Smile with Diamonds
by Janet Katz

 

“Covered in diamonds” is not how I describe anything in my house….except this card. I started by choosing cardstock in six different shades of blue-green. I used repositionable Post-it tape to tape three shades together and using the new Penelope Pinpoint Frame, I die cut each set of three colors in order to get 7-10 of the diamond cutouts that the die produces.

 

 

Next I cut out the same Pinpoint frame from white cardstock, along with my cardbase. Then using foam adhesive as well as my favorite tweezers, I randomly placed the diamonds from darkest to lightest in the negative spaces of the Penelope Pinpoint Frame. I considered not using the foam adhesive or only using it on a few diamonds, but ultimately I loved the whole “popped up” look. (Do I ever get tired of using foam adhesive? That would be a big No.)

 

 

Next, I wanted a “thread nest” behind my sentiment. However, whenever I’ve used super fine silver thread, it is so fine that no matter how much I use, it often doesn’t show up like I want it to. This time I used a silver twine that is about 1mm thick that I bought at the hobby store and wound it up in a loose circle like a lasso. Then, I was a bit puzzled as to how I was going to glue it down. I started by using a small piece of my super skinny thread to tie it together on the left side. I knew where my sentiment and shadow were going to go, so I used some quick-drying glue to glue the twine down in places where the glue wouldn’t show.

 

 

I just love the Freestyle Script word dies. They seem timeless and ideal on any theme of card. I cut Smile out of white cardstock. Next, I was delighted to find a piece of turquoise vellum in my stash. I cut the shadow out of that when I saw how well it matched my diamonds. Using a combination of glue and foam dots hidden behind the Smile, I adhered the word on top of the twine circle.

 

Finally, I computer printed my “You’re beautiful” sentiment and used foam adhesive (told you I don’t get tired of using it) to pop it up to the right height off the twine circle.

 

 

I really loved how this turned out and plan to make more with different colors of diamonds. What’s your favorite way to use the negative space in a die cut?