Southwestern Sunset Card in Yellow Plus Sunset Through the Trees

Peek at Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card

I had sunrises on the brain yesterday and today it's sunsets. I enjoyed making my Southwestern Sunrise Card and decided to use the same sketch to create a Southwestern Sunset Card. I wanted this card to be darker with a more foreboding sky, yet still highlight the richness of color in my sunset. Besides the color differences, I also selected a different silhouette of a woman for this card. Again, I used a combination of digital and non-digital techniques to create my handmade Southwestern Sunset Card.

Since I have sunsets on my mind, here are a few pretty sunset pictures I captured while working in my yard. I found the colors in the sky to be gorgeous.

Sunset Through the Trees

Beautiful Sunset Through the Trees

Trees Silhouetted by a Colorful Sunset

I love the dark silhouettes of the trees against the colorful sky.


My Love of Papercrafting Challenges

I follow many challenge blogs and my Southwestern Sunset Card reflects the following challenges:

• Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge to incorporate a ribbon or cord and use digital stamps. My Southwestern Sunset Card has a ribbon at the papers interface and all the silhouettes are digital stamps.
• Love to Create Challenge this week is anything goes so I elected to enter my Southwestern Sunset Card.
• Creative Inspirations Challenge this week is anything goes so I elected to enter my Southwestern Sunset Card

Handcrafting My Southwestern Sunset Card


Card Statistics

• Final Card Size: 5.5" tall x 4.25" wide
• Tools: oval dies, inverted scalloped circle dies, cuttlebug machine, scoring board, paper cutter, blending tool, sponge pieces, non-stick craft mat, computer
• Digital Stamps: saguaro cactus, grasses, woman
• Materials: cardstock, scrapbook paper, cover stock, adhesives, spray sealer, inks, glossy cardstock, ribbon
• Card can be Purchased in My Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Southwestern Sunset Card

Front View of My Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card 

Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card

To begin my card I created my sunset on a 4" x 6" piece of glossy cardstock using a blending tool, sponge pieces, and ink. Once the ink was completely dry I added the silhouettes (saguaro cactus, grasses, and woman digi stamps) digitally by printing them on my inked background. After adding the silhouettes I used die cuts to create two separate image panels. I cut an oval around the cactus and an inverted scalloped circle around the woman. Again, I think the inverted scalloped circle resembles a sun to me and fits with my sunset theme. I sprayed the image panel with matte sealer to protect the inks.

I selected the color palette for my card based upon the colors I used in my sunset. Lucky for me I had a striped scrapbook paper that reflected the colors in my sunset. I used this paper to determine the two primary colors for my design. Those two colors were a banana yellow and light chocolate brown.

For the base of my Southwestern Sunset Card I used banana yellow cardstock and scored it across the top so that my card opens vertically from the bottom. I created the front panel from light chocolate brown cardstock and affixed a piece of the striped paper on the lower portion of the panel. Before attaching the panel to the card base I added a dark brown ribbon at the interface where the two papers overlap and wrapped the ends of the ribbon around to the back of the chocolate cardstock.

To finish off the front panel of my card I matted both of my images with banana yellow cardstock and popped them from the surface of the card to give it some dimension.


Angle Views of My Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card

Left Angle - Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card

Right Angle - Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card

These views of the front of my card give you an idea as to how the popped image panels add dimension. I used silicon adhesive to obtain the dimension.


Inside Panel of My Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card

Inside Panel of Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card

I elected to leave the inside of my card blank. The panel base is chocolate cardstock that I layered with white cardstock. I embellished the panel with a strip of the striped paper.

I also constructed a handmade envelope from heavy cover stock to complement my handmade Southwestern Sunset Card. I embellished my envelope down its left side with a strip of the striped paper.


Final Handmade Southwestern Sunset Card and Coordinating Handmade Envelope

Handmade Southwestern Sunset and Envelope Set

What a difference color makes. Here's a card with the same architecture as my previous card, but has a very different feel to it. I like that aspect of my card making.

This card set is available in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Southwestern Sunset Card

Card Recipe Specifics for Southwestern Sunrise Card

• Cardstock: The Paper Company, Ocean State, Wausau
• Paper: DCWV
• Cover Stock: Staples
• Dies: Nestabilities classic ovals large and small, Nestabilities classic inverted scalloped circles large and small
• Digital Stamps: saguaro cactus from Digi Doodle Shop; grasses and woman silhouettes from All Silhouettes
• Inks: Colorbox pigments
• Tools: cuttlebug machine, scoring board, paper cutter, blending tool, sponge pieces, non-stick craft mat, computer
• Misc: adhesive, silicon adhesive, ribbon, spray sealer
• Techniques: sponging, die cutting, digital stamping

Thank you for visiting my blog and allowing me to share my handcrafted items with you. I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back soon!

Page Content © 2012 Polished Moxie Concepts and Designs

Back to top of post

Back to challenge list

Back to front card panel

Back to inside card panel