I Made a Scene! And a Picket Fence Tutorial!

Usually when someone makes a scene, it is embarassing! But when I say I made a scene, I mean it literally! I made a scene using several stamps and different techniques and put them all into a card!! I had a vision in my head about the card I am showing you below. It didn't come out exactly as I had envisioned, but all in all I like the finished product and am happy to have experimented with some new techniques for me!

So here is the card that I made...

Keep scrolling down if you are interested in seeing how I made the Picket Fence using a border punch that was not for a Picket Fence!

This card's main image is the Huggybellas stamp from Stamping Bellas. (Oh how I love all of those girls!!) I also added the house image from Unity Stamps January Kit Club and some flowers and grass from SU. This card is really a blend of a lot of stamping companies! The sentiment was printed out on my computer as I didn't have any neighborly sentiments on stamps!

To create the background sky, I initially used SU Soft Sky blue with my brayer and rolled on some color. For more definition I also sponged some more blue too! The sun was a punched from a circle punch and cut to fit into the corner. Then I added some yellow by sponging also. The yellow ink is SU's Barely Banana. To make the sun rays I freehand drew little squigglies with my Sakura Gelly roll Stardust pen. I am really loving that pen and am so glad that my friend Tiffani told me about it after visiting our local Stampfest!

To create the grass I used Post-It Notes that were torn to make an uneven edge and then I sponged SU's Certainly Celery. I moved the the Post It's around to make a hill on the right and also make some dimension and layers of grass. I did the same thing to make the dirt on the very bottom of the card, but instead I stamped that with SU's Creamy Caramel.

The Bellas clothes were paper pieced with DP from Scenic Route. I love the plaids that this particular paper has. I was able to find just the right spot to stamp on by using my stampamajig (click here for a tutorial on using the stampamajig) with my stamped image on it and just moved it over the paper until I was happy with the part of the paper that was being selected. The same DP has both orange and green plaid spots. It is oh so summery don't you think?

The rest of the Bellas images were colored in with Copics. I outlined them using Cool Gray No 1 and then cut them out leaving a little bit of outline still intact. They were the last thing added to the card and were popped up with pop dots to make them appear they were in front of the fence!

Also using the stampamajig I positioned the Unity house off in the background. My attempt (since the scales of the stamps were different) was to make the house look like it is set up on a hill in the distance. The house (not being the focal image) was quickly colored with coordinating colors to continue with the sunny theme. Don't ya just love that orange house?? LOL!!

I am kind of excited about my picket fence! It was one of those things I figured out by accident and knew I would use the technique someday. Believe it or not, but it is made from a Martha Stewart Border Punch (and not the one that is already a picket fence!)

When I punched a border for a card recently I used this same punch and after trimming off an edge that was too long I serendipitously realized that the piece I cut off resembled a single picket from a fence. So that is how this idea began! To make the pickets seems wood-like I ran the fence through the Cuttlebug with the Distressed Stripes embossing folder. This helped give the fence more dimension!

Over on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog they are having a contest to use your Cuttlebug of course, but also to use a punch in a way other than it is intended to be used. So I will definitely add this card into that challenge and see what happens!

Picket Fence Tutorial
Using a different type of Border Punch!

Edited to add the Picket Fence Tutorial Download link:

Click here to download a pdf file of the tutorial!

At this point cut them to be the size you need them for your project!

I think it came out pretty cute and knowing how to do this might save you about $15 if you have this MS Punch already and don't want to buy the actual Picket Fence one that she sells! Plus, now you can make your fence as tall as you want.

It would be cute to add hardware to this fence piece and make it a gate that might open up on your card to reveal a sentiment! There are lots of possibilities!! Have fun and I hope you give it a try. Please send me a link if you make one, I would sure love to see what you create!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with money-saving ideas in this tight economy!