Midweek Media: Using corrugated cardboard

Hello crafty people! Today’s post features another up-cycled product that I think most of us have access to–corrugated cardboard.

In my continuing quest to share different media to use on our crafty projects as well as stretch my crafty muscles, I pulled out a piece of corrugated cardboard I had in my craft room and decided to use it as a part of two cards I made for a card swap.

READ ALSO: WHY PAPER CRAFTING?

The hardest part of using the cardboard was pulling the outside part of the cardboard so you could see the textured inside on both boxes. I was mostly successful, but you can see some of the remaining top layer, especially on the lower left corner of the red card. But I think it looks pretty cool and organic, like I meant it to be there.

Card #1

This card features a few circular background layers. The smallest circle was stamped with some purple pigment ink and heat embossed with holographic embossing powder before coloring in the leaves with a variety of purple and light brown water reactive markers before watercolor smooshing the watercolor panel with more of the same purple pigment ink mixed with water. After everything had dried, I die cut the panel with a smallish circle die.

I then lightly ink blended the edge of the circular die with more purple ink and then put it to the side. I then pulled out a leftover purple ink blended circular die cut (middle layer) and splattered it with water to create some texture on the panel. I then blotted it with a rag and after the panel dried, I splattered it with more water to adhere some sparkly copper embossing glitter to the panel. After heat embossing the splatters, I ran a copper pigment ink pad around the edges and heat embossed the edge with more of the sparkly copper embossing glitter to create a border.

The largest circular die cut was of course die cut out of some corrugated cardboard, and then the edges were ink blended with more of the copper ink before embossing it with the same sparkly copper embossing glitter.

I then pulled out two additional leftover pieces from previous projects–a sentiment strip that I had already stamped, heat embossed with more holographic embossing powder and die cut and a pre-stamped, heat embossed and die cut wheat image. I ink blended around the edges with some of the same purple pigment ink used for the other layers.

To assemble the card, I glued down the corrugated cardboard die cut first, knowing that I would need to trim the right edge as it was too large for the card base. After trimming it, I heat embossed the new right edge with more of the sparkly copper embossing glitter and then added more of the copper ink lightly along the rest of the right edge of the A2-sized white card base. I then glued the mid-sized purple circular die cut and finally the leafy die cut. The wheat cluster was glued on the left side of the circular die cuts and then the sentiment was attached with some foam tape on the back for dimension.

To finish the card, I glued some copper and purple sequins to the lower left corner and along the right edge of the card.

Card #2

This second card was made in a similar fashion, with a few less layers. I had created the apple patterned paper with a similar technique of the first card–stamping an image and heat embossing it, and then using a variety of colors of water reactive inks to watercolor smoosh the background, this time with a sparkly spray instead of water. After the watercolor paper had dried, I colored in every other diagonal row of apples by watercoloring them with more of the red ink used to watercolor smoosh the panel, and a brown water reactive ink to color in the leaves. After everything had dried again, it was die cut with the smaller circular die.

A piece of red patterned paper was die cut with the slightly larger die in the set, and in this case you can see both the plain internal circle that is cut out as well as the decorative frame that this die creates. I ink blended the frame with more of the same red ink and then heat embossed with holographic embossing powder. The same red ink was used to lightly ink blend around the edge of the internal red circle.

This time, I used a plain rectangular die in my stash to die cut the corrugated cardboard, and then ink blended with a few different inks before heat embossing with a couple different embossing powders. I used two different brown inks in the middle of the corrugated paper panel and heat embossed them with more of the same holographic embossing powder. The edges of the panel were heat embossed with some copper embossing powder.

I pulled out another pre-stamped, heat embossed and die cut sentiments for this card as well, and ink blended around the edges with more of the same red ink that was used on the rest of the card.

To assemble the card, I glued the red die cut frame onto the corrugated cardboard background, cheating it to the left because the whole frame wouldn’t fit. I then trimmed the edge of the frame that overhung the background. The interior part of the red circular die cut was glued onto the card next, and again was trimmed on the right to end where the corrugated cardboard ended. I then heat embossed the right edge of the frame and interior part of the largest circular die to match with the correlated cardboard layer. The smaller, apple stamped circular die cut was glued over the red patterned paper on the right edge of the corrugated cardboard layer. The sentiment was added next with foam tape. Copper and pink sequins were glued onto the lower left corner of the corrugated cardboard and around the sentiment strip. I splattered the whole thing with more of the dark brown ink used earlier to heat emboss the corrugated cardboard mixed with water. Finally, I glued the whole thing onto an A2-sized red card base.