Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - The Great Outdoors

Hi all! It's time once again for Karen Burniston's Designer Challenge. This month, our theme is The Great Outdoors. I was having a horrible time coming up with an idea, and was spending my time procrastinating in the garden. After taking some pics of my flower beds an idea occurred to me - why not combine my two favorite things, gardening and paper crafting, into a card? I remembered the amazing card that my teammate, Karen Aiken, had made last year using a photograph and decided to use that idea as my inspiration.

Last summer, my husband and I put in this cobblestone walkway, and I'd spent the weekend cleaning it off and planting my containers. It ended up being the perfect spot for a photo. I rearranged the pots to allow for the chair cut out, then took a picture with my phone. After I printed it on photo paper, I trimmed it, then cut out the Pop it Ups Adirondack Chair die.

I cut the chair again, this time from Elizabeth Craft Designs' Soft Finish cardstock. I trimmed out the chair and adhered it to the photo image chair.

To make the scene even more realistic, I printed the photo once more and cut out the area behind the chair. I lined it up (or tried to!) and adhered it to the card. If you look closely, you'll see I also cut out a few of the elements like the watering can and random stones and popped them up using foam dots. It really gives the scene a cool 3D look!

Finally, I added a white backing card and stamped a sentiment using one of my favorite stamps from Karen's Just a Note stamp set. I'm thrilled with how this turned out and can't wait to experiment with using photos in my cards even more. Thanks so much to Karen Aiken for this wonderful idea!

You can find the supplies I used at Elizabeth Craft Designs, Simon Says Stamp, and Amazon via the links below.



Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for more outdoorsy inspiration from the team.

Now back to the garden - those butterflies need me! :)

5 comments:

  1. This is beautiful! The chair is the perfect addition to your picture. Thanks for sharing Shelly!

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  2. This is a gorgeous scene. I love how you paired the photo with the adirondack( yay KA). I take lots of photos but have yet to integrate the two. It ususally one style or the other. The stonework is a perfect texture element.

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  3. Wonderful, creative card. Thanks for sharing it.

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  4. I love your card! I saw it first on Karen's blog and clicked to come over and see more about it. You've pushed me over the edge, I'm for sure getting the Adirondack chair next, especially since I THINK I've figured out how to turn it into an upholstered chair also.

    I think I need to go take some pictures, it might look nice under my apple tree!

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  5. A great post!! Thanks for these wonderful ideas. Currently I am looking for awesome and unique ideas for an outdoor fairy party. Planning to book one of outdoor venues in Los Angeles and go for a custom party with DIY decorations.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I appreciate your comments so much!