10 Minute Challenge that took 3 days!

Yep, you read it right. This card took 3 days to make. Now I was not working on it all day long as I had to do some things and let the glue dry. I also had to squeeze out time to work on it in between grading papers.

I began with the inspiration challenge from Sandi and Carole’Anne’s 10 minute challenge. Here is the picture.

I thought it would be fun to try and mimic driftwood and sea glass. That is where the problem started. I searched online for faux sea glass and found a tutorial. The bad part was I didn’t have the supplies. So I decided to see if I could make it using what I had. I thought about using acetate and ultra thick embossing powder but I couldn’t figure out how to get the color. I decided to see if the acetate would work first. It did and then it hit me what about using tissue paper and pressing it into the ink pad to color it. So I donned my rubber gloves and gave it a try.

I colored my tissue paper and let it sit on my work surface. Next I took a retired punch (the one that has 3 odd shaped rectangles) and punched them out from the acetate. Then I took the acetate and pressed it into the Versamark pad and dunked it into the utee (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder) then using the heat gun I melted the utee. While the shape was still hot I dunked it into the utee again and reheated. I continued to do this until I had a think shape (if you do this make sure you have something under your shape as you heat because the utee could drip as it is being heated. Also make sure you hold it with a pair of tweezers to save your fingers. Once you have your shape the thickness that you want you want to lay it on your tissue paper while it is still hot (if you are not fast enough, you can glue it to the tissue paper). Let it sit to cool down or dry (mine sat overnight).

Once it is ready, you can use your scissors to cut down the shape or trip up ugly blobs but you need to be careful as it can crack or pull away from the tissue paper. Now I was ready to work on the next step, the driftwood. I search my paper and decided that Sahara Sand was kinda the color so I took a small piece and using my bone folder broke down the fibers. I then tore a piece and using a skewer I wrapped the piece around the skewer and glued the end down. I repeated with another piece. Now I had to let that dry. So now we are on day 2 (I had a lot to do yesterday and still have a lot to finish today).

When I got up this morning I was trying to figure out a way to show the mounds of sand the wind makes to hide my treasures. I decided to tear paper and sponge the edges. I took Kraft and made my card and 3 panels to act as dunes. I tore the 3 panels and sponged the edges. I then used the spritzer tool and added some Chocolate Chip to give it some dimension. I taped the edges of my Kraft paper down and left the sponged edge untaped so it would add some depth. Next I took my faux sea glass and trimmed it up and cut it down. I found some seashells I had collected from a beach trip and started determining the placement of all my beach items. Then I had to glue it all down and let it dry. Here is my final creation.

I love how it turned out. I used the shiny side of my sea glass but you could just as easily use the tissue paper side to show the frosted effect you get with glass when it has been washed in the sand for a long time. Hope you enjoyed my creation. Thanks for looking and have Great 4th of July evening!

Robbie