I have a friend who is blind, so I figured this tutorial would be perfect for her birthday card. I always try to include lots of texture on her cards, so she can appreciate them more. I used a paper piercer to "write" the happy birthday greeting in Braille on the greeting strip.
This project was admittedly tough. The flowers & leaves die cut from the napkins easily. I had used a piece of cardstock on the back of the napkin layers for the first flower, as instructed in the tutorial. But it pulled right off from that, so after that I didn't bother with it.
After I die cut the flowers & leaves, I painted them with my watercolors. The layers of napkin kept peeling apart as they dried. So after the paint had dried, I poured Perfect Paper Adhesive liquid glue onto a sheet of freezer paper, and dragged/smooshed each flower & leaf through that. Then I set them aside to dry. That worked OK, though I did have to squirt a little more glue between layers on some pieces to finish adhering them.
For the "planter box," I embossed a piece of tan cardstock. I inked over that lightly with Ground Espresso on a blending tool. That kept the ink on top of the embossing, so the cardstock color shows through in the valleys for a two-toned effect. I cut 2 strips of a cream cardstock for the top & bottom "trim" of the planter, and dragged my Brushed Corduroy ink pad lightly across each for a faux woodgrain effect. Then I glued the strips to the box.
I glued my box to a panel of navy cardstock. To create feet (or wheels, if you prefer) on the box, I added 2 large silver brads. I added my greeting strip, & adhered my panel to a white card base. Finally, I used Tombow Mono Multi Glue to adhere my flowers & leaves. I doubt I'll be doing the die cut napkin technique again, because of the difficulties in keeping the layers together, but I think it came out OK this time.
Date: Sunday, November 10, 2019 GMT Views: 591
Favorited:3
Registered: January 20, 2010 Location: Brampton, Ontario Posts: 26123
Sun, Nov 10, 2019 @ 10:39 AM
Those flowers look amazing! The colours just glow and the texture is very evident! (good photography too) :-) Some of my napkins came off the CS backing too so I also just used them as they were.
Beautiful flowers! Love your planter, too -- and so thoughtful of you to include a braille birthday greeting for your friend. I'm sure she'll be thrilled.