Hello and welcome!
I am always trying to use my dies in new and different ways - and I wanted to share a new idea for working with slider dies. Sometimes these ideas do not come easy - I am always super impressed when I see designers use dies in a way that I never would have imagined - so I was excited to try this when I started thinking about connecting the paths of sliders.
This idea uses the Memory Box Slider Grooves die set to create a unique slider pathway in a zig zag shape. Take a look at the video to see how it works...
(Watch this video in HD by clicking here)
I am fascinated by interactive cards, so slider cards have been really inspiring to me lately. I received my Mechanical Engineering degree about 25 years ago and even after all this time I still gravitate a bit towards cards that have some sort of movement involved. And what better way to spend an afternoon than to play with some slider cards! (Instead of pursuing an engineering career I took up stamping, then started Memory Box, then Poppystamps and then Birch Press - and I have had a lot more fun in this creative field!)
I decided to apply the zig zag slider idea to a Halloween card so I used the Whimsy Ghost and the Playful Boo dies to create the scene.
When you put the ghost in the upper right corner and start to tilt the card back and forth, the ghost twirls and slides down the pathway to the bottom!
When I designed the Whimsy Ghost die I was playing with the notion that some areas could be cut out (like the bow tie) and some areas could just be cut (like his smile). I think creating designs for craft dies has endless possibilities and every time I sit down at my desk to design I literally smile while I am drawing.
When I am creating a die design I think about how fun it will be to try out the new die, and to see what others will do with it. When I was drawing the ghost I was thinking how fun it will be to put a little dot of white ink (from a White Gel Pen) onto his eyes! That little twinkle gives him a little bit of charm - don't you think? I was thinking that he would look kind of good with a small witch's hat - and then thought the witch's hat would look good on a stamp set I was drawing at the time (the set was the Feline Spooky set in poppystamps, and the hat would be perfect on one of the cats!).
I wanted the background for the slider card to be a little special- so before I cut the slider pathways into the black cardstock, I splattered it with metallic watercolor paint. This set of metallic watercolor paint is my favorite - a few sprinkles of this onto a card transforms the whole thing!
What is it about silver and gold on black cardstock that looks so magical and rich? I think I splattered paper for about 10 minutes before I remembered that I had other things to do!
I love these paints - they are so bright and dense, and when you start building the color onto the black cardstock it becomes hard to stop.
I was trying to create sort of a sparkling and spooky effect - like the ghost is flying across a starry sky. But then I saw some Distress Oxide inks on my desk and...
...I had to try it with a Distress Oxide background! I used Wilted Violet and Broken China with a spritz of water to create this look - a magical background with more of a twilight color scheme.
Then, I thought - well this would work as a beautiful color scheme for a winter card - and I bet a snowflake would work as the slider!
I went through my designs and grabbed the Batavia Snowflakes and matching Batavia Stitched Snowflakes to create a winter themed slider element. The Batavia Stitched Snowflakes are slightly larger than the Batavia Snowflakes - so that when you layer them together, the result is dimensional and detailed.
I put the snowflake slider card together in a flash - and I show it in the video too as a bonus card. The snowflake spins down the zig zag pathway, just as you might expect a snowflake to drift back and forth as it settles to the earth. The Let It Snow die is a peaceful and subtle addition to the lower corner.
I spritzed the background with a bleach and water solution - about 2 teaspoons of bleach to a cup of water. This is a little stronger than I usually use for a bleach and water solution - but I noticed something when I was playing with this solution the other day.
You will notice that where the drops hit the paper, they spread just a little into the surrounding ink and lighten it - this creates a bright spot in the middle of the splatter, which is then surrounded by a little halo of color. Can you see it on the close up above? It really shows up in the Wilted Violet area - there is a nearly white spot in the middle, surrounded by a soft blue halo of color.
I think this is really effective for snow scenes - the way this softens the colors and gives the idea of snow blurring slightly as it falls.
I hope you enjoyed today's video! Get out your slider dies and create this card! What will you come up with?
I want to encourage your creativity so I am having a giveaway! Please leave your idea for a fun zig zag slider card in the comments section by September 30, 2017 Midnight Pacific Time. I will choose one comment at random - and that person will win a metallic watercolor set from Finetec! I can't wait to read what people come up with!