Good evening. We had a nice little rainstorm this afternoon. Has cooled down the temps beautifully. After spending the afternoon as we usually do on Sunday - with my 2 brothers, then we ate out as a family. Came home, got showered & into my summer jammies; sat out on the porch swing, reading and watching the heat lightning for a little while. Very pleasant, almost too cool for bare arms, so as twilight fell, I came inside.
I've been working on this card off and on for a while, hoping to get it finished before the July CAS Mix Up Challenge ends. I hope it fits the requirements.
Played with Distress and Oxide inks, smooshing onto a craft mat, spritzing, sometimes with water, sometimes with a pearlized spray. Smooshed pieces of 140# watercolor pieces into the inks. Think it was Twisted Citrus, Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed and Peacock blue. Don't remember which was DI and which was DOX. Let layers dry, then added more of the same colors, but at each layer, used a different combination of the same inks. Sometimes after finishing the smooshing, sprayed a gold spray lightly over the piece to dry. When doing the next layer, I'd try to let some of the gold show through. IRL you can see the gold glimmer, not so much in the photo.
Die cut with a Penny Black fern shape, which dictated the smooshing colors I selected. The negative piece will be used for something else later.
A white snippet from which an oval die shape had been cut, was used for the topper. Placed the die behind the oval, tucking some of the fronds to the outside. Thought that looked cool, but the plain white looked 'plain'! Used the 3D Sizzix branches EF to emboss the front. Had thought to ink up the folder, but remembered for the CAS the background needed to be white. (Not real certain if the embossing will disqualify this as CAS!) Needed to have a background behind the die cut, so used another white snippet. Memento New Sprout inked the EF before running this through the Big Shot. Added a couple sequins & used a tear drop pad of New Sprout to emphasize the oval edge. (Adhered the pieces, but later wished I'd used some fun foam behind the topper to create more dimension). The sentiment was inked with some green pigment ink, but then while it was still wet, decided to heat emboss with Ranger Queen's Gold. I was glad I had, as I think this showed up better than the green ink would have.
Hope all of you had a pleasant and relaxing weekend. Blessings and Hugs, and come back when you have time! Thanks for visiting this evening.
Beautiful card Mary,you do such beautiful work,thankyou for visiting and commenting on my blog post today xx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful texture for your background using your eb folder, Mary. Love your watercolored die cut ferns peeking out of your oval window. TFS and joining us at CAS Mix UP. Hugs
ReplyDeletegorgeous Mary, I love the texture of the embossing folder and those beautiful green ferns :)
ReplyDeleteYour layers of smooshing are so pretty on these palm fronds, Mary! And I love all the texture from the white deep embossed background. Sounds like you had a lovely day with your brothers and a nice quiet evening. Thanks for sharing your beautiful card with us at CAS Mix Up! xx
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, Love the card.
ReplyDeleteSounds nice to be able to sit out and watch the lightening.
Hope you have a good day. Sue
How gorgeous is this Mary - love all the colour on the fern die cuts, and how you have mounted them in and out of the oval.
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Maxine
Pretty card!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
Marilyn❤️
Love, love, love these ferns, Mary! And that deep embossing is beautiful! I'm glad you got to enjoy the cooler weather on your porch swing. That's the perfect way to enjoy it! Thanks so much for sharing this with us at CAS Mix Up!
ReplyDeleteThis is totally beautiful Mary and love those die cut palm fronds over the pretty embossed background, and a sentiment with a few sequins finishes it perfectly. Glad you had a lovely day with your brothers followed by dinner out, which is always great when you don't have to cook it yourself, and nice for it to be cooler for you. I hate to knock it but this heat has become a little unbearable and it is cooler here in the south west than it is in the south east so just glad we live where we do. x
ReplyDeleteGreat playing with the Distress, the fern looks great with your own paper! Love the oval and the embossing on the back gives a lot of texture! Well done!
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely week!
This is so refreshing and calm. I love this card and that embossing folder. The colors on the fern are beautiful and the smooshing in layers came out so well. That is such a nice way to spend the day with family.
