D is for Dies (and No Dies too!)

Happy Monday! Here we are at the beginning of another week and it's fully summer just about everywhere I'm sure. My daughter is in Nebraska this week complaining about the heat! And I'm feeling very summery too. So when I went over to Darnell's I.D.E.A.S. Challenge and saw that D is for dies, one of the first ones that jumped out at me was my "Hello Sunshine" from Pink & Main.

I love word dies that also have backgrounds, and this is one of my faves, but I've never used the whole thing because I feel it should have a sun on the card somewhere. Usually I just use the part that says "Hello" as it's easy to cut away the "Sunshine" part. But as I hopped around on other blogs this morning I saw some summery cards and really wanted to make something using the whole "Hello Sunshine" sentiment. But alas, I have neither a sun die (only little ones I bought premade on eBay) or a sunburst die. So, taking Darnell's cue, I made both!

I started by creating my own sun using a round die and a diamond die strip then cutting the diamond shaped pieces apart and gluing them around the circle. Then I created a sunburst by cutting four pieces of paper into triangles. You can see in the last picture that the pieces of patterned paper didn't line up perfectly, which is why I cut strips of orange to over up the gaps. 

Here's my complete supply list:

• White Card Stock
• Black Card Stock
• Pink & Main Hello Sunshine Die Set
• Spellbinders Circle Dies
• Sizzix Border Dies
• Stampin' Up! Daffodil Delight Card Stock
• SU! Pumpkin Pie Card Stock
• SU! Pineapple Punch Card Stock
• Various Yellow Patterned Papers
• Generic Diamond Embellishments

I tilted the sentiment to give it a fun feel and hopefully the placement of the diamonds lead the eye up to the little bee. Had I planned this better I would have made his placement more pronounced, but he's still visible so I'm happy.

In addition to Darnell's I.D.E.A.S. Challenge, I'm also uploading this to Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge and The Four Seasons Challenge, both perfect summer challenges. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a sunny day!