Card Challenges / Tip and Tricks

Toile Tidings make a change for Global Design Project

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The card I have for you in this post has been created for the Global Design Project Color Challenge #GDP209 using the Stampin’ Up! colors Blueberry Bushel, Call Me Clover and Real Red.

I had a rough time coming up with a plan for this color scheme due to my personal challenge of sticking to one stamp set and/or a coordinating stamp set for a week. This week I am trying to focus on Toile Tidings. Then, memories popped into my head….I had seen examples of other designers turning the Cardinal into a Blue Jay! Yes, Cardinal (red bird) into a Blue Jay (Blueberry Bushel), at that moment, a card a born! I hope you enjoy this creation.

The card begins with a half sheet of Very Vanilla Thick card stock cut to 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ and scored at 4-1/4″ to create a top folding card. The mat was run through the embossing machine using the Layered Leaves Embossing Folder and framed with Real Red cardstock, due to the texture of the Very Vanilla front, the mat was attached with liquid adhesive. The duo was then attached to the card base with Tear Tape.

The focal images are stamped onto watercolor paper using Archival ink in Coffee (for the branch) and Watering Can for the bird. Since the coloring of a Blue Jay is different from a Cardinal in many ways – the black areas are a little different, the Blue Jay has a good deal of white space, the beak is shaped differently and a bit lower on the face and the feather markings – I wanted the outline to be seen but subtle enough to easily blend out and create the features that needed to be most prominent.

Using White paint pen and a White Gel pen I blended out the areas that needed to be changed, the beak, the black “mask” around the eye, around the neck and up the back of the head. Then I needed to lighten the areas that needed to be white. I watered down a couple of drops of Blueberry Bushel, Real Red and Call Me Clover Ink refills on to a white ceramic tile that has been my brilliant watercolor assistant for sometime now. I found this image online at Allaboutbirds.org

I outlined the bird with the Blueberry Bushel and shaded the wings, the top of its “feather Plume” and the tail feathers. With a Black Stampin’ Write Marker, I shaded in the black feather lines around his eyes and face, then loosely drew in the black lines that move down the mid body to the tail feathers. With a white gel pen I loosely indicated the white stripes and feathers around the face. I covered the cardinal beak with white paint pen then redrew the Blue Jay beak with a black marker, topped with bit of white gel pen to lighten the beak at the face.

The branch is also on water color paper and rendered using watered down Real Red for the berries and Call me clover for the leaves. The branch is rendered with an Early Espresso Water color pencil. I cut the bird and branch using the coordinating dies. When die cutting the bird, I only used the die to cut all around his body and feet up to about the shoulder area, then I fussy cut around his beak and head since that area had been altered and didn’t match up with the die any more. I found the arrangement I wanted to go with for the bird and branch and then attached them to the card front with dimensionals.

I am not one to let the inside of a card fend for itself, so I did stamp a border image from the Christmas Countdown stamp in Blueberry Bushel along the bottom edge of the card. The Christmas Countdown set has several stamps that are fantastic for borders and backgrounds. I feel like it coordinates very well with the Toile Christmas Bundle used for this card.

If you would like to learn more about this challenge, meet the design team behind this challenge or to see what other creative and talented designers created for this challenge, hop on over to Global Design Project.

Thanks again for stopping by and spending a bit of your time with me. I hope you enjoyed learning about how this card came together. Hopefully you were even inspired just a bit. Below are pictured links to all the items used for this card, click the link of the item to be taken to my online store where you can learn more about each item. Don’t forget to comment in the comment section below for a chance to win the item pictured above. I will return soon with something new. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy and without doubt, keep on crafting, exploring and creating.

Product List

Toile Tidings Suite Bundle (En) [153329] $144.50	Toile Christmas Bundle (En) [152367] $51.25	Toile Christmas Cling Stamp Set (En) [150469] $24.00	Christmas Countdown Cling Stamp Set [151833] $21.00	Christmas Cardinal Dies [150640] $33.00
Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [143704] $9.00	Very Vanilla 8-1/2″ X 11″ Thick Cardstock [144237] $8.25	Real Red 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [102482] $8.75	Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper [149612] $9.00	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [147176] $3.75
Real Red Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [103287] $3.75	Call Me Clover Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill [147178] $3.75	Aqua Painters [103954] $17.00	Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker [100082] $3.00	Regals Stampin’ Write Markers [147155] $30.00
Watercolor Pencils [141709] $16.00	Blender Pens [102845] $12.00	Tear & Tape Adhesive [138995] $7.00	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] $4.00	Stamparatus [146276] $49.00

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