The Card Concept 132 Easter Blessings

 

Hello my friends. Our Easter challenge is up for The Card Concept #132:

How do I create a card from an inspiration photo? Our Design Team has all the challenge photos through June 2020. I have printed them and spend time mulling over which part of the photo inspires me. I have been a card maker for many years so I have a pretty good stash of stamps and dies to use.

In this case I was inspired by the bird cage and knew I had a die from Memory Box called "Who Let the Birds Out". I am ashamed to say how long I've had it and never used it. So what could be flying out of or be in a birdcage? A bird, birds, butterflies? Yes! and I have the perfect stamp, again never used, from Pink and Main. It comes in a bundle or separate, but for this card I only used the stamp set:

I used the flying butterflies, stamped with Versamark Ink, on an A2 size piece of Strathmore Watercolor Paper. Next, I sprinkled Nuvo Detail Glacier White Embossing Powder over them and heat set. To watercolor, I wet the paper with clean water using my Silver Brush Size 8 Round watercolor brush. Then using Altenew's Ocean Wave pan watercolor, I dropped in the blue color. This color was a direct copy of the blue in the inspiration photo. I did some splatter with the same color, too.

The sentiment is from Altenew's Sketch Cities America stamp set and the embellishment are Pretty Pink Posh's Sparkling Clear. I have used both multiple times (I am a New Yorker!) and this set has so many possibilities.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the bird cage! The top layer was a piece of the white card stock, just big enough to fit the birdcage die. I ran a Versamark pad all over it to completely coat it. I wanted a brass look, as in the photo, so I had copper embossing powder in my stash (Stampin' Up!) and sprinkled that on the full piece coated with Versamark and then heat set. Once cooled, I ran it through my Big Shot with the bird cage die. There are 2 layers underneath - a piece of white and a piece of khaki. They were adhered together with Gina K glue, but I used a spray adhesive on the back of the die cut and then adhered to the card front. Sounds more complicated that it is.

The card base is a piece from the Earthy Paper set by Taylored Expressions. I wanted to pick up the burlap color on the lamp. I left the inside blank to complete at a time when I need to send it out to a friend - could be birthday, get well, sympathy or just a general thinking of you. At this time in the world, this sentiment is just perfect.

So how did I do from the inspiration photo? My style is Clean and Layered and I have found that is my usual style. The thing is with a challenge, is that it is totally up to you and can be almost anything. The photo or sketch is just the jumping off point. Come join us at The Card Concept Challenges - and stretch your creative muscles! 

Love to all and be safe!!!

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