Today I have a card for you that I made a while ago but never got around to posting on my website. It's an elegant card featuring this beautiful LOTV (Lili of the Valley) stamp which is called “Seasons Girls : Autumn”. From all the Seasons Girls stamps available this one spoke to me the most and I know it’s not autumn but I felt like colouring this image anyway (I guess because of all the storms we're having here), I think it fits this time of the year as well. And if you don't allready know: I'm a big fan of LOTV stamps!
On the first card I used my Faber Castell Polychromo’s and on the other cards I used my Bruynzeel coloured pencils (they are a Dutch brand that is used a lot by kids and adults alike: you can buy like 45 coloured pencils for less then 10 euro’s, the cores of these pencils are a little harder (but not scratchy) then Faber Castell Polychromo’s but they come in a lot of colours, this set of 45 is only lacking a light blue and a dark red in my opinion.
The idea for this card was to make a portrait in a frame, like an old painting or a picture in an old storybook. So I started by stamping this image with Versafine “Onyx Black” ink on Canson Bright White Heavy Weight paper for coloured pencil, leaving a border of at least 2 centimetres around the image, so I had something to work with when I would assemble this card.
For colouring the image I used the following Faber Castell Polychromo’s: Skin: 132 and 189;
Dress: 219 and 217;
Hair: 187, 285 and 175;
Other colours I used are: 185, 176, 180, 112 and 165 and for the background 271 and 138.
I first used 271 (Warm Grey II) on the background but that looked a bit blah so in the end I decided to use 138 (Violet) over it to make it a bit more interesting (which was a risk because red and violet don’t always look good together, but I love the result for this image!).
After colouring each part of the image, like for example the dress, I burnish the lighter parts with 101 (White) and the darker parts with the darkest colours (for the dress the darkest red). I tried odourless paint thinner in the past but that somehow doesn’t work for me, that’s why I use the burnishing method with white and coloured pencil, I feel I have more control this way.
As a finishing touch for the colouring I used a little Gelly Roll pen in “Clear Star” on some of the green leaves (because they turned out a little darker then I wanted) and I used my Edding Gel Roller in gold for colouring in the frame that’s part of the stamped image.
Then it’s time to start working on the rest of the card: I originally started off with the idea to do three layers for the frame around the “painting” but after trying out the dies I own I soon realised there wasn’t enough room on the card for that. And what I also realised was that cutting with the dies wouldn’t leave any room for the sentiment.
That’s why I had to measure every frame on the inside by hand (and hand cut) after figuring out the exact measurements. The inside opening of my red piece is (you have to remeasure for the card base you use if you would like to recreate this card!) measuring 1,3 centimetre from the outside from three sides which leaves an inside rectangle measuring 7,4x10,5 centimetres (around the stamped image) to cut out. For the brown piece I measured 0,7 centimetre on three sides outside inwards, which leaves an inside rectangle measuring 8,6 x11,7 centimetres to cut out. Wow, that’s hard to describe! I hope you understand what I mean: three sides are equal around the border, leaving enough room for the sentiment on the bottom part.
Before I pieced everything together I found the brown piece needed something extra, so I stamped the Hero Arts “Canvas Background” stamp (since I was going for the whole painting/old book idea!) with Memento “Espresso Truffle” and after drying I stamped Happy Birthday from the “Simply Quilled” stamp set from Clearly Besotted with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Ranger “Gold” Super Fine Detail embossing powder. And I also used some Versafine “Crimson Red” on the edge of the red piece to create a bit more contrast.
I used liquid glue for piecing the red and brown piece together and 2 millimetre thick foam tape between that and the stamped image to enhance the painting-frame theme (you have to be very careful because once it’s stuck it’s stuck) and to create more dimension. Then I adhered the whole piece with liquid glue to a white card base.
I could have left it at that! But after debating with myself for about 10 minutes I felt this image needed al little something extra ( I have that constantly, mostly leading to adding more bling, I bet you know what I’m talking about, right?) and I suddenly remembered that I have these tiny fabric roses in my stash that would fit this image and colour-scheme perfectly and would ad to the spring vibe of this card. I’m so glad I didn’t throw these cute roses out on my last purge (they have been in my stash for over ten years!) because they look so cute on this card. I adhered them with 3D-kit because I don't own a hot glue gun. Now all I needed to do was to let everything dry, in the morning I added a little more 3D-kit because one rose felt a little loose and that finishes this card.
I would like to submit this card to the following challenges:
- Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge:"Challenge 53: Anything Goes": http://lilpatchofcraftyfriends.blogspot.nl/2017/03/challenge-53.html
- Sweet Stampin Challenge: "No designer paper": http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2017/03/no-designer-paper.html
- The Ribbon Girl Challenge: "Anything Goes":
http://ribbongirls.blogspot.nl/2017/03/march-card-challenge.html
- SSS Monday Challenge "Based on a Book": I chose Little Red Riding Hood because of her red dress and her basket: http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=8178
- Lili of the Valley Challenge: "Flowers": We don't have many flowers outside, where I live, in this part of the year, we do have a lot of spring storms, so I added additional flowers to this card for an extra spring flower vibe: http://ideastoinspire.blogspot.nl/2017/03/march-challenge-flowers.html
- Southern Girls Challenge: "Nature inspired": Autumn stamp and flowers: http://southerngirlschallenge.blogspot.nl/2017/02/challenge-154-nature-inspired-with-team.html
- Colour Crazy Challenge: "Anything Goes": https://colourcrazychallenge.blogspot.nl/2017/02/week-8-colour-crazy-challenge-star.html
I made two other cards where I used the Bruynzeel coloured pencils and I chose a orange / olive green colour combination that I liked. On the craft coloured piece I first used a white pencil and then the coloured ones over the white. Unfortunately this craft card stock wasn’t a good match for my coloured pencils (I also tried with the Polychromo’s and that result was even worse). Next time I will use Strathmore “Toned Tan” paper.
I love the orange / olive green combo, it’s so fitting for this image somehow (I wanted to do that with the Polychromo’s as well but I found out I don’t have any olive green Poly’s, so they are on my wishlist as of today). On both cards I used the “Canvas Background” stamp mentioned above but on the craft card I used it on the inner piece (VersaMagic “Wheat” on crème card stock) an on the other card Memento “Bamboo Leaves” on the outer piece (over green card stock).
I heat embossed the same sentiment: on the craft coloured piece with Wow “Opaque Vanilla White” and on the other card with Stampendous “Detail White” embossing powder.
On the white card I used a mint green coloured pencil for the background to make it extra special and that colour works great with the orange and olive colours. It’s not a colour combo I would pick just like that but if I don't know what to do I go to my crafting catalogue. Of all the mediums I use I always make a colour swatch that I store in my catalogue/inventory binder and they are a great help when figuring out what colours to use (I did the same with my embossing powders, that’s how I could match the gold embossing powder for the first card with the gold gel pen colour).
Finally I used embellishments from my stash to decorate the cards after piecing everything together. And that finishes today’s post.
Isn’t this the most elegant stamp ever?
I love LOTV stamps, if you have any favourites that you think I should try, then let me know!
#LOTVAutumn #FaberCastellPolychromos #heroartscanvasbackground #ClearlyBesottedSimplyQuilled
