Hello Folks! Scott here with a NEW collection from Spellbinders that caught my eye – the Checkmate Collection. Not only did I think these Chess and Checkers dies were so clever and unique but paired up with an embossing folder and layering stencils, I thought this collection might be perfect for masculine cards!
The Chess and Checkers Die Set creates all the needed Chess pieces as well as Checkers! The Harlequin 3D Embossing Folder is terrific all alone, but really shines when paired with the Layered Harlequin stencils and the nifty shadow stencil for all the chess pieces!
There is also the Well Played Sentiments Stamp and Die Set that adds to the fun of this collection. 20 sentiments and the blue highlights are the 6 cutting dies included with this set. The top die will cut all the single-line sentiments above it. Some perfectly appropriate sentiments here as well as a few good puns!
Fortunately, Spellbinders has a terrific assembly guide available on-line to assist you in assembling all the chess pieces. I love the classic rendering of all the chess pieces – has anyone ever played a game of flat chess?
I wanted to put together all the chess pieces to start with, but I thought I’d stick to the classic Black/White colors, and instead of having to think of different shades of Black and While for the pieces, I decided to grab some Pearlescent card stocks out of my stash – I thought they would show off the layering and give us a sense of shine on the pieces.
The picture doesn’t show it, but both the Black and White pieces have a great amount of pearlescent shine that shows off the details delightfully! And you just gotta love those shadow stencils! I’ve never been a big chess player but I quickly became a little obsessed with creating an accurate representation of a chess game for this first card.
I found an old 6″ x 6″ piece of Grey Marble pattern paper (Simply Marbleous from Stampin’Up!) and embossed it with the Harlequin Embossing folder. I used the Layered Harlequin Stencil (2 of them) to ink blend Hero Hues Licorice Reactive ink into the recessed diamonds. I picked a black corner at the bottom of the embossed/inked panel and trimmed away the two sides to make this “corner of the board”. I added a 3/8″ Black mat along the “board” edges and trimmed the whole panel to 4.25″ wide. A fancy marble chessboard! Standard chessboards are 8 spaces by 8 spaces, and the most spaces you can get in a line with this embossing folder is (almost) 7, so no way can we show a whole board on an A2 card. HA!
I decided where to place my chess pieces – I wanted to show off all the pieces – and I had to consider where their shadows fell as well. This is not a likely scenario for a real game, but I kind of like seeing all the Black pieces lined up in a row! I used the shadow stencil from the stencil set and ink blended Concord & 9th Dove ink through the stencils for all the pieces. I found that if you keep the shadow stencil straight up and down the shadows should fall right in place. I glued the “chessboard” panel on an A2 White card base and trimmed off the top to match. I glued the chess pieces in place and stamped the sentiment in the open corner – a nice little pun perfect for a Black and White Valentine! Looks like we caught somebody right in the middle of a game!
I like that card so much, I figured I’d go for broke with even more Black & White… what if we cut the embossing apart? I’m not sure what possessed me, but I embossed an A2 panel of Black card stock and an A2 panel of White card stock in the exact same place on the embossing folder. Then I sliced up the white panel into individual diamonds just following the embossed lines. I did take care to keep everything in order and everything facing up the same way. Then I took the recessed White diamonds and glued them into the recesses on the Black embossed panel. That was fun!
I couldn’t resist this sentiment! And of course one must have a Gold Queen! I assembled her using Tim Holtz Metallic Gold kraft card stock and added two Gold crowns (from the checkers dies) around the back of her crown, and added a Brushed Metallic Gold dot in the center. Fancy! I trimmed my paper-pieced background to 3.25″ x 4.5″ and added a thin White Glimmer mat (1/16″) and a thicker (3.75″ x 5″) Back mat behind before gluing all down to an A2 White card base. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock and cut it out with a rakish angle on one side. I did double-up that card stock for a little added strength. I mounted the Queen and the sentiment with foam tape. This makes me smile! And you don’t have to be a chess nerd to appreciate it!
After paper-piecing that background together, I realized that I had another set of embossed White diamonds just waiting. Of course I had to emboss another A2 panel of Black card stock so I could paper piece the White diamonds on all the raised embossings. But wait… I was going to do a Checkers card next…
While I was trying to stay true to my search for classic accuracy, I realized that classic Checker Boards are Red and Black. Now, I could use the stencils to ink in the White diamonds, but if I just use normal dye ink, the black won’t show any of the ink so I can just go crazy all over the whole panel and not worry about getting Hero Hues Cherry Core ink on the Black diamonds! That was fun! I assembled the checkers with more Pearlescent card stocks and stacked up the two red checkers for our “crowned” checker. Now, Checkers are played only on the Black squares, so I took that into mind as I trimmed the background panel to 3.375″ x 4.625″ (a bit larger than the last card so I was able to preserve the whole width of the Black diamonds). A thin White mat (1/16″), thicker Red mat (1/8″), and thicker still Black mat (3/16″) are stacked behind the background and all are glued to a White card base.
I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock and die-cut it with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die and folded the ends back and forth for some dimension. I used foam tape to attach the checkers to their respective Black squares, and attached the sentiment with foam tape in the center and glued the ends down flat. Now, there are only four sentiments in the Well Played Sentiment Stamps that I would say are specifically for Checkers games, but a lot of the sentiments work just as well for checkers as for chess!
Of course my anal-retentive ways focused my mind on these very straight forward classic representations of chess and checkers, but you can’t go wrong embracing a classic design in Black and White (and Red)!
The great thing about this collection is how much versatility it offers! You can make your Chess and Checker pieces any color of the rainbow, and that holds true for the Layered Harlequin Stencils as well. And of course you can use that Harlequin Embossing folder (and stencils) for a wide assortment of different cards – no chess or checkers needed!
If I’ve managed to catch your eye with this great new collection from Spellbinders, and you’d like to grab some of these sets for yourself, please use my links listed below! I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use my links and that helps keep the wheels in my ol’ noggin going round and round and sharing with you what inspiration these new products spark!
Chess and Checkers Cutting Dies: https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fchess-checkers-etched-dies
Harlequin 3D Embossing Folder: https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fharlequin-3d-embossing-folder
Layered Harlequin Stencils: https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Flayered-harlequin-stencil
Well Played Sentiments Stamp and Die Cutting Set: https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fwell-played-sentiments-clear-stamp-die-set
Checkmate I Want It All! Bundle: https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fcheckmate-i-want-it-all-bundle
For all your other crafting needs: Spellbinders NEW Products
Thank you very much for spending a little time with me here today. Your attention is always appreciated and it thrills me on a daily basis! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me button at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions, comments or just to say Hi!. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share this post with all your crafty friends – especially any Chess or Checkers Fans! And remember… Don’t run with scissors! As always, I send You and Yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!
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