ReplyDeleteHasn't the rain be especially brutal this year? On the plus side, we are above normal in our rain fall here, whereas Tampa seems to be lagging behind. The oak trees appear to be restoring themselves after Hurricane Irma last year. They looked awful, and did not produce any acorns last winter. While the trees are still very sparsely leafed this year, they are beginning to thicken with new growth. As you know, tho, that's very unusual - by now, everything is extremely lush and growing by leaps and bounds. The smaller birds will be safer once the trees thicken again.
ReplyDeleteOn to your pretty CAS card! I love the vegetation reaching from behind your oval! It reminds me of how Mother Nature will grow anywhere she is left alone for a while, and if she is given a little Light. Your creation is delicate, sweet and fragile in appearance, and yet, so strong and encouraging, Mary! hugs, de
Oh how sitting on the porch swing in your PJs sounds heaven Mary. I tend to sit in the garden with my dressing gown and PJs in the early morning, no one around just me Teallach and the birds, bliss.
ReplyDeleteNow, your card is so lovely, lovely the leafy design and just that little bit of colour, Kate x
So gorgeous with all those pretty green shades. I love the embossed panel behind the branches too.
ReplyDeleteThis one is so beautifully desiged and so clean looking, Mary. Love the added color to the edge of your oval as well as your choice of die cuts and embossing folder. Love this one!
ReplyDeleteThis is so gorgeous, Mary!! I love the texture!! The palm fronds are beautiful!! Love this!! Have a great day!! Big hugs :)
ReplyDeleteLisa
A Mermaid's Crafts
Love your embossing and the fern tucked into the oval, such a lovely card with the touch of gold. SO happy to hear you had time on the porch and that it even got a little chilly? sounds wonderful. Keep enjoying it all.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Faith
x
A beautiful card Mary, such a fabulous design - great embossed background and your fern looks fabulous peeping out of the oval.
ReplyDeletePauline - Crafting with Cotnob
x
A super card, love the design and the EF and also the leafy stems.
ReplyDeleteKath x
This is beautiful Momma Mary! I am loving your smooshing and love that you cut out those beautiful leaves. I think your card is definitely CAS and I love the embossing-still open white space if you ask me! lol I also love the way you tucked the leaves inside and outside of your oval cut out. Beautiful card! Hugs, Brenda
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!!!
ReplyDeletePretty card, Mary! I love the white background with that pop of color. Fun embossing too! Just got my computer back after being in the shop over a week. So glad it found it's way back home! Have a super week!
ReplyDeleteI really do like this one Mary. It's serene, graceful and just flows gently giving one a sense of contentment and peace! Love the green on white embossing - it's just beautiful! Have yourself a great week ahead and stay cool!
ReplyDeleteLove ….LOVE this super clever and oh so creative idea!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful CAS card. The white dry embossed background looks so pretty and is great behind that beautiful die cut fern and the oval. The smooshing and the colours you've used, along with the gold look fabulous. Wonderful CAS card and thank you for joining in at The CAS Mix Up Challenge. What a beautiful way to spend your afternoon and Sunday Evenings Mary x
ReplyDeleteGorgeous make, Mary! Love the green ferns over the white embossing, so pretty and calming.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful creation Mary!
ReplyDeleteCrafty Hugs, Sherry xx
Loose Stitches and Unraveled Threads
Beautiful CAS card love the beautiful foliage and white embossed background--sorry not been for a while but for some reason you are not showing on my reading list!!!
ReplyDeleteWe have record heat temeratures here getting into to 80 and 90's totally unheard of we are usually lucky if it reaches mid 20's-not had any decent rain since 28th may and we are practically melting -no idea how you cope every year TBH
Carol x
What a lovely background and card design Mary.
ReplyDeleteHugs Diane
Sounds like a lovely afternoon and evening! Love your pretty card! I always love embossing! Trying to play catch up, we have been in Florida for a week.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Pam
scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com
Very simple, very clean excellent design. Just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHugs and Blessings
Jim