Audrie took us to a fabulous Pinterest board for inspiration today! I loved all of the pins. Several inspired my card but for this card, it was mainly this snowy tree. The pictures on the board brought back a load of great memories, some old and some recent. When you grow up in northern IL, you embrace the snow because if you "fight" it, you will lose. Hee. Whether it falls one inch or four feet, you deal with it. No matter how many yrs you live with it, there is "something" magical about the first snowfall of every single yr. It overwhelms your heart with happiness and in my case, usually brings a tear to my eye. It's as though the beautiful, pure, white snowflakes bring me a sense of renewal, a unique joy that is all it's own. Realistically, you know the havoc it can create (terrible driving conditions, ice, accidents, power outages, etc) but you can't help loving it anyway. This winter we haven't had nearly as much as usual but today it's supposed to snow from about 2 to 9 p.m. and I say 'Bring on a fresh blanket!'
So ... my card started with pieces I salvaged from a card I made in 2012 that I didn't like. It was blah, plain and boring. The trees were stamped in one SU ink color so I salvaged that and the blue panel which became the start of today's card. The SU blue panel was stamped in distress ink with a LKR snowflake bkgrd stamp. My card was also inspired by this card made by our FS465, Kathy LeDonne, as well as, the FMS217 sketch that ended 1/4.
To begin, I over-stamped the original trees with a more detailed tree stamp* (both tree stamps I used are loose rubber with no markings so I can't tell you who made them) in four shades of Ranger distress green. The trees went from plain and boring to colorful and the second, more detailed stamp gave them more depth, too. I used a small PTI snow flurry/flake stamp with Versfine white ink to add snow but the image was faint, not defined and looked like white smears. I was going to use my Ranger white paint but then I decided to use my Marvy white Liquid Embroidery pen. I dabbed it on my trees which added white, sparkly, icy-looking texture and dimension to them. The picture doesn't do that justice! IRL they look very pretty! I inked the edges of the cream panel, the blue panel and the new kraft card base with several distress ink colors. I put the pieces on the card base, raising the blue panel with SU dimensionals. It's not "plain" anymore and I love the way it turned out.
I am adding my card to the following challenge galleries:
Registered: May 15, 2005 Location: Arlington, Washington Posts: 30400
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 2:05 PM
I would say that everything came together perfectly! Love the awesome colors and design! So very eye catching!
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Judy
DT for Sassy Cheryl's Fan Club Member
" If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser. Spread it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke. ~Brendan Frances~
Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni Proud Fan Club Member Splitcoast Challenge Hostess Teapot Tuesday TEAm
Registered: April 18, 2011 Location: Melbourne, Aus Posts: 51844
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 3:01 PM
Oh my goodness Miss Gabby, this is FABULOUS!!! Your trees look incredible, with the depth of colour and texture. I love all the panels and layers. The button and twine are the icing. Your story was lovely too my friend.
------------------------------ Susie
Please don't take your organs to heaven - heaven knows we need them here.
Registered: January 6, 2004 Location: Connecticut Posts: 20543
Sun, Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:02 AM
Your trees have such beautiful depth to them. Lovely! Thanks so much for playing a second time in my gallery's!
------------------------------ Rediscovering the simple joy of stamping and exploring my art! Stamp your ART out! Share your thoughts. Let your heart sing.
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FS465
Registered: April 1, 2012 Location: Rogers, AR Posts: 28924
Sun, Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:44 AM
I love the rustic feel of this card and the awesome scenery you did is perfect! The band and button are perfect additions. Love it!
------------------------------ Jan 'Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ'. Philippians 1:6