Puffin Splash Cards

Hi and welcome! I have some news I’ve been bursting to share and can now finally let it out.  I have joined the Creative Expressions design team and so will be sharing some of their gorgeous stamps, dies and Cosmic Shimmer products with you. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.  

My cards today use their new Paper Cuts Edger die called Puffin Splash. These dies are quite amazing because you can keep them as simple as you want (as in my second card), or really glam them up to create a more personalized card (like my first card). 

For this first card, I created a watercolour background using Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints and watercolour cardstock. I made sure to splatter it when wet with some of the same paints, and also misted it with water when it was dry, to get the look of water splashes.  I also lightly spritzed it with Cosmic Shimmer Airless Mister in Pearlescent to give it a little sparkle. I placed double sided adhesive around all the back edges of my watercolour background, and then cut a piece of scrap acetate (from a stamp set package), that was about a 1/4” larger than my background on all four sides. On my work surface, I layered the acetate first, them my card background face down, and centered it on the acetate. Then I removed the adhesive backing along one side edge and wrapped the extra acetate up to attach to it. I was careful to not pull the acetate too tightly as the shaker needs a little room for the filling to move around. I repeated this with the two sides and the bottom edge. 

At this point, you have a pouch that can be filled from the top. I wanted to use some of the die cuts to fill my shaker, so I ran it through my machine a couple of times with white cardstock. I made sure that one of these die cuts had an extra 1/2” border on the left of the puffin, so I could use it for the front of my card. Since the die creates fish that are in several pieces, I glued them to acetate before cutting them out. To fill the shaker, I added in these die cut pieces with some dollar store seed beads and glitter, and then removed the adhesive backing on the top edge and folded over the acetate at the top. I’m not sure what it is about shaker cards, but at this point you just have to stop and shake that shaker and watch everything move around inside! 

For the puffin die cut, I used copic markers to colour in the puffin pieces, and a little Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Polish to give a little shine. I used some regular Scotch tape on the back of my puffin so I could reinsert the pieces, but you could also just add these in with glue later. I creased the card just to the left of the puffin to give me about a 1/2” border which I folded under with a bone folder. Next, I used glue on the back of my puffin die cut and adhered it to the shaker card front, making sure the folded edge went to the back of the watercolour card. I feel this just gives a cleaner look to the card but you could definitely leave this step out and just cut the puffin die cut flush with the edge of the card. Next, I glued my card front to an A2 sized card base. 

For the sentiment, I used the Sending Wishes sentiment from Creative Expressions “A Perfect Day” stamp set (this set is full of great sentiments!).  Since I love a little fun on my cards, I changed the “W” to an “F” to make “Fishes”, and then crossed this one out and stamped “Wishes”. I attached this sentiment to a matching piece of water coloured cardstock, and adhered it to the front of my card. I’m telling you, that shaker is so much fun! They work so much better when they’re full sized like this one. 

For my second and definitely simpler card, I again made a watercoloured background using the same Cosmic Shimmer products as in my first card. I kept this card quite simple and just die cut the puffin out of white cardstock, making sure I removed and saved all the die cut pieces. I again left a 1/2” border to the left of the puffin that I creased and folded under.  I used glue to attach the puffin diecut to the watercolour card front and also adhered the left folded edge behind the watercolour card front. I attached this to an A2 card base. Then I glued the die cut pieces to the front of the card to add some interest. The sentiment is the same “Sending Wishes” as in the first card, and I have adhered it to a strip of watercolour cardstock. 

So there you have it - one card that has a little more bling added to it and the second, a much easier card. But both of them have that adorable puffin and could be used for so many different occasions. Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’ll come back again.