MFT Sketch Challenge #379
When I first saw the latest sketch for MFT's sketch challenge, I knew what stamp set I wanted to use and how I wanted the card to look. It isn't often that an idea translates easily to reality, so I was pleased with how my card turned out. Here's my finished card for the challenge.
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| MFT Sketch Challenge #379 |
With the slope and the banner, I had the idea to use the Somebunny I Love stamp set which I recently purchased but had yet to use. I wanted to create a night sky with clouds at the bottom of the card, so I flipped the sketch so the slope would be at the bottom. This is just some of the versatility of sketch challenges. Rotate them, flip them, and think outside the box. There are just so many possibilities!
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| Vertically flipped sketch |
Now with this layout in mind, I was ready to create a night sky with some fluffy clouds to cradle the sleeping bunny. Normally when I use distress ink, I ink up the whole card front or envelope front, but this time I needed to leave white space for the clouds. After grabbing my favorite distress ink blues (Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, and Broken China), my roll of painters tape, and the Clouds stencil, I taped my card base down to my craft mat. I didn't need to tape all four sides, just two small pieces of tape near the bottom two corners. Once I decided which cloud edge I wanted as the 'top cloud', I placed the stencil over the bottom portion of the card base, making sure to keep the slope, and taped it in placed to the craft mat.
I tend to work distress inks from light to dark, so I started with Broken China. Broken China is a beautiful, bright blue. I didn't want a completely dark night sky or galaxy view, but I wanted a few bright spots as if they were clusters of stars or even whole galaxies. I choose three spots to add that color and lightly blended the ink onto the card. Two I wanted close to the clouds, just at the edge, and the third higher up.
Next, I added Faded Jeans to the card front. I kept this color close to the Broken China spots, keeping some white space for the third color at the top near both corners and just below the higher spot of Broken China. Finally I added the Chipped Sapphire, a beautiful, deep blue with just a hint of purple.
I tend to work the ink light at first and once I have all my colors down on the paper, I'll go back over each, adding more ink and blending the edges. Distress ink tends to lighten just a bit as it dries on the paper so if it even looks too dark, just wait and see how it looks a bit later. And if you go light, you can always add more ink.
Now to create the clouds. Normally, the stencil is moved down and a different edge or angle is inked to highlight the tops of the clouds. I've used this stencil a handful of times in exactly that manner but this time I wanted something a little different, a little softer, a little more defined. So I googled images of clouds and this was the one that caught my eye.
I zoomed in on the image and noticed more color on one side of the clouds. It wasn't just more blue but a mix of blue and grey. I didn't want to use ink to create all of those shadows, so I grabbed an old product that I still keep in my craft room: Pebbles Co chalk palettes. I only have one set but it has a wide range of light and bright colors plus a few neutrals. Now I bought my set years ago and I'm not sure if the company still exists or the palettes are still being made but I did find several sets available on Amazon. Each palette contains 15 colors, each color in two shades, so really you have 30 colors. Each color pair has three cotton pom poms in small, medium, and large sizes and a tool with a clip on the end to grab and hold the pom pom.
Now I still layered the clouds as is normally done with the stencils, but instead of the circular motion I used to add the ink for the sky, I pounced it: lightly tapped the applicator down over the stencil edge. It creates a softer look. The ink I used was the Broken China for its soft, bright color. Once I had my layers, I grabbed the chalk palette and choose a light blue-grey and the small pom pom. I planned to add a moon to my night sky somewhere on the right so I kept my shadows on the left. At first I applied the chalk in a circular motion but then switched to just an arch following the edge of each curve, leaving just a sliver of white between the grey chalk and the distress ink for a highlight. As I went down each layer, I varied the amount of the grey. To add a bit more color, I went back over each cloud and blended the blue-grey chalk and the blue ink with a light blue chalk.
Once I had the night sky inked and the clouds shadowed, I colored my sleeping bunny with copics. Now if you noticed the white specks on the night sky background on the finished card or the close up of the bunny below, don't worry, I'll get to that. :) It wasn't added until a little later in my process.
I decided to stick with the blues and greys but made the bunny brown so he would stand out. I'm still learning how to create folds using copics and in truth, I went through four stamped images before I completed the one I actually used. I still have a lot to learn but I'm happy with how it looks.
Here's the list of copic colors I used:
Blanket and bed: B39, B97, B95, C5, C3, C1, E89, E44, E43
Pillow: C7, C5, C3, C1, 0
Bunny: E99, E35, E34, E31, E53, E51, E50
As part of my creative process, I take photos as I go. It allows me to 'take a step back' or 'see it through different eyes.' It really helps me decide and make changes as I go. Sometimes I'm not sure about how something is going or which way looks better, but when I take a photo I either fall in love with it or I see clearly what I need to change/fix/add. I've found it to be a really helpful part of my cardmaking.
So I placed the bunny on the card front, trying to decide where I wanted to adhere it. At this point I was also debating on adding specks of paint for stars. :)
Now we get to the paint specks. :) I grabbed a small, plastic palette with six wells and added some Martha Stewart paint in wedding cake (white). The paint is a little thick so I spritzed some water in it to thin it out. To spatter the paint on the card front, first tape the cloud stencil back over the card to protect your clouds. Next, choose a 1/4 inch flat brush with relatively stiff bristles. You want a brush with bristles soft enough to bend but not so soft that they stick together when wet. Once you have your brush, dip it into the thinned paint (make sure its not so watered down it drips), hold the brush at a slight angle with the bristles down over the card, and use your finger tip to scrap the bottom of the bristles. You'll need to move the brush around over the card to cover it with spatter, but you should get varying sizes of small white dots that will look like clusters of stars. Add as many or as few as you like.
I stamped a coordinating sentiment from Somebunny I Love onto a pearly white cardstock and die cut it with the fishtail banner with stitched edge from MFT's Blueprints 29. Yet again I placed everything I had so far onto the card front and took a photo.
Now I had picked a trio of small stars (stamp from Sun & Moon by Papertrey Ink) and a crescent moon (stamp from Shine On by Simon Says Stamp) to add to the card. I wanted to emboss them so they would stand out more but did I want to use detail white powder or the new glow in the dark powder from Lawn Fawn? I decided to use the white, only because the glow in the dark powder is a light green color and might look odd on this card.
I stamped both in versamark ink near the end of the banner die cut and mostly in the Broken China spot. I adhered the bunny to the card and used foam tape to make the banner pop out a bit. And then I considered the card finished! I was really happy with how well this card turned out. It will be so hard to give it away!
Thanks for stpping by and looking at my latest card. Stay tuned for my first ever video tutorial on how to make the background for this card.
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