Card Factory 2015–Three Florabunda Cards

 

I have started colouring some of the Florabunda drawings that Lucy printed out for me. For the top one I used coloured pencils, and for the other two, Inktense pencils.

I kept the colour palette fairly limited in each case, and added a little background shading. For the third one, I ran a wet brush back and forth across the drawing after colouring it, which activated whatever Inktense had not been activated while I was colouring it – I quite like this streaky background. Using a coloured pencil for the background, as on the others, gives a bit more control, and this is probably what I shall do in the future.

Initially I was a little underwhelmed by the results but they did grow on me, and I had confidence that they would be improved once the drawings were mounted, with the matting and layering picking up the colours I had used on the drawings, and I was not wrong. I am actually quite pleased with the results now.

Before I began, I had a good look through my stash for some decorative paper and card to use – I am determined to make inroads into my huge stash, most of which I have had for years and have never got round to using – and ended up sorting out a lot of muddle, and my paper shelves do look a lot more organised now! This took longer than making up the cards, which were really quite quick. (So nice to feel sufficiently better to do enough to get a sense of achievement!!)

For the first and last cards, I found a pad of gorgeous decorative card that I’d forgotten I had – it is printed in different colours with flower and leaf designs, and each one has a little sparkle in it. I was very pleased that this did show up a bit on the photos – not much on the purple one, but certainly on the greenish one.

Each card was matted with some co-ordinated plain card before sticking down onto the wider patterned card, and then the whole thing was mounted on plain white card which formed the card base.

For matting this second card, I found a piece of teal coloured card that had been the cover of a brochure. There’s quite a lot of useable card in this piece. The background layer was created with some paper with a slight texture and an embossed leather finish.

The final card is matted onto dark red, which is the accent colour in the design. See the shimmer in the background layer.

I spent a long time experimenting with different papers and cards, different layers, and different orders until I was happy with the results.

I am going to leave most of the cards blank inside for now, with no sentiments. It will be an easy matter to stamp a sentiment inside each card as I use it – much quicker than making a card from scratch!

I made plain white envelopes for them all with my Envelope Punch Board. These cards are safely in my new card stash which now has four cards in it! Not a great deal to write home about as yet, but I’m working on that! While sorting through my paper stash I found a few bits and pieces that can be used to make cards – the results of some faulty cutting with Sheba, my Cougar cutting machine, which can be salvaged and parts used – I am now very glad I didn’t throw these bits away!

Watch this space for more cards in the Card Factory.

Christian Bereavement Card

Recently, a good friend of mine finally lost her battle with cancer and passed away at her home, surrounded by her family. She was so young and full of life, and was a wonderful Christian believer, as are her husband and two children – in fact I was privileged a number of years ago to witness the whole family being baptised together. She and her husband were part of my Bible study group for several years, and we had many wonderful times of fellowship together.

I needed to make a very special card for this very special family, and have given it some considerable thought and prayer. For Christians, although the loss of a loved one through death affects us as much as it does non-Christians, and we have to go through exactly the same grieving process, the Bible gives us hope of everlasting life, and reunion with those we have lost, and I wanted to reflect both these aspects in my card.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 says, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”

One of the songs we used to sing together was “We will dance on the streets that are golden” – a picture of the heavenly Jerusalem, and I decided to use this as the theme for my card.

The first step was to make the golden pavement and draw a dancing figure on a piece of recycled watercolour paper. (This drawing was adapted from an image I found online.)

The golden pavement was made from a piece of gold mirror card. I drew some perspective lines on the back and then hand-embossed the card from the back with a large embossing tool, and picked out the lines between the paving stones with a smaller embossing tool from the front, working on a piece of fun foam. I outlined the drawing with a waterproof black marker pen and then added some colour with my Derwent Inktense Pencils, blending them with a water brush.

The next step was to cut out the dancer. Here is a mock-up on the white base card.

I then began work on the drawing on the base card, to form a “Heavenly City” background. I added a few Zentangles, notably “Float Fest” to give the suggestion of more domes extending into the far distance, and began colouring it with Inktense pencils as before.

