Thinking of You

The challenge theme for Challenge #97 at Dies R Us is "Birds." I created this card, featuring the owls from Hero Arts' "Li'l Hoot" stamp set, to send to Lea Lawson for the Layton's Legacy card drive. Lea is collecting handmade cards to give to parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at her local hospital. This card by Debby Hughes inspired the mountain background for mine.

I began by stamping the owls onto a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I heat embossed with clear powder, and used my Mijello Mission Gold watercolors to paint them. After I fussy cut the image, I set that aside.

For the mountains, I actually used one of the Spellbinders "Pennants Mega" triangle dies (discontinued) to die cut 9 of them from Canson XL Mixed Media paper. I inked the triangles with Hickory Smoke Distress ink, and used Pumice Stone Distress ink to shade along the edges. I used the same die to cut pieces for the snow caps (also from mixed media paper), and cut along the bottom edge of each with a pair of decorative-edge scissors. I used liquid glue to adhere the snow caps to the tops of the mountains.

I cut another piece of mixed media paper to 4.25x5.5" for my background. I die cut a mask from masking paper with a We R Memory Keepers "Nesting Circles" die, and tore a piece of delicate surface Frog Tape to serve as a mask between the land & sky. I applied the upper tape mask to my panel, and inked below it with Hickory Smoke, to create the appearance of even more mountains in the distance.

After I had finished, I applied the other (bottom) side of the tape mask, making sure to match up with the curves of the first piece. I removed my top mask, and applied the negative portion of my circle mask to my panel. I inked the moon with Scattered Straw Distress ink. I dried that with my heat tool, applied the positive mask over the moon, and removed the negative mask. Finally, I inked the sky with Faded Jeans, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, & a little Black Soot ink around the edges. I used the "Falling Stars" stencil from Simon Says Stamp and Distress Grit-Paste to stencil the stars. I carefully removed the stencil & masks, and let the paste dry thoroughly.

After I glued my mountains & owls in place, I used a greeting I'd die cut with the Sizzix/Tim Holtz "Celebration Words Script" set. I applied glue to the back of each die cut, and adhered them in place over the mountains. I even managed to keep the tittles for the 2 "i" letters, and glued them in place as well. I adhered my panel to a white A2 card base, and this card was done!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

A Blog Named Hero: "Watercolor"
613 Avenue Create #209: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)