Chipboard Triptych

When asked by a friend to make a card for a 30th birthday, I thought 'no problem'.  Except that the birthday girl in question is a triplet and their mum was calling their joint birthday party 'The Big 90'.  Except that my friend had some rather definite ideas about what should be on the card... like a teepee and fairies and the house name and a garden.... the list went on....

After a few false starts, I decided to transform three pieces of chipboard into a triptych birthday card (one panel per triplet) and, after seven hours of constant creativity, here is the finished project:

I started by rubbing my Versamark ink pad around the edges of each piece of chipboard and embossing in gold.  I didn't want to see any chipboard edges.  This is the front cover:

Part of the garden scene is now revealed with the other side being left blank for my friend's birthday message.  This fairy (and the others) were all found on a copyright-free image website for tattoo artists!!  They were printed onto Whisper White card stock, coloured with my Versamarker pen and clear embossed, as were the titles.

The triptych garden scene is revealed!  The birthday triplets are having a teepee in the garden for their birthday party, hence its significance.  The teepee was made with triangular shapes of Very Vanilla card, with some craft wood stubs positioned at the top.

The panels were all created in the same way: the fairies were printed onto plain Whisper White card, then coloured with my Versamarker and clear embossed.  Next, the background was inked.  I used Bashful Blue for the sky and Crumb Cake and Old Olive for the ground.  Then came the fun bit: creating the garden.  This was entirely created with the marvellously versatile Autumn Days stamp set.  I used a combination of Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Garden Green and Crumb Cake inks.  Finally I added a few tiny paper flowers which were one of the first crafting goodies I ever bought for my supplies.  I've almost finished the packet now; I'm getting quite emotional at the thought of finishing it!

Here are close-up views of the central and right-hand panels:

And lastly, here is the funny back panel that my friend insisted on having as she thought the picture was so funny!

These panels were all mounted onto Early Espresso card and adhered to the chipboard.  I punched holes with my Crop-a-dile and tied them together with Whisper White ribbon.  I then made a box to house it and tied it up with ribbon.

Supplies
Stamps: Autumn Days
Inks:  Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Garden Green
Card:  Early Espresso, Whisper White, Very Vanilla
Other: Whisper White 5/8" satin ribbon, Crop-a-dile, Versamarker pen and Versamark inkpad, clear embossing powder, gold embossing powder, sponge daubers, heat tool
Non SU: tiny mulberry paper flowers, small stubs of craft wood, computer generated titles and silhouettes, 3 chipboard panels

This is one of the biggest scale projects I've ever done and I have to say I'm rather pleased with the result. While I'm feeling keen, I might have to give another big project a go!  As always, if you are interested in any SU supplies, please do not hesitate to get in touch by email or by phone on 07977 141605.  I will be delighted to assist you with your papercrafting projects!  During April, if your order comes to £45 or more, you also qualify for free designer paper! Click on the link in my sidebar to see your choices.

Challenges

Craft A Scene - silhouettes

Charisma Cardz - chipboard or stickers

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - emboss it!

Hope you like it! And if you want to see my Easter story themed chocolate cake I posted earlier, click here.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Thanks as always for visiting - I look forward to visiting you back,