Flamazing Floral Windows

Hello crafty friend! Today I’m showing off this tri-fold window card I made. The front, inside flap, and center each have different elements that build to create a tropical scene. It might look a little complicated but, it was actually pretty easy. 

My finished card is 6″ x 6.” I cut a piece of 12″ x 18″ cardstock in half and scored it every 6″ for my base. (You could always glue two 6″ x 12″ pieces together.) To create my windows I used three of my nesting circle dies. I cut the medium circle out of the top layer of the card, then folded it up to figure out placement for the small circle die on the inside flap, taped it in place, and cut it out. The largest circle was actually cut out of a piece of masking paper and used for inking the inside center panel. I taped off the horizon, then used Distress Oxides inks and a stencil for the sunny sky. I used Jennifer McGuire’s trick to turn a clear stamp over and use the back, indistinct image, as a solid island stamp. (Jump to 13:41 in her video to see what I mean.) I stamped it in Hickory Smoke to give the illusion that it is way off in the distance. I let everything dry for a few minutes then re-positioned the tape above my horizon line and inked the water with several shades of blues and greens. The Flamazing stamp set has wave images that I used to add more detail to my ocean. Once the background was all done, I removed my masks and stamped the sentiment along the upper right side of my circle. I curved my sentiment as I mounted it to the lid of my stamp platform and tested it on a scrap piece of acetate to make sure it was exactly where I wanted it before stamping on the actual card. Then I set the card aside to dry completely. Distress Oxides stay wet a little longer than dye ink and there is a lot of white space on this card. I was careful not to touch it with inky fingers or get stray ink on the back or flaps.

While the card base was drying, I stamped my flamingos and cut them out with the coordinating dies. I also cut out a palm tree and a bunch of floral pieces from the Tropical Thinlits and Fab Foliage die sets. I cut them all out of white cardstock and used markers to color them in, adding simple details and shading. You could cut them out of colored cardstock and just add some shading with darker markers if you’d prefer. To give the flowers more dimension, I used a large stylus and the palm of my hand to curl the petals up. Then it’s just a matter of arranging the cutouts on each layer of the card to build the scene. I used a combination of wet glue and foam tape to adhere them all. For the final touches, I added some gold Wink of Stella to my hibiscus stamens and Glossy Accents to my flamingo eyes. What do you think? Have you tried a double window, tri-fold card before?

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