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: March 31, 2008 Location: Eastlake, OH Posts: 22598
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 8:05 AM
WOW! I LOVE the way those trees came out! The multi stamping really gave such a realistic effect! Gabby, this is truly gorgeous and love the way you designed this. Love the panel you created too picking up some color from the trees. What an incredibly, beautiful card!
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Registered: October 26, 2009 Location: Oakhurst, near Yosemite Nat'l Park. Posts: 46819
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 8:09 AM
Oh those trees with the script are fabulous! I love the card with the grunge framing, the strip of snowflake paper and twine with button! Fantastic!
Thanks for playing!
------------------------------ Blessings, Robin Encourage one anotherMy Blog-InkMagination , QFTD201,Dirty Dozen Alumni.Impression Obsession DT, ECraftDesigns DT, Formerly HC DT, ODBD DT, DRS DT
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Registered: February 22, 2006 Location: Casselberry, Florida Posts: 46530
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 8:13 AM
I am always in awe at the various shades of green one sees when driving through a wooded area. You captured that feeling with the trees on your lovely card.
Registered: December 16, 2008 Location: Woodinville, Washington Posts: 11566
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 8:21 AM
I love the way your card turned out and thank you for sharing the how too! A wonderfully creative and inspirational design....thanks for sharing your love of snow!!
Registered: May 23, 2009 Location: sunny california Posts: 9825
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 10:32 AM
This is beautiful, Gabby. It has such a wonderful old rustic feel. I love the aged blue panel with the button and twine. You did an awesome job designing this beauty.
Registered: April 19, 2006 Location: Waterford, WI Posts: 20540
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 12:24 PM
Wow! What a gorgeous creation. I can't believe you saved something that long and remembered. I love your wonderful peaceful scene. I need that in my life today.
Registered: January 20, 2010 Location: Brampton, Ontario Posts: 26180
Sat, Jan 09, 2016 @ 1:56 PM
I love the depth your trees have! That rich brown distressing pulls the card together as a cohesive whole. With a change in sentiment this would be a fantastic masculine card as well. Kudos for rescuing an unloved card from the past!