell. So I got busy with a new die. I've been seeing a technique all over the internet - and liking - embedding a positive die shape into a negative die shape.  Decided to try this new die, and probably was over ambitious. Took me a couple of tries to get it right. Here's the card, then I'll tell you about my adventures in achieving the final result...

- Die is by Hero Arts, Palm. As you can see, the little fronds are a bit fiddly. The new die cut like a charm...but it was what I attempted that caused me problems.

Sprayed #90 Canson Mixed Media paper with Dylusions greens, yellows and some gold - let it dry. Did the same with another piece using Dylusions reds, tangerine, yellow, gold and then a rich copper. Was so pleased with the dried results...fantastic marbling. Die cut both pieces. Here's where the fun began. I had been reminded of a UTEE technique when I saw this tutorial over at Always with a Heart. Decided to try this technique with the Palm die cut...embossed it 3 times and got a lovely sheen to the piece. Also managed to drop the die face down on the floor with the embossing powder on the 2nd try. Didn't hurt the die cut, but I got the gritty embossing powder all over the floor. OK, it was looking good, and I was just feeling so pleased. Then..comes inserting the die piece into the negative, and no way would it fit! Evidently the embossing, heating, etc. altered the shape just slightly enough that it would not fit into the negative space - which had some sticky tape behind it so that the die would adhere. ERGH! You will remember I've told you that I worked many years at a nuclear power plant, with retired navy guys, right? Well, some of my old vocabulary was revisited when I saw what I had done. I will try the technique again, but methinks it will work better with a 'bulkier' die piece, not one with lots of little fiddly bits to try to fit down.

OK, back to the drawing board, where I sprayed another green background - then a red one. Let those dry naturally to get some nice marbling. Of course my 2nd efforts were not nearly as pretty as the first time. But...I soldiered on. This time no heat embossing, and the die cut fit into the negative piece just like it was supposed to! I had seen this die used in a card on one of the Hero Arts designer's blogs, but I can't remember which blog, so I can credit the designer (of course it was not MY original idea!).

- Sentiment die is a snippet from piece #1 mess up, and the S/B diecut that is behind is from messed up green #1. On a brighter note, the palm diecut from Red #1 is still good, so you'll see that on another card, along with some more of green #1 in the space that was not die cut.  If you look carefully at the colors on the sentiment, you'll perhaps see the differences in the colors from #1 effort & what #2 looked like. Ah, the creative process....

So I'm off to link up at MASKerade and then over to the Snippets Playground, since I do have couple of snippety bits on here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Darnell and America!!

 

 

Ya'll have a great day, and come again when ya can. Blessings.