Karen Burniston April Challenge - Accordions With Friends!

Hello! I am so honored to be a part of the Karen Burniston challenge this month. Shelly Hickox is a member of her design team and for April, each member got to choose a blogger friend to join in as well. Thanks Shelly for picking me! You can see her completely awesome card on her blog here.

Last year Shelly made the most amazing tunnel cards using Karen's accordion dies. When I saw them on her blog I just knew I wanted to make one too! Check out the wonderful tutorial on her blog so you can see how it really is easy to do using Karen's accordion dies. I went with an ocean theme for mine, using the Accordion Rectangle die:

They look complicated but trust me, they really aren't! I don't know how to do nifty videos like Shelly to show how dimensional this really is but I did take lots of photos. ;-)

I pulled out every sea-themed stamp I own when I was choosing what to use. Some are from deep within my stash and have been around for years. Ones that you can still get are down in my supplies list at the bottom of the post.

I love all the layering you can do in these cards. To make my fish "swim" I cut tabs of thin clear plastic and glued the fish to them. They float quite nicely I think!

The great thing about these tunnel cards is that they fold flat so you can actually put them in an envelope and mail them off:

If you're trying to wrap your head around how this goes together, Shelly's tutorial really does a good job of explaining everything. I will give you a peek at my two sections before I put them together. You do need to do all your stamping, coloring etc. before you put them together. I found it helpful to make a mockup out of scrap cardstock and pencil in where the main features on the edges would be. Then I took the mockup back apart and was able to ink, stamp and stencil in the proper spots.

The very back of the card is a panel of clear packaging plastic that I glued a white coffee filter to. When the glue was dry I used Distress Stain to color it and then stamped on it. I like how it's semi-opaque and the light streams in like it would underwater.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I've inspired you to go get creative. Many of the supplies I used for this card can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Follow the links below and use my code JUICE there to save 10% if you go shopping. I will also point out that US shipping is always $5 and international shipping is just $10. ;-)

Elizabeth Craft Designs Steel Cutting Die, Accordion Rectangle	3491 Deep Sea Diver	5990 Shell Plate 10	Stampendous Cling Rubber Stamp, Bathing Beauty Image	By The Sea 2	Tim Holtz Collection Stencils - THS006 - Dot Fade
Crafters Workshop Kelp Forest Crafter's Workshop Template, 6-Inch by 6-Inch	Tim Holtz - Distress Ink Pads - Tumbled Glass	Distress Ink Pads - Mermaid Lagoon	Tim Holtz - Distress Ink Pads - Salty Ocean	Archival #0 Pad - Jet Black	Archival Ink Pad Designer Series: Wendy Vecchi - Cornflower Blue
Archival #0 Pad - Cobalt	Archival Ink Pad Designer Series: Wendy Vecchi - Hydrangea	Archival Ink Pad Designer Series: Wendy Vecchi - Watering Can	Tim Holtz - Distress Marker - Full Set in Tube	Tim Holtz Water Brush - Detailer Tip	Tim Holtz - Distress Stains - Tumbled Glass
Perfect Pearls Mist - Blue Smoke	Tim Holtz Distress Paints - Forest Moss	Tim Holtz - Distress Paints - Peacock Feathers	Tim Holtz - Distress Paints - Scattered Straw	Perfect Pearls - OS - Forever Violet	Perfect Pearls - OS - Forever Red
Inkssentials Glue N' Seal - 4 oz. Matte	EK Success Cutter Bee Precision-Cut Scissors	Deco Art Media Texture Sand Paste

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