Thanks - Pinspired Challenge #16

My card making goal today is to make cards without any stamps. I was inspired by the current Pinspired challenge and the many tutorials on die-cutting. In the process of making these cards, I kept changing the way it turned out. Let me explain my crazy process..

So here was my wonderful inspiration. Loved the colors and how the "THANKS" is almost hidden. 

I used the dies by My Favorite Things Die-Namics, By the Letters, lowercase. I used my cutting mat to line them up and used washi tape to keep them together. 

Occasionally, the letters were stuck in the die, but I couldn't use a pin to poke them out because the washi tape was in the way. I used scrap washi tape that I have sticking all over my lamp to get them out. 

Then I put the dimensional adhesive. This was my first card. By the third card, I used a roll of foam tape and cut them into thin strips and applied them directly to the die cut letter. This was was easier. I didn't have little paper backings all over the place and adhesive sticking out beyond the letter. I also penciled in the little opening in the "a" and glued that little teeny tiny die cut in there.

So my first card, I colored in the letters with a very light copics marker (E0000) to make "thanks" pop out more. I added Glossy Accent to it. 

Second card, I thought the "thanks" needed to be darker so I used the next Copic marker (E00) but it was too dark. Also there were shiny glittery areas that wouldn't hold the Copic color, so it just looked weird.

Then I decided to add a marroon scratch paper behind the cut out and stick the die cut letters to that. It added a nice shadow effect. 

Since I used two sheets of the same patterned paper, I decided to take two identical cuts and die cut both papers at the same time. I kept one set of the die cut letters inside the bottom paper and taped it securely in the back so the letters wouldn't come out. Then I took the second set of die cut letters and placed it on top. I like this card a lot better. There are no white spaces.

So I had the negative left. The one bad thing with this card was that I lost the little section of the "a" I had to improvise. I tried to find a small enough heart or flower to fill it in. Nope. I found this corner punch and used it on scrap paper and cut a little of the point off. It's not a perfect match, but I didn't want this part of the card to go to waste. 

All my pretty cards. Thank you Pinspired Challenge for the inspiration. These challenges are a great motivation to get some creative cards done. 

Thanks for looking,
Lynn

Supplies used:
Dies: My Favorite Things (By the Letters, lowercase)
Paper: sei (Bright Blossom)