Proud To Be An American Wall Art

This card was made using the following tutorial: http://geschtempelt.de/technik-blog-hop-2/ that my friend Libby sent to me. I own the rectangle diffusers made by Tim Holtz but like the concept of making your own diffusers when you need them! I strayed from the tutorial in that the directions call for 2x 5-layered diffusers, and I made 2x 4-layered diffusers.

I use a cuttle bug (the small purse size works so well in the trailer) and my sandwich ended up being (bottom to top) A + soft embossing pad + embossing folder with diffusers on either side + B plate. To make my diffuser I chose Gina Marie stitched diamonds and used the second largest and fourth largest dies. To ensure they were properly lined up I used the  Cricut magnetic cutting mat which has a grid and once lined up the dies don't move. 

I experimented on white and when I made the stars (Darice A2 embossing folder)  I knew that I would have to finish a patriotic art piece for our trailer. I sponged Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink softly on the stars and sponged in the middle very lightly. The sentiment came from a retired Stampin' Up Set. I cut stars out using Lil' Inkers designs double stitched stars. I varied the stars layouts and used dimensionals on a few for more depth. I mounted the art on a red corrugated cardstock. 

In addition to using a new tutorial, I am using a new laptop and have loaded up GIMP 2.8. I am a long time Photoshop user but my version is so old I want to make myself learn something new that is no cost to me. This post contains four images that I edited in GIMP. I did have to look up some video tutorials to get through watermarking, the other parts came easy.

I have entered this project in the following challenges:

• Come and Get it CHallenge - 3-or-more-layers - This project is 5 layers
• Crafty Creations Challenge #334 - Anything goes
• Crop Stop - January Anything Goes Linky-party/