Hello everyone! I hope you are well. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have the joy of spending time with my grandson over the next couple of weeks. Lucky me!!! I am blessed to have this 'one on one' time every summer. We found a quiet beach (social distancing!!!) on Okanagan Lake to cool off from the hot temperatures. He has been here just a few days, and by the end of each day, I am exhausted! A 12 year old boy has lots of energy in spite of the oppressive heat! How does he do it?! Better question, how do I do it?!!! LOL ... so my card making is limited to the early morning in the quiet stillness of the house before he (and the puppy crew) rises!
One of my projects, a collection of three cards, was working with Graciellie Design's new release, SIMPLICITY. I really love leafy images and the sketched branch in this set is beautiful! It is accompanied with some wonderful sentiments that remind us to appreciate the 'little things in life' that often get lost in the complexity of day to day living.
I discovered something about my printer recently. I have only been able to print my digital images on light weight watercolour paper. When painting on this paper, I was always so careful not to use too much water because of the warping that was often difficult to flatten out. I tried cutting my Canson 140lb Cold Press paper in 4 1/4' by 5 1/2" panels and printing them. I have no idea why, but my printer accepted the heavy weight paper with no issues. Something to try out if you are in the same boat as me!
This discovery inspired these cards. I created three colour wash backgrounds using Mijello Mission Gold Water Colours on the Canson paper; one in pinks, greens and bluish purples. I also used Nuvo Shimmer powders on two of the backgrounds. The panels were left to dry completely before printing the images and sentiments on them. I printed first on copy paper to ensure the layout worked on the A2 size watercolour paper. Copy paper is translucent enough that it can be laid over the panel.
Green Colour Wash Card
I decided to fussy cut the branch from the background for this card. The image was mounted on black sheet foam. The interior background pieces were removed with a craft knife. The sentiment was printed on 80lb Neenah Classic Crest card stock and stencilled with Simon Says Stamp's Waves using Russian White Nuvo Crackle Mousse. Because of the lighter weight card stock, the panel did warp and needed to sit under some heavy books to flatten out. The panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle die and adhered to an A2 sized card base. I always use 110lb Neenah Classic Crest for my card bases as it is a sturdy card stock. The leafy image was attached and the card was embellished with clear sequins topped off with Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops.
Pink Colour Wash Card
The panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle die. This panel and a piece of matte gold card stock were die cut with Simon Says Stamp's A2 Thin Frames. Black card stock was adhered to a card base. The outer portion of the colour wash panel was glued to the card. The inner panel and thin gold frame were mounted on black sheet foam before attaching it to the card. The card was embellished with gold sequins topped off with Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops.
Bluish Purple Colour Wash Card
This panel was also die cut with a stitched rectangle die and simply adhered to a card base covered with black card stock. The card was embellished with shiny, lilac sequins topped off with Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops.