Floating Layers Card

 Hi friends!  Glad you stopped by today.  There's a technique that I've been meaning to try for months, but there was always something more important that I had to do first.  You know how that goes?  Well, today was the day for making a card using the "floating layers" technique.  It didn't sound hard at all when I had investigated it months ago, and it wasn't.  It just took a little thought beforehand to decide on colors, etc.  When I was finished with the card though, I considered taking the sentiment off and changing it to an Easter sentiment instead.  Even my grandsons thought it looked like an Easter card.  Will it work for a birthday card though?  I need some input here...

Does it have too much of an Easter feel to it to be considered a birthday card?  Should I change it?

It starts with a Highland Heather card base that's cut to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" then scored and folded in half.  The main layer of the card is Sahara Sand cut to 4 3/4" x 3 1/2".  This was attached to the folded Highland Heather card with adhesive.  Then both layers were embossed with the Tasteful Textures 3D Embossing Folder to give it some interest.  This is my favorite embossing folder right now and I tend to use it maybe too often.  Or is that even possible?  Anyway, the subtle texture here is just enough - without being too much.  Now on to the "floating layers".

Choose what colors you want to use for your colored strips of cardstock.  For this card, I used Highland Heather, Balmy Blue, Pool Party, and Mint Macaron.  The strips ranged in width from 1/4" to 1/2", and each strip was attached to the Window Sheet (sold in the 2021-2022 Annual Catalog) with a very thin bead of Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.  When attaching the strips, make sure you leave a small gap between each of them to get the "floating" effect.  You can add the colors randomly or in a sequence like I did.  It's totally up to you.  

When you have the strips attached, decide which die set you'll use to cut out the piece.  I used the largest die from the Tasteful Labels Die set. 

TIP:  Run the die through your machine at least 4-5 times to cut through all those layers!  Any sections that still didn't cut through can be easily cut with your Paper Snips.  The lines to cut on a quite visible from the back side.

My apologies here - I still have some of that gorgeous Be Dazzling DSP from the last Sale-a-bration.  I love it too much to quit using it as it's a fabulous glitter paper that die-cuts so nicely.  I keep tucking in little bits here and there on my projects.

For the focal dies, I used one of the Harvest Dies to cut the Be Dazzling DSP (retired).  Next I wanted the long-stemmed flower from the Meadow Dies added.  But it needed color, so I used Blending Brushes with Highland Heather and Mint Macaron inks to color a scrap of Basic White cardstock.  Then I die-cut the flower stem from that.  Very pretty.   

Both die-cuts were attached to the floating layer with Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.  This whole layer was attached to the card front with Mini Dimensionals.  Be careful to only put the Mini Dimensionals under the cardstock strips so they don't show through on the front of the layer!

A butterfly from the Meadow Dies set was cut from the blended-color cardstock also.  After cutting, a few strokes of Wink of Stella were added to the butterfly to give it some shimmer.  This was added to the card front with Mini Dimensionals

The last part of the card was the sentiment.  It's from the Inspired Thoughts stamp set.  This was stamped with Soft Succulent ink so it would be darker than the colors used so far, but still blend with them.  I also used a scrap of Soft Succulent cardstock trimmed up and layered behind the sentiment.  This was attached on the left side with adhesive and on the right side with a Dimensional to keep it flat.

That's it for this card - no other bling or doodads added.  I was happy with the way it turned out.  I love the floating layers technique, and it's so easy to do.  I have a segment of it leftover, so now I need to design something to use that up!  And then try different color combos and have some more fun creating.  

Hope you give this technique a try!  If you have questions about the technique, please get in touch with me.  I'd love to help you do this too.

Keep stamping and creating!

Sharon