Good evening, and welcome to Carolina Cards. It's been a lovely afternoon...bit coolish, but the sun was warm. Perfect Fall weather. Now about the card: There is a wonderful blog called Bits & Pieces by Heather Telford http://cardz.wordpress.com/. She's a designer for Penny Black, and does the most gorgeous sponging techniques. If you haven't seen this blog, I encourage you to do so...you won't be disappointed. So..bearing in mind I've been seeing these marvelous sponged pieces, once again I tried to capture just a tiny bit of that look.
I've tried this technique before, and results were terrible! This one is my best effort to date, and I'm not real happy with it. This one is going to be my benchmark!. I used a die template from My Favorite Things to sponge Summer Blue Memento ink along the template(recently realized I've been mispelling that ink brand..sorry) . Heather has some excellent tutorials plus Youtube videos. She's a good teacher, I'm just not as good at following her directions! But I'll improve. Moved the die along at different places to get the snowdrift look. This was a snippet of white paper, by the way. LOL. Just sayin'. I sponged the sky with Summer Blue & Teal Memento using daubers. Diecut the Memory Box birch tree - used copic gray along the trees, to get a look of the white birch trees I see up in New England. Once the trees were placed along the snowdrifts, that didn't look just right, so I used another snippet of white, a little more sponging. Then tore this paper, used the glue pen along the torn edge, and put some Hero Arts Sparkly glitter on the glue. Adhered this to cover the base of the trees so that it looks as though they were deep in the snowdrift. Used a S/B die for the sentiment, which is an older stamp, that came 3 to a set. Stamped with versamark, heatset with Judikens Aegean Silver EP. Decided it needed a bit more glitter at the top of the sentiment...not sure I liked that after I did it. The snowflake at the top is a MS snowflake punch in the holograph paper. This punch didn't like this thicker paper, so next time will use the I.O. snowflake die with this paper. I adhered the card to a light blue moire paper, then onto a white cardbase.You will be seeing more (maybe!) of my sponging attempts because I think this is a really neat look & I want to improve with the technique.
So thanks to Heather for her great tutorials, and I hope one of these days, I'll be able to do them justice. Truly, if you have time, take a look at some of her cards on Bits & Pieces. They are simply wonderful. As always, thanks for visiting. Have a Blessed weekend.
Hi Mary I too love Heather's blog very inspiring.
ReplyDelete... but think you have done brilliantly on this card - great work indeed! knock off a few, for Christmas will be here sooner rather than later, Shaz in oz.x
We are always our own harshest critic! I think you did a great job on the sky shading. This is a technique I've done before and forgot what it adds to a card. Thanks for reminding me of it!
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like you did great with this technique. Love the entire look of the card!
ReplyDeleteLynn
Very nice card Mary.
ReplyDeleteI was already a folower :)
Thanks for your nice comment on my card.
Hugs,Sandra
you've done a great job of sponging on this card mary! everyone has to start somewhere and it looks like you're well on your way with this technique. i absolutely love the trees for their dimension.
ReplyDeletelinda
Heather's work is fantastic and you've certainly caught an element of it here Mary! I love your wintery scene with your touches of glitter.
ReplyDeleteWhats to improve Mary? This is just lovely. Hugs Mrs A.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very pretty card Mary. I echo Mrs A's comment!
ReplyDeletexxx
Mary, thank you for your kind comments. I think you did a wonderful job on the winter scene card. I think it's great when people try something new and get out of their comfort zone. Your card is inspiring to me because it entices me to try something new. I am so hyper-critical of my work that it keeps me from experiencing with new techniques. Keep up the good work. I am now a follower.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation to check out this technique, your card looks great!
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong with this card, I think it is charming. I am going over to Penny. TFS
ReplyDeletesorry Heather not Penny. xxx
ReplyDeleteI went and had a look at her blog it is great. Please e mail me pamk@hot.co.za please do not publish this post. xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks for your visit and comment. Much appreciated and lovely to have a new friend across The Pond.
ReplyDeleteLavinia Stamps - the lady who fronts these here in the UK does some wonderful pictures like this - I will have to find a link for you to see. Funnily enough we are having a workshop with one of the members of our local stamping club in November so I might (just might) have something of my own to show you. Have tried this unsuccessfully before but Jacqui (our tutor for November) does some marvellous work.
Hugs, Neet (hickydorums)
http://laviniastamps.com/category/blog/
ReplyDeleteJust found this - haven't had time to look but there are inks with the blog and I see she has some You Tube videos too.
Hugs, Neet
Looks like you're getting the hang of the sponging, Mary. And I love those birch trees. What a lovely winter scene!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you had fun with this technique and your card is lovely. The trunks of the birch trees look great and your sky is very realistic.
ReplyDelete