At this point I got a bit carried away and forgot to stop and take any photos! The next photo shows the finished card front, complete with an emerald rainbow (as described as being around the throne of God in the Book of Revelation), and the addition of little spots of Stickles glitter glue in various colours to represent the jewelled foundations of the Heavenly City showing through the transparent gold paving. I also made a separate banner from the recycled watercolour paper, with the words “Dancing on the streets that are golden” and stuck this down. For the banner and for the dancer, I used Scotch Quick Dry adhesive, which is a good strong wet glue. As usual, the photo doesn’t do justice to the golden, glittery effect!

As this is a bereavement card and I wanted to convey my feelings for their loss, the front of the card needed to reflect this, and although the above shows my friend in glory, free at last from all pain, and carries the hope of reunion in the life to come, the present also needs to be addressed.

I decided to make an overlay from translucent parchment paper with a message on it, but through which you could just glimpse what was beyond. Looking through my stash, I was delighted to find some parchment that I had printed for another project, and made the mistake of not choosing the “borderless” option on my printer, which left an unprinted border, so I couldn’t use it. It is fine for this project, though, as I had already decided to make a paper border to cut out and stick down around the edge of the parchment, which will cover this unprinted part. You can see that it is a subtle blue colour with some butterflies on it.

Working on the border. I chose a piece of A4 100 gsm copy paper which has a lovely smooth finish, and folded it in half. The back could be cut away to leave a small amount to stick down onto the back of the base card and form a hinge, and this would also hold the parchment piece in place. Again, I used my waterproof black marker pen to create a text border. I chose a verse from one of my favourite hymns, which we had for Dad’s funeral last December, “Teach me, my God and King” by George Herbert. The verse I chose is as follows:

A man that looks on glass,

On it may stay his eye;

Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,

And then the heaven espy.

This is so appropriate for the situation! We can look at our circumstances and our loss, and we can also look through it, and see the hope and beauty beyond. The parchment paper can act as the “glass” which we can look at, or we can see, “through a glass dimly” as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, the golden bejewelled image beyond; and in our case, we can also turn the page and see it in its full glory.

In the next photo I am working on the border. Between each of the words I have used a tiny drop of bisque Liquid Pearls – this stuff is gorgeous!

Here is the finished border. At this stage I had not yet applied any distress ink because I was waiting for the Liquid Pearls are dry. The next step would be to cut out the middle, and stick it down onto the parchment, and then create some slips of paper with some Bible verses on them.

Here is the text border complete, having been distressed with Old Paper Distress Ink, using an Inkylicious Ink Duster – these large soft brushes are ideal for this kind of thing because they are so gentle and do not snag the edge of the paper. Laid on top is one of the text pieces that would be attached to the parchment overlay.

Here is the parchment overlay with the first text, which I have hand-written direct onto the parchment, and the other cut-out piece ready to stick down.

For the main text across the centre of the overlay, I spent some considerable time selecting and cutting out a series of letters from magazines and newspapers (like a ransom demand!) and arranged them into words. In this picture I am beginning to cut the words out. I was quite pleased with the result because the letters added a bit of colour to the front of the card.

Here are the words stuck down onto the parchment overlay. I used 3M spray photo adhesive – a recommendation I found online – but it wasn’t easy to get the pieces to stick initially, and once the glue was dry, I had to apply a small amount of Scotch Quick Dry adhesive with a cocktail stick to make sure each piece was securely adhered. Parchment paper can be quite difficult to deal with.

Here is the parchment overlay together with the text frame, both of which have now been trimmed down the left side, ready to apply to the base card.

On the inside of the card, I wrote the Aaronic Blessing from Numbers chapter 6, and afterwards embellished it with some more bisque Liquid Pearls, and wrote the greeting on the other side. Having thought long and hard about what text to add to this card, in the end I felt that the Bible said it better than I ever could!

I attached the text frame to the parchment overlay with 3M photo adhesive spray, and this was attached to the base card using the red-backed ultra-sticky double sided tape.

Here is the completed card. You can see the golden picture underneath the parchment overlay. You can see that I have also added some embellishment with a black marker pen around the cut-out words, directly onto the parchment paper, to give the design more cohesion and to link this central text with that at the top and bottom of the card.

The finished card with the overlay turned back. I wish the photo did the gold pavement and the Stickles better justice, as it is very shiny and sparkly.

