Wednesday 8 April 2020

Lockdown Layouts 4

Welcome to episode 4 of Lockdown Layouts. This is an occasional series of posts which aims to give you some simple layouts you can experiment with using whatever craft materials you have in your stash while you are in lockdown.

Today, I'm going to show you a trick to make a simple card look just a little more interesting. All you do is take your focal point panel and cut it into three strips. Although it sounds basic, it opens up many options for you to explore.

I've got two examples to get you going. The first is portrait orientation using pretty DSP.


I've used DSP from the Ornate Garden Specialty DSP range. This is a pre-release from the 2020-21 Annual catalogue and is available for ordering now, as is the stamp set Ornate Thanks.

The gold foil and white DSP has been cut into strips 2 cm x 12 cm.

Helpful Tip 1: When adhering your strips, start with the two outside ones and then centre the last one between them.

Helpful Tip 2: Make sure you arrange them so the patterns match - rather like hanging wallpaper!


Once you've adhered the strips, it's up to you how you organise the sentiment and any further decoration. Because the paper is quite fussy and the die cut frame has an ornate filagree, I've kept the rest quite plain: just the sentiment and three gilded gems.

Helpful Hint 3: If you've added an accent colour, I find it usually looks nicer if you use it at least once more. Since the paper strips of paper have a gold foil, I chose to gold emboss the 'Thanks' to pick up on that and used the gilded gems as embellishments for the same reason.

In the second example, I've used a stamped panel and a landscape orientation.


I created the landscape scene using the Mountain Air stamp set from the January-June Mini Catalogue. I stamped it onto watercolour paper and added in some sky and ground with an aqua painter.

Once it was done, I cut this into strips 3 cm x 7.5 cm.
(See helpful tips 1 and 2 above)


Instead of using DSP for the card front, I embossed a piece of Whisper White with the Absolutely Argyll embossing folder. 

In keeping with Helpful Tip 3 above, I've added in a narrow mat of Smoky Slate to tie in with the Smoky Slate mountains in the stamped panel. Similarly, I've added a Smoky Slate layer under the sentiment.

I hope these two cards give you some ideas for ways you could use your own stash to help beat the boredom during lockdown. 

If you've seen any products used here that you'd like to add to your stash, I'm happy to take your order for it, although it will not be delivered until after the lockdown ends. Please feel free to message me with any questions or information about products or to make an order.

If you use this post to make some projects, please feel free to post photos on my Jan Clothier - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator face book page. There's a link in the sidebar.

Finally, if you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I'd love to be yours and to help you with ideas and products. Please feel free to message me.

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1 comment:

  1. This is a fun series Jan! I had an idea for a card using this layout - will post if I make it! Three split panels can be used in lots of different ways and I must remember to use it to split a scene, this gives an interesting visual effect.

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