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Knight in Shining Armor

Hello, crafty friends!

Today I'm sharing my first post as a Butterfly Reflections, Ink Design Team member, and I'm SUPER thrilled for the opportunity!

Confession time: I was very worried that once I had been selected to be a design team member for this blog I would actually run out of card making ideas and be at a total loss for creating something. Guess what? THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED! <insert shocked gasps from the crowd>. Thankfully, I was able to get past this block, and soon I will put up a post on my own blog about what to do when the creative juices are running dry.

But back to this card!




One of my biggest struggles as a card maker is creating a scene. You really need to have some skills of big-picture thinking. I'm more of a detail-oriented person, hence why creating scenes is hard for me. But I figured I'd tackle one of my biggest struggles head-on for this first project!

I first stamped various images from the My Favorite Things Magical Dragons stamp set in my favorite black ink on watercolor paper. I knew I was going to use markers to color these critters, so I wanted to use paper that would help with blending. I colored my images with various Distress Markers and Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, being careful to blend, shade, and highlight where I thought necessary. I used the fine point tip on a Black Soot Distress Marker to outline the images and then fussy-cut them out. Personally, I prefer the finished edge that fussy-cutting gives. After the images were all cut out, I ran the same marker over all the outside edges of the images to really solidify the finished look. You will be amazed at the difference this makes in your projects!

Next, I die-cut an oval using the Avery Elle Sweet Scallops die set and then set off to create the scene.

I used various Distress Inks for the sky and grass. For the grass, I used Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, and Peeled Paint. For the sky, I used Milled Lavender, Spun Sugar, and Antique Linen. Although the sky combination is more of a dusk or sunset color scheme, it's still my go-to for any scene with a sky!

Once I had my sky and grass finished, I glued the oval on to my custom background that I created by using the My Favorite Things Homespun Stitch Lines die. To make this background, I just shifted the die over across my paper every time I sent it through my die-cut machine. The result is a great background that looks like you made it with a die-cut cover plate instead of one simple die! I thought the background looked a little plain, so I treated the edges with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, and that gave me the finished look I wanted. I trimmed it down a bit and then glued it on to my card base. I thought that it still needed to be a little more pulled-together, so I die-cut an oval frame to go around the scene, and that did the trick!

I wanted a completed edge around the entire card, so I used a stitched rectangle frame die from Lawn Fawn to cut a frame and then glued that on to the card and called it a day after that finishing touch!

This card reminds me of artwork that would be hanging on the wall in a medieval castle next to the suits of armor and shields. I love how it turned out! It was inspired by my sweet husband. On a daily basis, he slays my dragons for me--the biggest and scariest ones being the dishes in the sink!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my card today. Happy Sunday!




Comments

  1. I love your card, especially the oval frame and stitched background enhanced with smoke ink. I didn't expect you to say your husband slays the dragon of your dirty dishes! That's cute; he's a keeper for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not only did you create a great scene but your frame is fabulous too.

    ReplyDelete

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