cloudy background...

Hello my fabulous friends!

I have an adorable niece who is turning ONE soon!!!!

Of course I needed to make her a special card...

Paper: Georgia Pacific

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Spring Time Elephant; Great Impressions Sweet Sentiments

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Distress Salty Ocean, Antique Linen; Copic R00, R11. E04, 0, T0, T2, T4, T6, YG99, YG95, YG93, YG91, G28, YG67, E84, G21, G24, Y21, YR24, V01, V15, V17, YR04, YR07, E19, N10, N9, N7, 100

Dies: LDRS Creative  Sleigh Ride  (used to create the mask for the hill)

Other: Silhouette Double Sided Adhesive; Ranger Enamel Accents; Decofoil Opal 

I really wanted to do a background for this card,  so I pulled out my trusty Distress inks..

I started out by stamping my elephant onto my front panel. I also made a mask for both my stamped image and the ground.

I used Distress ink and a home made cloud mask (random cloud shape hand cut out of card stock) to create layers of clouds..  Simply place your mask down on your card, and blend a little ink over the edges. Start on the mask and work out. You don't want too much ink on the card, just enough to have a softly defined cloud line... Then move the mask and repeat. I like to start at the top and work my way down.

I then removed the ground mask and instead masked the sky. I used some Antique Linen Distress ink to give a base layer of color to the ground.

Next, I removed the masks and started coloring with Copics... 

After the elephant is colored, you can add grass... I use a random variety of greens and browns... Try to get a mix of light, medium, and dark shades... I use basic flicking motions, starting at the ground and flicking upward... You can use straight flicks, or if you want your grass to be longer and have more movement, you can use slightly curved flicks... Vary your lengths and thicknesses... Grass isn't uniformly perfect. Be sure to put some blades of grass over the elephant's feet so it looks like she is standing in the grass.

I also like to add some dots for more texture... I keep the darkest dots where the shadows would be and move to lighter colors to fade out.

Then I finished coloring the image... 

I stamped the butterfly onto a double sided adhesive sheet, and cut it out.

I removed the backing sheet and placed it over my colored butterfly.

I then removed the front sheet and pressed some Opal Decofoil onto the adhesive... 

Because the Opal foil is translucent,  gives a beautiful shine and subtle design to the wings while still allowing the original color to show.

I finished off the butterfly by  adding some Enamel Accents to the body.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Enjoy!

~Kassi