Gorjuss In Green...

Hey!! :)

I’m back with the card I mentioned in my last post which will be my first ever entry into the Sugar Bowl Challenge :) You wouldn’t know it from a look through my blog but, until last year I’d hardly ever made any ‘character cards’- it was mostly butterflies and flowers ‘til then- and I’m not sure I’d even heard of Sugar Nellie before I started blogging last year but I am sooo happy that’s been put right now!! :) This is actually my first Gorjuss Girl card, too- I’ve coloured a couple of the images before from a stamp of my own and some sent to me by a kind and very lovely crafting friend but, what with the madness of Xmas etc., none have made it onto cards ‘til now!! :S This is one of the new ones I treated myself to with the very last of my pressie money when Funky Kits had them reduced the weekend before last and I love it!! :)

I water-coloured the image with Distress Inks and was really only messing about as, after a pretty disastrous attempt before Xmas, I thought I’d need to get myself some proper water-colour paper to be able to produce anything even halfway decent... but, while far from perfect, it happily turned out usable even on the 160gsm Staples card I use most of the time for my PMs :) I'll still get some proper paper at some stage but I’m happy to play with what I’ve got for now- it’s been so long since I used a brush and water rather than a waterbrush (college art class almost 10 years ago kind of long, I’m ashamed to say!! ;) ) that I’d almost forgotten how but I read a great tutorial on Rachel’s blog as well as the one on Hanna’s, which Rachel links to, and they got me back on the right track!! :) My effort is nowhere near as good as either of their's but I'll keep practicing ...shame no tutorial can help with the M.E.-induced clumsiness that is the reason I’ve avoided open pots of water for so long, but no disasters so far- touch wood!! :S lol

It’s quite a different card from my usual, I think- the colours for a start but also the amount of pattern in the paper. I really like the cards I see others make with patterned papers and want to make them myself which is why I got myself some Pads of paper so at least the colours all co-ordinated but I’m a bit of a scardey-cat when it comes to pattern (in clothes as well as craft!) and especially multi-coloured patterns, so I feel a bit out of my depth here-  I like it (I think?! :S lol) but I just hope I haven’t got it horribly wrong and that others will like it too?! :S

So, for this card I used:

•         Lovely image from Sugar Nellie, Gorjuss Girls – A Little Birdie Told Me stamped in VersaFine Onyx black  :) 
•          DIs: Bundled Sage and Milled Lavender - clothes; Antique Linen and Tattered Rose - skin; Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Black Soot – hair; Pumice Stone and Stormy Sky – bird and background; little bit of Milled Lavender on bird 
•        Cut and Dry Nibs with DIs to add finishing touches to the colouring 
•          Papers from the Basic Grey Kioshi pad with scraps from Kioshi and Memory Box’s Gossamer padfor the flowers 
•          White paper with Henna and Cool Grey 3 Promarkers for matting and frame (I used the grey over the henna to tone it down as the brown just looked too warm for the papers but it actually produced a grainy kind of look that seemed like wood to me... happy accidents!! :) ) 
•          Brown Fineliner to draw on the woodgrain effect on the frame 
•          Greeting ('hello!'on bottom right of frame) from Woodware Clear Magic ‘Jane’s Script’ set 
•          Memento Rich Cocoa ink pad for greeting and to edge papers and flowers 
•          Baby Pink flat-backed pearls

 

I really love these lollipop flowers- it’s the first time I’ve tried them and they were so easy to make, too!! :) Plus, they’re almost flat which is one reason I don’t use the gorgeous 3d flowers much as most of my cards have to survive the post and I can’t afford to send everything in boxes!! ;)

This last one's mainly me playing with the focus on my camera again but I think you can kind of see the woodgrain-effect I was talking about getting with the PMs on a couple of these- it's honestly better irl, though!! :)

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: The Sugar Bowl – Maria Therese’s fab sketch :) ;  Totally Papercrafts – Friendship (I think the girl and bird look like friends and the card will be given to one of my friends, too) :) ; Sweet Stampin’ – Spring Flowers :) ; Sir Stampalot – All Creatures Great and Small (my bird) :) ; Paperplay – Stamp It Out :) ; Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight – Water :)

Right, I’ll pop off and get those linked up before I’m out of time then!! :) So, I hope you like and thank you so much for reading and for all the lovely comments on my last card!! :) Hope you’re having a good week!! :)

 

hugs,