English Country Side

Following on from the success of the Rapunzel card, I had to try the stepper template again and I also wanted to utilise the landscape dies as more of a focal point so I folded another card from blue this time and cut a pile of rolling hills:

Its unfortunate that the direct sunlight in this pic is showing up all the flaws where I have removed the odd tree from the sweeping hill – its not so obvious in real life, I promise!
It waited as just the green hills for about 24 hours while I mulled over how to finish the scene but a balloon from Up, Up & Away (SU) seemed appropriate and I have had this lil moo cow punch for ages and don’t think I’ve ever used them on a card! I added a sentiment and twine in orange to add a spot of colour.
Again, here is a side shot showing the steps more clearly:

Fairytale Steps

It all started with this gorgeous card I spotted on Pinterest (right) I’ve always been more of a papercrafter than anything else and I’m always up for trying out a bit of paper engineering so I was more than game to have another go at a side stepper card.

Lorraine at Cards & Co has a really good tutorial on her blog and she also tells you that these lovely digi stamps come from Pink Cat Studio (Lily & Billy) and I was immensely grateful that as part of the download you get a coloured version – my headache and unimpressive colouring skills were both very pleased!
I was also very pleased to see that she had used the Memory Box landscape dies in her background too - I added a little SU Pear Pizazz ink to the edge of the other layers to help them stand out from the background layer – and I made my bushes with by cutting up a die cut from my new Memory Box Grand Oak die and adding tiny pink flowers (actually punched snowflakes double layered) with a yellow gem attempting to echo the flowers on Rapunzel’s tower.
Here is a side view showing the steps more clearly, I hope you like!

Picking Cherries

So I finally caved and joined an online card class – late as ever (is it still “late” when its always? Isn't it just Jody time by now?) cos I joined two days after it started but so far so good!

The class is called His & Hers and the basic concept is to inspire feminine and masculine versions of cards with a common link.



Neither of these cards bear much resemblance to any of the designs explored in the videos I have watched so far but I have cherry picked a number of elements that came together to form these beauties.

One thing discussed so far is how the design can become his or hers just by changing the colour scheme. I found these two papers in my leftovers and they coordinated perfectly with another tidbit I picked up – hearts for girls and stars for boys. This is by no means a hard and fast rule but again its a simple element to change about a design that can completely alter the feel.

Also earlier in the day I had seen this card by Debby Hughes, utilising a SSS die that is very popular and an “on the edge” technique that has enticed me for quite a while. I don’t own that die so Robocop got a dusting off and cut my choice of word, the specs, the star & the heart out.

The white panel is foam mounted and the specs and element are simply glued down. The BIRTHDAY is from The Crafts Meow Typically Teen stamp set – I chopped the HAPPY off and stamped it in SU Real Red & Pacific Point then daubed the mini elements with the same ink.

If any fellow students are reading this and are wondering; I made a conscious decision to keep the same font, and the same shaped frames – although I did toy with Dame Edna style frames for a little while! – and to use black on the frames. I guess I wanted to change the minimum amount of elements to prove (or disprove) the theory – do you think I did?

March Days

 

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade”

 

I have always found Charles Dickens to be a dreary author and I hated studying Great Expectations at school but this quote is an example of hitting the nail on the head (and probably why every one else thinks he’s great!).

 

 It didn't really require much embellishment as the artist had already laid the words out well, but I’m enjoying this paint splodging thing so I decided to flick a bit of Dylusions around. I also added a die cut flower which I touched up with a bit of the left over ink and a water brush, pretty & simple!