So I Went to a Card Class, Part 3: Guiding Light Etched Dies from Spellbinders

 It's the third and final card from the card class I attended at my local papercraft shop.

This card featured the Guiding Light etched die set from Spellbinders--designed by Dawn Woleslagle of WPlus9.

Card made with the Guiding Light die set from Spellbinders

For this set, the class presenter had us cut the arch shapes in 3 different sizes on 3 different papers, lining them up at each step, then she embossed the background design. I don't know what those dies nor embossing folder are called.

Actually, before we did that, we had to plan out the design to go inside the smalled opening. Before gluing any of the pieces down, I added the stars. It's a little white acrylic paint mixed with water, then flicked onto the blue background paper to create a night sky feeling.

The moon is a piece of vellum to which I doodled & smeared some silver paint marker designs (also hides your glue!).

The rocks are 2 dies that work together to add depth. The set actually comes with another pair if you'd like more rocks.

The lighthouse is clever. These are etched dies. The lighthouse has light marks to show where to place the door, windows, and even the stripes. You could of course just color them in, but the die pieces are included. You could skip them, too--perhaps if you didn't want those stripes.

This set has lots of little tiny dies, especially around the top of the lighthouse. Again, you can use or not as you like. Designer Dawn Woleslagle said that she based the lighthouse on the St.Augustine lighthouse in Florida.

Once the lighthouse was in place, the class presenter drew small pencil dots in the lighthouse windows. Then I used a 1/4" hand punch (standard hole punch) and punched out that blue background paper. I added a small piece of vellum to the window openings. Then using tear tape (!), I taped a small battery-operated light in the opening from the punched hole.

We noted with another pencil dot where the push-button feature on the light unit was hitting behind my card front, then I glued one of the birds over the pencil dot. Now the user can press on the bird lightly, and the lighthouse will light up!

After that, I used double-thick foam tape and taped around the back of the card front, including around the light mechanism, which was something like this one from Pear Blossom Press. 

I added a few small sticky back "gem" pieces for more sparkle in the sky.

It came out beautifully--and I don't want to give up this card! I DO want to buy this die set, though!

One note: the class presenter said that she originally tried this light-up card design on a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card base, but it kept falling over, so we made these cards on a 5x7" card base. 

Disclaimer: I am an Amazon affiliate and, if you purchase using my link, will receive a small store credit from Amazon at no extra cost to you.