Peridot Birthday

My sweetie's birthday is in August. Peridot is one of the birthstones for August. Four years ago we crossed the border into Canada on our move her from California. The joke between us is that I gave him Canada for his birthday. I haven't really found a way to top that one. But, this will be a nice card to give him anyway *grin* I just have to hide it from him for a couple weeks.

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp blog 25 July Monday challenge: Add Some Texture

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps blog 30 July Saturday challenge: Bring Your Green

Simon Says Stamp blog 27 July Work It Wednesday: Peridot
Addicted to Stamps and More 27 July: CAS
Crafty Girls Corner 27 July: Anything Goes
Creative Moments 27 July: Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination 27 July: Anything Goes

Supplies

InLinkz.com

Putting It Together

I was originally thinking of doing a square card until I remembered the octagon die set I got last weekend. The size of the card was dictated by the largest of the dies, 9.5 cm, just under 3 3/4 inches. 

Since I wanted the centre to be white, I needed to make a mask. To help with placement, I cut both a large hexagon and smaller one nested out of typing paper. This gave me a heaxagon donut and donut hole. Since any pencil marks on the typing paper wouldn't be present on the final project, I could draw out lines for placement. I laid the donut on the card stock and put removable adhesive on the donut hole to lay it in place and adhere it exactly where in needed to go on the cardstock. It's hard to see the white on white in the picture, but the mask is there.

After sponging on the Distress Ink (Bundled Sage, Pine Needles, and Scattered Straw), I went around the edge with the darker Pine Needles and then brushed the 'gem' with Perfect Pearls (Festive Green). The mask is a lot more obvious at this stage *laugh*. I very lightly misted the 'gem' to fix the Perfect Pearls.

When I removed the mask, I thought the white was just a little bit too stark.

So I lightly brushed some Perfect Pearls on the centre and wafted it through some mist.

To give the 'gem' facets and dimension, I decided to use the We R Memory Keepers Next Level Geometric embossing folder. These folders are a bit thicker than the other brands, So I ran it through the Big Shot with all tabs closed and a single cut plate. I have found that to be the perfect 'sandwich' for these folders.

The Next Level folders give a lot more dimension than most other embossing folders and have variances in heights for the embossed (and debossed).  This was just perfect to give my 'gem' the illusion of facets. Because I used Neena 110lb, this dimension is very crisp.

Before doing any stamping, I dry fit the stamps to see if they were going to fit in the way I wanted. The Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Let Your Light Shine is perfect for this project.

I decided to make an easel card and to have the card be a tiny bit smaller than the 'gem'. I cut a strip of the Neena 110lb Solar White twice as long as it was wide. I scored it at the half way point, and then approximately half again on one side. I backed the gem with another hexagon to have a perfectly smooth back to adhere to the easel and visible when the easel is up. I adhered the bottom of the 'gem' to the end of the scored side of the card base.

Normally I add all the card stuff to the panel before adhering the panel to the base. This time, I adhered them all after. I made a tuck folded banner for the flat part of the sentiment, stamped in Memento Tuxedo black, and fussy cut the "Sparkle". For "Sparkle", I stamped it with Colorbox pigment ink and used Wow! glow-in-the-dark embossing powder to give it some shine when the lights are low. The glow-in-the-dark embossing is slightly green but mostly transparent so the dark green of the ink shows through perfectly.

I stamped two of the gems from the Let Your Light Shine set with Versamark and embossed them with the glow-in-the-dark which I then used as a resist to sponge on the same colors as the main gem. I fussy cut them then scored them halfway to act as my easel stand-up helpers. I glued the bottom halves to the inside of the card, in a line where I want the easel to rest. I used Glossy Accents since it is a strong glue and I don't want the gems to pop off. I also added Glossy accents to their fronts to give them some shine. I finished up with a flat banner stamped in the same green as "Sparkle". The upper part of the easel, that doesn't show when it's up, is where I'll add the personal message.

Looking at the card in the pictures, when I do another gem card, I'll add in 'facet' lines on the big gem from the little hexagon's corners to the outside corners. That would give it more illusion dimension.