Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Groundhog's Day

Tell me the truth...has that groundhog ever NOT seen his shadow on February 2nd? Every year it's the same thing...we yank the poor rodent out of his warm cozy burrow and parade him in the frigid winter air for his great prognostication. If I were the furry fellow, I'd be grumpy, too! I have a better idea...let's leave the little guy alone for a change and think warm thoughts instead.

I made today's card for the guest designer challenge at My Favorite Things. The challenge is to make a card that says "spring". For me, nothing says spring like enjoying the outdoors, with green leaves, green grass, flowers and sunshine. I think this card captures all of the above!




Lorie R. had asked me how I got the sunny dappled background on the baby card the other day. So I thought I'd use the same technique here and show you how. Basically, I use a stipple brush, but a sponge would work just as well. I start by making a mask of the image that I want to stipple around...in this case, the girl on the swing.



Then, I place the mask on top of the image to cover it up and prevent it from getting accidentally inked.


Then, I make sure that I have a juicy ink pad. In this case, I re-inked my Summer Sun pad. I dab the stipple brush into the ink pad and carefully stipple the area around the image.


When you lift away the masked image, you'll get a nice warm glow around the girl on the swing. Easy!

{recipe: Start the Day with Whee! (Pure Innocence-MFT stamps), summer sun ink and card stock, wild wasabi card stock, melon mambo cardstock, Basic Grey Nook and Pantry paper, Pure Luxury white card stock, versafine onyx ink, Prismacolor pencils, gamsol, Martha Stewart picket fence punch, leaf punch (SU), velvet flowers (Maya Road) }

This card made me think of my house in Michigan. I had a white picket fence, an English cottage flower garden, and a tree swing made in Napa Valley from the old staves of wine barrels. I would swing the baby under the Linden tree, and it was always an invitation for my neighbors to come over and chat and coo over the baby. Happy memories!

1 comment:

  1. Ahhh...spring! Feels like a distant memory as it is snowing again in Michigan. Thanks for the sunny card to bring warm smiles today. I love it! Thanks also for the personal tutorial. ;) I will definately give it a try to add a little sunshine to a card. You are always full of inspiration and ideas to try on my cards and sometimes the inspiration is to run to Starbucks for a latte!

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