Well spring is definitely on the way at last!
And this month's focus colour suits the season...
As you can probably guess, the focus colour is: green
- Remember, the focus colour is just an added extra for the challenge. You can make it the main feature of your colour palette or include it as a pop of colour.
Here are some ideas to get you started for the various elements in the image:
- A tree for all seasons - think branches, wreaths, nests, twigs, trees in blossom, landscape scenes, even woodgrain textures.
- Gift bag/box - create a dimensional card that has the look of a gift bag or box, or keep it simple by cutting out rectangles of paper to look like presents and adding a bow and tag. Or why not try your hand at a pop-up box card?
- Kraft/brown paper - if you want a break from white card bases, why not go for kraft and use white heat embossing or a white pen for contrast rather than black ink. Kraft pairs very nicely with pastel tones, and brown parcel paper is actually a nice medium to use on cards.
- Fancy labels - tags or (ornate) labels are a great way to make your sentiment stand out. You could even use a tag shape as the main panel on your card.
- Multi-coloured text - use two-step stamping with sentiments, ink daubers to replicate the look of an ombré ink pad, or different card colours to die-cut your sentiment. You could keep it monochromatic and use colours in the same family, or select a pretty colour palette to suit the number of letters you'll die cut. Here are some great colour selections.
- Tyepwriter/telephone - both are still popular design elements. If you have these among your stash, get them out. Even better if they're dies as you could cut them from green cardstock for that truly retro look. ;)
- Circles - the belt buckle and steering while make me think of apertures, frame dies, and coverplates with either simple circle designs or interlinking circle patterns. The image with the moon also makes me think of peek-a-boo circles that can have something popping out of them, or simply blending ink in a circle behind something you want to stand out. It's also worth flicking through your collection of embossing folders to see how circles feature...
- Floral print - I'm sure you have something in your collection of papers that will do the job.
- Slimline or horizontal cards - the door panelling made me immediately think of the current trend in slimline tall cards, but it's also a good reminder that you can turn your card base to make a landscape card for a change if that's not your usual format.
- Dragonfly/butterfly - you could have a go at stamping on acetate or vellum to create that transparent gossamer look for your dragonfly or simply include butterflies in some way on your card. The transparent wing also made me think of shaker cards - your window for a shaker card could be any shape of die you have.
- Chanel eau de parfum - well, if you have some at home, treat yourself to a quick spritz before sitting down at your craft desk. Otherwise, think of water or any liquid - it doesn't have to be perfume, it could be the sea, water in a vase of flowers, a watercolour effect for your background, or try this technique with Distress Oxide inks on glossy paper revealed with Distress glaze.
- Book spines - these can be simply translated as strips of card or paper used to create a background or you could create a stack of books by cutting strips of paper to different widths and lengths. Or perhaps you already have a patterned paper that depicts book spines or any other book theme. :)
I hope those give you some ideas on where to start.
Happy crafting!
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