Today Is a Good Day to Make a Fun Card with Erica!

Hi Altenew fans and friends! Today Is A Good Day to make someone happy, wouldn't you say? I am having a bit of a play on words there, as I will be using the super fun Today Is a Good Day Layering Stencil and Die Set. Oh hi, it's Erica by the way! Ready to have some fun? Let's dive in, shall we? 

This is a great set, both individually and used together. Honestly, as soon as I saw it I knew I'd love it and I really do. The font is lovely, the details are delicate and the fact it is so versatile is fabulous. It's a really good all-around set, I think. 

I have used this set for another card, and  I used the stencils only and it's oh, so good, if I may say so myself! I used one of my all-time favorite color combos: Tranquility and Dessert Dreams Fresh Dye Ink bundles, plus a little Shimmer Relief Paste in Enchanted Gold. A tiny smattering of Satin Gold Pearl Dots might also have made it onto the card. 

Now onto the card for today's post: This one is a bright pop of color with the help of some gorgeous shades of Crafty Necessities Colored Cardstock! Oh my gosh, the possibilities with this technique are so many. Let your creativity and imagination run wild, sit back and watch the magic happen. It will be good, I promise! 

For this card I have used the Crafty Necessities Colored Cardstock in the photo above, it's a soft pastel rainbow and it seriously makes me want to eat ice cream for some reason. Die-cutting with the cardstock is so easy, and it really opens up so many good options for color schemes, and to make cards fit for different recipients. 

My first thought was to use a completely white background, plus a bit of stenciling with the idea that the colors would pop against the white. However, after I had die-cut out all of the words with the Today Is A Good Day die-cut and tried them on top of white card stock, I switched direction, and good thing I did. The white didn't have the desired effect, but when I switched to Morning Frost cardstock for the shadow part, they glowed! 

Taking a step back and evaluating your progress might feel like you are questioning yourself and your creative choices, but I think it's important to re-frame that as part of the creative process. We can always go from this is ok, to oh, this is good, to ok, this is great and then to WOW, I made that! by not being afraid to switch things up. 

With all of your 'Today Is A Good Day' bits and pieces diecut and ready, let's move on to a tricky bit of business: the glueing down of these diecuts. There are a few ways you can do this, and one is to use Press'n'Seal, which I show you in the YouTube video. 

Another way you can do this if you don't have Press'n'Seal, and this is way trickier, I'm not going to lie: use a sticky mat, you will need TWO shadow diecuts. One you place under the sticky mat and this will be your guide. Next up, you put the letters down upside down, add your glue and then add your diecut on top. This way require nerves of steel and a super steady hand. I have tried it one time and one time only, and the results were not good. I can't say I recommend it, so I probably shouldn't even mention it, however it might work really, really good for someone else. You just never know. 

For the background, I have used the layering stencils to create a bit of a leafy frame for the word die-cut. The first stencil you can skip if you try this, as it only has parts of the words 'Today Is A Good Day To Make Someone Happy' on it. Stencil 2 and 3 are what we want! For some depth and contrast I have used two of my favorite shades of green: Bamboo and Parrot from the Tropical Forest Fresh Dye Ink Set. These are such good shades of green, honestly. Absolute must-haves when it comes to greens. 

In the YouTube video you can see a simple trick to add some depth and contrast with ink blending. It does take a bit of practice and slow and steady wins the race, but it makes all the difference, it really does. Adding more and darker inks in select places makes your design go from 'pretty good' to 'whoa, look at that!'. All while it doesn't add bulk, weight or layers. So cool! 

On the last stencil, this is the one with all the details, I have used the absolutely stunning Shimmer Relief Paste in Burnished Platinum. This one is in the shared top spot of my favorites, alongside Enchanted Gold. They both look SO GOOD! The icing on the cake as they say.

TOP TIP: Don't forget to wash off your stencil as soon as you can, and also make sure to give your Shimmer Relief Paste enough time to dry. It will not look very good at all if it gets squashed and mushy. 

As this set is pretty much the perfect sentiment, Today Is A Good Day To Make Someone Happy, it's the perfect card to put a personalised message inside. A sweet little something just for the recipient to read and know that you meant to make today a good one for them. 

The stencilled part I have cut out with the biggest of the coordinating Today Is A Good Day dies. It has three, one for the letters, one for the immediate part around it (I call this the shadow diecut) and then finally the third one that includes the leaves. 

The negative part I have glued down directly onto a card base. Here you have two choices, you can either glue down your ink blended bit OR you can diecut another out of white card stock and pop that into the negative space. I did the second option. 

I have finished off this card by adhering the 'Today Is A Good Day To Make Someone Happy' panel to the card base with some Instant Dimension Foam Tape. Layers and dimensions are life, after all. Plus is looks so good with a bit of height, right? 

If you are not ready to BRING THE BLING, which is now my catch phrase, skip this next part. However if you are like me and are thinking 'hey, a bit of bling seems like a good idea just about all the time' then join me. I have added a reasonably generous amount of Stellar Sequins in Sparkling Diamond on this and they work so incredibly good with that luscious Burnished Platinum Shimmer Relief Paste. 

That is it from me for today but I really hope that this card brought a smile to your face and that it indeed Today is A Good Day To Make Someone Happy, and by someone I mean you. 

With love and light, sparkle and creativity,
Erica 

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