Zebra Shadowbox

All stamps are from I Brake For Stamps (see sidebar) and they are currently on sale, under the New Stamps category.

This is a shadow box style card, basically a sealed box without ends. It might look complicated but it's super-easy, and will lay flat enough to mail and then unfold again to stand up like you see here.

Card measures 3 3/4" x 4 1/4" x 1"

I started with an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of sturdy white cs. I cut it down the middle the long way, so that I had 2 pieces, each 4 1/4" x 11". Then I laid one of these pieces in front of me with the long end going left to right. Starting at the left end, I used a ruler to mark off pencil lines at 1", 4 3/4", 5 1/4", 9 1/2" and 10 1/2". Then I trimmed off the last 1/2". Then I scored along the lines I'd drawn, and erased the pencil marks.

If you'd like a background, do this now. You could use a piece of patterned paper and adhere it, or do a quick Watercolor Distress wash like I did (see the CD frame post or the TechniqueJunkie newsletter for Feb 07). I used Antique Linen over all, Brushed Corduroy at the base and a smidgen of Scattered Straw at the top.

*tip*

If you want your piece to be extra sturdy, do your background on a matching piece of cs, then tack this over the card base. I like to cover both inside edges as well as the back piece so that when the card is turned at an angle the scene continues as far as you see.

Next I stamped the zebra on heavy weight cs (Bristol works good) in black Staz-On ink, and highlighted it with a brownish bronze pencil for the stripes and a green one for the grass. I trimmed this out closely and set aside.

*tip*

When cutting images out I like to do as much as works well with my Fiskars Softtouch 1 3/4" blade scissors, and then finish with an Exacto blade and glass mat.

My next step was to cut a piece of specialty paper (thanks Juli! for giving me this fabulous sheet - do you know me or what?!) to the size of the large front view panel (3 3/4" x 4 1/4") and adhere. Then to cut the window, I flipped it front side down, marked a border 5/8" in on all sides, and cut with an Exacto knife. To keep all the loose edges intact, I ran a line of Elmers around all the cut edges inside and out, feathered it out with a paintbrush (don't forget to wash this right away or you will end up with pointy little bristles! LOL)

I stamped the phrase on a scrap of background paper, trimmed closely and pop-dotted on the frame as shown. I added some antiqued copper brads on the bottom and side.

To finish the card, I stamped the trees right on the background using Stampin' Up!'s Always Artichoke, and a stamp postioner to see where they looked best in relation to where I was intending to put the zebra. Then I used an extra-thick pop-dot (you could put two or more pop-dots together for the same height) to place the zebra where I thought he looked best.

Then I just ran doublestick tape along the inside of the first 1" panel, and stuck this down to the outside of the last 1" panel to close up the box.

*tip*

If you want an interesting shadow box on the outside as well as the inside, try the bkgd technique on both sides of the scored cs before doing any of the other steps.

Thanks for looking!