Get dimensional with Donna Mundinger!

My guest today is the lovely Donna Mundinger of Popsicle Toes. She is the de facto queen of dimension.  Her projects are full of awesome details and luscious yummy layers. I generally marvel and gasp when I visit her blog. Seriously. Her shaped cards are to die for! :) Today, she spills the secret to her dimensional creations and is hosting a challenge with a fabulous prize for one lucky participant! :)

Shall we marvel at some of her dimensional beauties?

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Hi, I'm Donna Mundinger and I'm so happy and honored to be a Guest Designer on Yvonne's fabulous blog. I'm such a fan of her bright and happy style! I live with my hubby of 35 years and two kitties in the East Bay of San Francisco, CA. I've always been a crafter but started working with paper when I received a Cricut Expression for my birthday 3 years ago. Although Cricut will always be my first love, I've expanded my repertoire to include the Cuttlebug and rubber and digi stamping as well. I consider myself a card maker, with a few altered projects thrown in for good measure. I'm not sure I have a signature style, but do I love to add dimension to everything I create.

Sometimes it's LOTS of dimension! This is my DT card for Bitten By the Bug2 this week, created in Cricut Design Studio.

It's a shaped front card card, one of my favorite kinds to make. As you can see, the front has many layers and is very dimensional. The back has several mats as well. One thing to keep in mind when adding alot of dimension to your card front, is to make sure the back of the card has enough structure to support it or the card will seem very flimsy when opened.

The card is created in layers by welding the elements in Cricut Design Studio. Here are all of the layers that went into the creation of this project. the first is the card itself, with a full front mat glued to the front of the card to hide the fold line. Each subsequent layer is a combination of welded elements plus the additional colored layers that have been glued flat. As you can see,this leaves 5 layers that will be popped with dimensional foam onto the card base.

I started out buying packaged foam squares and dots and quickly decided that it would be more cost effective to make my own using foam sheets from the craft store and transfer tape on both sides. Not only does it come in many colors (so it sort of disappears when viewing the card from the side) but you can cut it to any size you want. You can also run the foam through your Xyron. As you can see, I use a good amount of foam to support the many layers.

Here the dimensional view with all of the layers attached. It's quite labor intensive, and not the most practical for mailing (I use a padded envie or special presentation box) but it's challenging and fun and always delights the recipient.

Now I know you all don't own a Cricut, but you can add dimension no matter what your style. Here is an adorable Tiddly Inks digi stamp I've printed several times, then fussy cut the features and popped them. This works for rubber stamped images as well. You do want to color the layers, however (at least the edges of them so it still looks nice when viewed from the side). this image had very little coloring, but you can always scan your colored image and print it out several times so you don't have to color multiple images.

And here's an example where the first embossed mat is popped as well as the Spellbinder's frame, the sweet kitty image from Peggy Loves Vintage, and the sentiment tag. Easy peasy, so my challenge for you is to add dimension to your card. You don't have to go as crazy as I do, but I would like to see at least 2 layers popped from your card base. The winner of the challenge will be chosen by Random org and will receive a $40 gift certificate to Custom Crops so let's get popping!

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Pretty cool, eh? I know I would be delighted to receive such a dimensional card in the mail! *hint* Are you ready to play along with your pop dots? That $40 gift certificate awaits one lucky participant! :) Share your creations via Inlinkz (located at the end of this post) by Friday May 6.

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Donna. :)