Sending Hugs Wreath

Aloha,

In the previous post, I created a flourishing plumeria sprig as a precursor to the AECP’s official start. Today’s card, also inspired by the AECP course All About Layering 1, features a vibrant wreath of envelopes and marks the official start of my coursework.

This mail-oriented card showcases Altenew’s Snail Mail stamp and die set. The overlapping envelopes look deceptively difficult, but were simple to achieve with the aid of a stamp positioner and Gina K. Design’s four-inch Wreath Builder Template. Using the included positioning grid, the base envelope stamp was positioned in the center near the top and was picked up by the positioner. Then, the four-inch focal square was placed in the template in the on point, or diagonal, orientation.

VersaMark’s Watermark Stamp Pad was used to make a near invisible impression on the paper. This rectangle was then masked with Gina K. Design’s Masking Magic, which was cut to the dimensions of the envelope. After rotating the focal square clockwise to the square orientation, the next color was stamped and masked before rotating clockwise once more to the on point position until the rainbow-colored wreath was finished.

If masking sounds like entirely too much work, you needn’t fear. The overlapping stamping in the above example is just as beautiful as the masked wreath. These colors blend and transition from one to the next, creating the look of tinted, translucent envelopes. This card variation can be stamped by rotating either clockwise or counter-clockwise since masking is not an issue.

As with the Thankful Plumeria card, a sheet of laminated plastic proved useful in accurately positioning the individual stamp layers. Because a wreath template was used, the subsequent stamp layers only needed to be positioned on top of the base layer twice, which made this card much more quick to execute than the plumeria one with its blossom largesse.

Finishing details for these cards include an accent heart and foam-sheet elevated focal image. The heart, cut with the die included in the Snail Mail die set, was colored with the Ruby Red Artist Marker prior to applying Nuvo Aqua Shimmer and Glossy Accents. This shiny heart pairs nicely with the “Sending Hugs” sentiment from Altenew’s Fancy Greetings stamp set. The deep black sentiment was stamped using Altenew’s Obsidian Pigment Ink.

Mahalo!