For May, they said:" Nothing brightens up a card quite like a RAINBOW! Add one or all of the vibrant colors to [a] card with embellishments, ink, paint, flowers, or whatever ...!"
Since I'm still trying to play from stash, and to use things I have purchased but never used, I though I'd start with acetate sheets from Stampin' Up! which I bought more than 5 years ago. But I didn't want to make a card with it --- too fiddly and where does one hide the adhesive? So I decided it would be an accent on my card.
First I used the die "Courtyard" (657429) to cut a lattice from a piece of cardboard (the kind used in cardboard packing boxes). I was going to do two lattices but my Big Kick balked at teh second run so I settled for the first run. I painted the cardboard lattice three times with "Picket fence" Distress Paint to "Seal" it (I have issues with corrugated paper and with chipboard, soaking up the color and then not working how I want in the next step so I hoped this would help.). After the lattice had dried, I inked it with "Versamark" embossing ink and heat embossed it three times with Creative Beginnings regular "White" embossing powder.
Next, using the acetate and a scrap lattice that I have used as a stencil before, I painted in the openings with Distress Markers in all the colors of the rainbow but Indigo (""Festive Berries", Ripe Persimmon", "Squeezed Lemonade", "Mowed Lawn", "Faded Jeans" and "Seedless Preserves") - I couldn't have fit Indigo in, anyway, even if I had a marker of that color! I wasn't sure if Distress Markers would work (they did color but wiped off easily) but I didn't have the range of colors in alcohol markers or StazOn inks so I figured it was worth a try. To keep the color from wiping off/smudging, I trimmed the acetate and taped it face down on a 5 x 7" piece of white cardstock. It smudged a little but now the colors are protected from wandering fingers! The embossed white lattice was then taped (using 1/8" ScorTape) on top of the acetate so that the color showed through the openings.
Next, I ran a piece of black cardstock through the die cut machine, again using "Courtyard". I put lattice aside and saved the uncut portions of card which I fit in on either side of the embossed white lattice (more ScorTape).
Finally, using a die from the "Adventure" Thinlits set (660224), I cut the word "beautiful" from white cardstock and, using collage glue, attached it to the black card below the lattice.
The entire front was attached to the front of my card: