This card was made for a card challenge where you had to use only three colors (gray, and only two others). I chose Stampin' Up! (SU) Basic Gray ink, and both a yellow and green Copic marker. It was inspired by a beautiful card by Hammond & Penny (https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Y48D6p...=1kq1m6lwz549p)
I started by stamping the ginko leaves from SU "Beautifully Braided" twice near the top of the card front using my SU Stamparatus stamp positioner. I've learned you get a much cleaner impression if you stamp lightly a few times than if you load the stamp up heavy with ink just once.
I then hand colored the two ginko stems using only the Copic Marker YG03 (Yellow Green). I created shading by going over the base of each of the leaves multiple times with the same marker
Then I stamped two more ginko leaf stems on a scrap piece of thick white cardstock using the same gray ink. Using my ScanNCut cutting machine I scanned this piece of cardstock, then had the machine cut out the outlines of the leaf stems. I removed these from my cutting mat, and reloaded it with a blank piece of heavy cardstock and cut the shapes out again. I used these extra ginko stem shapes later when I mounted the extra stamped images.
I hand colored the two cutout stamped images using the same green and the Copic marker Y21 (Buttercup Yellow). On one stem I used green at the base of each leaf then blended in the yellow out to the leaf edges. For the second stamped stem I used the same yellow marker, and only a little green out on the leaf edges.
Using the extra blank stem outline cutouts, I glued two on the back of the green/yellow stem to raise it up off the card base for added dimension and shadowing. I then glued down the mostly yellow stem in the upper right corner of the card, and then the stacked green/yellow stem in the upper left corner.
I wasn't quite happy with the stark white background of the card front, so used a small blending brush to brush the gray ink around the stems to give a dappled background look to add even more dimension. If i were to do this again, I would do the background blending BEFORE gluing on the extra stems. This was the first time I've used my new blending brushes, so I'm going to have to practice more before using them again.
The final step was to use the "kindness" sentiment from the same stamp set as the ginko leaves, and stamp it at the bottom of the card front using the same gray ink as the stamped leaf images.
I am rating this card at a difficulty level of "3" out of a possible "5" because of the need to cut out the ginko stems. I can be done with a pair of paper snips, but the cutting machine is a LOT faster and easier.
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 GMT Views: 634
Favorited:4
Registered: November 24, 2013 Location: NYC Posts: 17690
Thu, Aug 13, 2020 @ 3:40 PM
I love this. It is great how you achieved different levels of color with extra color layers. The grey came out well! Sometimes you can "feel" a color challenge but you cant here. This feels very natural and no limits.
------------------------------ Margot
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