Christmas Window Panorama Card

I haven't made a panorama card for ages, but the Fresh Cut dies by Claritystamp really lend themselves to that layout.  I also decided to incorporate stamping and masking into the design.

I started by cutting two side panels, two inner panels and two A5 pieces of Sheena's stamping card using the Panorama die set by Tattered Lace.  As I didn't want a full length card, I trimmed each panel down to 16cm by taking 2.5cm off each end.

Next,  I used the dove window Fresh Cut die from Claritystamp to cut the window from the centre of the two inner panels (with the tabs).  I ensured that each window was in exactly the same place on each panel.

Using a small pair of scissors,  I removed the inner section from one of the windows.

As I don't have the matching set of nesting dies,  I drew round the original window die and cut an aperture that was larger all round from one of the 16cm x 14.8cm panels for the front of the card. 

Once again,  I ensured all the panels would line up exactly.

Using the hills & mountains, clouds and a moon mask from Claritystamp  I created a scene for the back of the card on the second 16cm x 14.8cm panel.  I used Golden Turmeric, Orange Popsicle and Rich Mocha Artistry inks for the dunes and Midnight Blue and Wild Bilberry Artistry inks for the sky.

Replacing the mask along the horizon,  I stamped the palm trees from the O Little Town stamp set by Claritystamp in Acorn Archival ink.

I laid the front aperture panel over the top to get the hills & mountain mask lined up, then repeated the procedure to decorate the front of the card.

Next,  I stamped the Happy Christmas stamp from Line Sentiments 2 (Claritystamp) along the bottom in Acorn Archival ink, ensuring that I masked off the line at each end when inking up the stamp and removing the masking tape before doing the stamping.  I used a stamp platform to ensure a solid impression.

Before making up the card,  I coated the full window aperture section with Apricot Gilding Polish from Creative Expressions.

The other aperture section was coloured using Red Bronze Gilding Polish.

I made up the card by folding the two side panels and attaching them to the front of the full scene panel.

The tabs of the apricot aperture panel were slotted through the holes at each side. They are folded up at the bottom of each tab and then unfolded to hook the panels into place.

The second aperture panel was added in front in the same way.

Finally, the aperture panel was glued onto the front.

Unfortunately I was careless and managed to smudge the ink on the left of the sky with some glue.  I used an embossing pen to draw a star and heat embossed with detail copper EP to cover it up.  To balance out the front of the card,  I added an extra palm tree on the right hand side in Acorn archival ink.

I am glad that I made the mistake, as I prefer the finished card as it is now!