I stamped the image onto vellum bristol, & colored it with my Prismacolor pencils. I went over his eye with a black glaze pen, & used a white gel pen to add the catchlight in his eye & a highlight on his beak. Then I die cut the panel.
I used the front of an old Christmas card for the mat around the image panel. I had previously die cut the greeting from that piece, so I made sure to position my image panel to cover that rather large hole. I cut the mat layer down, leaving a 5/16" border on all sides.
For the outer mat, I used a faux letterpress piece that I'd done a loooong time ago. The ink transfer was rather splotchy in places, & I just really didn't like it. But I had kept it, and it's been sitting on my desk for months. I thought the colors worked perfectly for this card, & having only a 1/8" mat peeking out covered up most of the splotchy inking. I adhered my layered panels to a white card base.
I really struggled with where to put the greeting. I finally decided to use one from the Hero Arts set, rather than the "Pine Bough" set. I love how it tucks into the branches perfectly! I used a black felt-tip pen to add the ellipsis.
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2023 GMT Views: 282
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Registered: February 19, 2011 Location: Fullerton, CA Posts: 15255
Wed, Feb 15, 2023 @ 2:52 PM
Your cardinal is gorgeous -- super coloring and I'm impressed with how you wield a white gel pen. The simple framing is all he needed; but both your layers are more than simple and add to the wintry feel of this card. You made the absolute right choice on the sentiment. It does tuck in those branches nicely. Awesome card.