What's Behind The Door?

We've had a lot going on recenlty so I've not found much time for card making other than for the magazine comissions I have coming up, so I've been a bit MIA on the blog.  I'm trying to get better at doing things more regularly so we'll see how it goes.  Today I have a card to share I made for a friend who had her birthday yesterday so its now safe to share.  I've had this idea in my head ever since I saw the Door Decor set but this is the first time I've found time to make it (not going to lie this was not one of my fast makes!)

I thought the set would be easily hacked into a shadow box style 3D card so you could layer up the inside with a nice cosy interior - and the new Fireside release from The Greetery was the perfect inners to fill it with.  I used the Fireside Die, the Warm and Cosy Chair Die and its corresponding sentiments along with an older die plate that creates a stunning herringbone parquet floor!   The dog (modelled on my friend's greyhound) come from Treat Yourself by Colorado Craft Company.

In terms of building it - it may look complex but it was actually a pretty simple hack to make the 3D version.  I die cut the main 3 part frame of Door Decor twice - once from white and once from Lawn Fawn Vellum (any thick vellum would work but not the tracing paper thin stuff)  The white is going to be your back and outer layer, the vellum the front and inner.  I found the centre of vellum piece and cut it in half so you have a left and right half with an arch and a fold.  The idea then is that you will stick the left hand side to the inner of the white outer and the right to the right.  What you will then have is two arches that go in different directions - but as they are going to be sides, it doesn't matter as we're going to off the tops of each side arch at the point where the arch begins - see the arrows below showing where to cut it down.

You've now got two clear vellum doors on the front of a 3D house - die cut the doors layers twice - once in white and once in your colour of choice (teal here)  Layer the coloured on the front and the white inside - this covers any glue that shows and adds strength.  Add frosty accents to the front of the window panels if you choose and the extra layer of frame to the large bottom panel.

Inside I used the Charming Embossing Folder to create an analglypta style wallpaper to my wall, then created my fireplace by cutting it 3 times - grey, cream and teal and layering it up (there a tiny bits that hold each layer together when cut so you just snip to remove the bits you don't want on each layer - so clever and such fun to build - I've got more coming for Christmas!  The die includes a hanging brush and shovel and I used the brush handle to create a pair of candlesticks for the top.  The mirror is the small element from The Greetery's Filigree Frame die cut from gold and silver mirri.  Once the fire was added to the grate, and the flooring added the back panel was glued into the card.

For my second layer I used the same width of floor adhered to a piece of white card 2cm's longer.  The hangover (1cm either end) gives you the tabs to stick to the side panels and create your shadow layer (you could add another at front if required in the same way for a 3rd layer)  I build the chair, added a rug and fussy cut the dog so there was no extra white space around him and glued them to the layer.  I added a sentiment in the side panel to complete the card.

The card folds flat and fits in a 7 x 5 inch envelope - to open it the doors have to be opened to the side, leaving the sides square or otherwise you pull off a tab but it stands as its own little vignette quite perfectly.

Hope that's given you some ideas of how to hack that die and fill your room!   I'd love to see your versions if you give it a go.

Right, back to adding stock now before I need to cook dinner.

Happy Crafting!

Tara