I feel very privileged to have had this lady as my friend. She was such fun, and so full of life, and had such a strong faith. She and her husband brought up their two children in the love and fear of the Lord, and they are now being launched into the world in their chosen professions, well equipped to be good citizens, and to cope with everything that life will throw at them, with God’s help. My love and prayers go with them all.

WOYWW 271

For details of WOYWW and how to join in the most fun nosey fest online, please click the WOYWW logo in my sidebar.

Not a great deal going on on my desk this week, but you can see the third of the recent cards I’ve been making, embellishing teabag stains with Zentangle drawing. To the left of the card, in the centre of the desk, you can see some of my Zentangle ATC-sized cards with patterns, which normally live in my large Zentangle album. Just above this is my Stamping Up set of sentiment stamps – I have used the “Thank You” one on the card. My usual collection of acrylic paints and gel mediums and gesso at the back of the desk, and on the left, my Inktense pencils and in the red box, my pastel pencils. On top of this is a software CD ready to install on my computer. At the back you can also see a little pile of distress inks and my usual dirty water pot, in front of which is my red Stanley knife – I can’t get on with normal craft/exacto knives and find this is much the best knife! On top of the gesso is some stazon ink and a home-made bubble wrap stamp. I think that about covers it!

I am now feeling a lot better after my recent heart attack, and yesterday I went back to the hospital for my annual gastro-enterology check, and the consultant is pleased with how I am getting on, with my ulcerative colitis responding well to the medication. He wants me to have another colonoscopy in February to check on how things are, and also to screen for bowel cancer as I am more at risk of getting this with the inflamed bowel. Mum’s heart scan results came back yesterday and she’s got atrial fibrillation which is not good news for the potential for causing strokes, so she’s now on warfarin. Last weekend Phoebe, one of our cats, scratched her arm and it was pouring blood everywhere, so off my hubby went with her to A&E again, and it’s now all bound up and needing dressing every couple of days (just like when she bashed her legs) and she’s on antibiotics. Never rains but it pours, eh.

Anyway, things are looking up – I had a perm today so I’ve got nice curls again, and having one’s hair done always gives one a lift!

Have a great week, everyone.

Valentine Card 2014

I have had several people ask me to post about the card I’ve made this year for my hubby, so here it is.

The finished size is A5, and the words spell “Love” in several languages – English, Romanian, Italian (and other Latin languages) and Hebrew. The colour was added using my Derwent Inktense pencils. The design was inspired by a doodled heart I found on Pinterest: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helloangel/9826670843/

Inside:

This is the first time I’ve made him a Zentangle card and he was very pleased with it! When he gets the opportunity, he enjoys kite-flying.

Zentangle with Perfect Pearls

Today I tried out my new Perfect Pearls Palette for the first time. I drew a zentangle ATC with a platypus, inspired by Aboriginal art – a stylised shape filled with pattern and surrounded by more pattern, but with zentangle.

I coloured it using my Inktense pencils, and then picked out certain elements with Perfect Pearls, using a water brush to pick up the colour from the palette.

For the platypus body, I used Kiwi, which is a dichroic colour, giving shades of green and brown. For the water weed I used Interference Green, and Mint, which actually look very similar on the pale blue background. I added some Perfect Gold around the frame.

As usual, the shimmer really doesn’t show up in the photo. I have attempted to show this with a detail shot, with the ATC held at an angle to the light:

This shows it up slightly, but it really doesn’t do it justice. If you turn the ATC in the light, it really is quite shimmery. I didn’t put Perfect Pearls all over the surface but just picked out certain details, which adds one more element to my zentangle art.

Zentangle: More ATCs and some Miniature Art

Warning – lots of pictures, but I’ve tried to keep them small!

As I started to recover from my really rough week of feeling poorly, I reclined on the recliner (best place for reclining imo lol!!) and worked on some more ATCs for the WOYWW swap that’s been going on. Everyone who has sent me their gorgeous ATCs (thanks everyone!) has been most patient with me, and they can rest assured that their ATCs will soon be on the way, but before sending them off I photographed them and thought I’d share them on here. In due course, I shall be doing a post about all the ATCs I’ve received.

I haven’t yet decided who’s getting what, so you’ll just have to wait and see!

