L is for Layer at the Sisterhood

I have the immense honour of guest designing at Sisterhood of The Snarky Stampers this week as my Steampunk card was selected the winner a few weeks ago. I love their fun challenges and the inspiration from the talented DT not to mention the occasional snarkiness that makes me laugh out loud. This week the challenge is L is for Layer (or should I say L is for Lack of Layer) as you are asked to design a one layer card so hop over to the home of snarkiness to play along.

This challenge was perfect for an idea I saw over here (I wish I could take credit for the fun card design but I can't, so credit where credit is due). I love the slightly cheeky idea, and thought the Sisterhood would be the perfect place to display this fun little card. 

This is one of those cards which looks so simple, but turned out to be a bit fiddly to make. I die cut the letters for masking using my trusty Tim Holtz Inside Out Alphabet die. I then made a "practice fold" using some scrap paper and arranged the letters onto that to make sure I got the fold of the card in the right place to make the sentiment work and to make sure the card was still going to fit into an regular envelope.

The main challenge was to attach the die cut letters to the cardstock so that they would stay there during the application of colour but still come of nicely at the end. I ended up putting a bit of snail on the letters and then touching the adhesive with my finger a few times to make it less sticky before arranging it onto the cardstock. This worked pretty well, although a few of the letters still slid around a bit. If you have a nice alphabet stamp set you could use emboss resist instead, but I don't and I also love the font of the inside out alphabet so that's what I went with.

I used a foam applicator to add my favourite colours of Tim Holtz distress ink to the card. I love how the distress inks blend and form new colours as you apply it in this way and it's a nice and messy thing to do. However, sponging the ink needed a gentle hand to make sure the letter masks stayed in place. To finish, and to add something a bit extra, I used the Stampin' Up Gorgeous grunge to stamp the little speckles of colour and added three rhinestones to emphasise how awful I think the recipient is, hehe.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm White Card
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspeberry, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves and Squeezed Lemonade
Stamps: Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge
Other: Adhesive rhinestones from my stash, Tim Holtz Alterations Inside Out Alphabet die