Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sunbursts

I got a clue! :)

People ask me where I get my ideas, and I tell them I spend a lot of time reading blogs and tutorials. A LOT. For example, my bloggy pal, Lauren, posted a card for a challenge I used to follow, then for some reason it fell off my radar. Which challenge? It's called Inspired By Challenges, and you get a different inspiration each week. This week's challenge is:


Sunburst. I have never successfully made one of these, so I decided to give it a whirl today. I have several templates for cutting sunbursts so they're even, but Lauren did hers without one, so I thought I'd be bold and try the free-wheelin' option myself. Here is one of the three (THREE) cards I cranked out today:

I used my now-open pack of Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers. The trick was to get the strips of paper ray-like, and since I was flying without a net, this is what I did:

First, I cut a bunch of strips about 1.5" wide:

Then I cut them each on the diagonal:

I did this for all the papers. For the yellow strips, though, I had other plans, so I cut them again:


Then I got to work. I covered pieces of card stock with adhesive (I used my ATG, making sure to hit the edges), then placed my first ray sorta in the middle. The rest I just lined up next to it and it made its own pattern. For the first one above, I didn't use any yellow, but for the next two I did, because I wanted to mimic the yellow in the inspiration piece.

Here's one:

 You can see I separated each colored strip with a piece of yellow, and it really brightens it up! You can also see that the top layer on this card doesn't reach all the way to the right edge. That's because ... have you ever cut your own bangs? You know, take a little off on this side, then a little on this side, then ... yeah, again I did this. I finally got it pretty even, then stuck it to the yellow layer crooked. I cried UNCLE and cut the dang yellow edge off and decided this one would butt up against the left side of the card. I totally meant to do that. *ahem*

For this next one, I had a moment, and 4" turned into 3.5", so it was too small to start with. I realized this after I'd stuck on the rays:

To be different, I lined this one up with the right edge. Since I was in "winging it" mode, I also hand-cut the circles for the centers of each sunburst. Okay, they are not actually circles; they are rounded-edge shapes.

I've been staring at these most of the day, trying to figure out what to do to finish them. Did they need something more inside the circles? Did they need bling? What? I finally decided they didn't get anything else, and I settled on plain old sentiments and made them into banners. I called them Done.

And now that the weekend is just about over, I have another idea, but it will have to wait until tomorrow evening.

On that note, I bid you adieu. I hope you had a good weekend, have a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

12 comments:

  1. They don't need anything extra! Perfect, as is!
    I saw Lauren's too and both of y'all just did fantastic on them. Love the placements on the sentiments on yours too. And thanks for the tip on how to do the strips....I'll have to try it!
    Lynn

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  2. Love these!! These sun rays look great!!

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  3. i love them! and love that inspiration piece!

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  4. Oh these are such fabulous cards! You were busy! Thanks for playing along with the challenge!

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  5. OMG!!! these are just tooooooooo flippin' ♥AWESOME♥!!! (or rather, 3 flippin' awesome!) :) i loooooove when you "wing it" and this might be the BEST time ever! i soooooo wish i had done layered, hand-cut circles for my "sunshine" now! oh and i looooove having the smaller yellow rays... all of the same pattern... in between, that is VERY cool. the sentiments are great, as well. i don't think they need ANYTHING else... except maybe a stamp and *MY* address, lol!!!!!!!!! BRILLIANT, in every sense of the word, missus! ♥♥♥

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  6. They all look perfect from the pictures. Fabulous cards all around!

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  7. I think they look fine just as they are, they don't need a single thing. I have been meaning to try sun rays but I am not as brave as you, I will use a template. Or maybe it's just that I'm lazy.

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  8. Fun! Thanks for the idea and the tut!

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  9. LOVE LOVE LOVE these!!! I hoard my CC Early Bird, but I may have to copy you on this one...these definitely go in my fave-Leslie-cards...FABULOUS.

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  10. OMG, i wouldn't even attampt to do this. I don't have the patience!!!!!! :-)

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  11. Love your take on the inspiration, Leslie! Your cards all look like quilted wall hangings - very cool!

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  12. I love these Leslie! You can send one to me anytime! ;-P

    I'm still here... I read every post even though my commenting is sparser than ever.

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I'd love to hear what you really think! :-)

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