Here’s a variation on the Three Fish with Seaweed, with a bit more detail in it than the original one:

Another Poppies ATC (this one doesn’t really qualify as a zentangle as there aren’t any patterns on it):

Herbaceous Border:

Fields:

Pebbles:

I love the current craze for the variations on the old WWII poster “Keep Calm and Carry On” – you can “Keep Calm” and “do whatever you like” these days, and some of the variations are great fun! (Reminds me of the car stickers that said “xyz do it…” my favourite being “Cornishmen do it drackly”!!! Lol! But I digress…) This is my take on it, specially for the WOYWW birthday (should have put 3 candles on really – only thought of it when it was too late!) – Keep Calm and Eat Cake! (Since photographing this one, I have been over the candle flame and letters with Glossy Accents.)

I also did three black and white ones which I think have come out really well. I love working with colour, but I always come back to black and white which has such impact, being pattern and monochrome shading alone. The first is Vortex:

Dress Form (this is a theme I am considering developing):

and finally, Serpentine. (Hope the recipient of this one isn’t frightened of snakes – it’s just a pattern so nothing to be afraid of!) Some of the patterns have a definite resemblance to snakeskin so I thought I’d combine them in a nice snake-in-the-grass design.

In all my zentangle art you will notice my favourite patterns recurring – there’s a huge vocabulary of patterns out there, but I do have certain favourites that I tend to use again and again because they are lovely to look at, interesting to do, and relatively easy.

Here’s a picture of all the zentangle ATCs I’ve done to date, with the exception of the couple that have already been sent out.

I’ve just realised I haven’t uploaded the photos of the coloured cards I did for the craft show. What I did with these was to draw the black and white outlines and scan them, so that I could print them out and colour them afterwards. This meant that when I want to do more cards, I can repeat the process, and maybe alter the colour scheme if I want, and save some time. Now I’ve got photos of the coloured ones I can just print them out and use them, too. These little pictures measure 3 x 3 inches square, ready for matting and layering onto A6-sized cards.

Starfish:

Octopus:

Necklace 1 (blue):

Necklace 1 (purple):

Necklace 2:

Pineapple:

Clown Fish:

Elephant (I’ve become quite fond of him!):

Cheese Plant (I particularly like how this turned out, using just a subtle suggestion of pattern without bordering lines):

Blue Tropical Fish – this one shows particularly well the blending capabilities of the Derwent Inktense pencils:

Tutti-Fruiti Ice Cream:

Chocolate Mint Chip Ice Cream:

Blue Kimono:

Purple Kimono:

Hopefully I shall now be getting back into the swing of things again. First step, get these ATCs ready for posting, and biggest decision of all, trying to decide who gets what! Then I shall replenish my stock of zentangle cards and honour the various orders for them, and the coasters, that I’ve had – if anyone else wants coasters I will have to put in an order for them. I’ve got the 2 original boxed sets (Design Set 1 and Design Set 2) and also some individual ones mounted in plastic. More on this later.

Thanks for your patience, everyone!

Zentangles Large and Small!

I’ve been busy making some ATCs for my belated entry into the WOYWW special 3rd anniversary ATC swap. Also, we have a craft exhibition coming up soon at our church, and I am making some cards for that, and hoping also to exhibit (and possibly sell) some of my zentangle art.

My latest large piece (10 x 8 in) is of poppies, coloured with my Inktense pencils.

Not so much zentangle about this one – just a few patterns on the leaves and stems.

For the cards, I have returned to a more traditional zentangle approach, taking a 3 x 3 in. square and filling an abstract shape with pattern. So far I have done six of these, and I shall be using prints for the cards, rather than the original drawings. Some of these suggest a particular theme or idea, such as this one, entitled “Leaf”;

and this one, entitled “Heart.”

The remaining four are abstract.

To these I shall add the six zentangles I did a while back, on the same 3 x 3 in. squares.

I have also done a couple of 3 x 3s with colour – I shall be doing more of these in the coming days.

More poppies:

and a yellow fish:

I really like this marine theme – there is so much beauty and diversity under the ocean surface and I want to draw it all!!

Now for my ATCs. The marine theme is continued in some of these.

The next one may not be strictly marine, but it suggests a wave to me.

This one looks a bit like a purse to me:

and the final one is pure abstract.

Edited: Forgot to put the poppies ATC in!!

I may make up cards with prints of some of these ATCs too.

This is definitely a work in progress – I have soooo many ideas for more! – so watch this space!