My first featured card is from the Lilith Fair series of swaps hosted by Autumn Whispers. This card paid tribute to Dixie Chick's song 'Cowboy Take Me Away'. For some reason, the song title reminded me of the phrase 'Calgon Take Me Away'. I found an image of a sassy girl soaking in her tub then added the cowgirl boots & Calgon. The edges are chalked in different pastel colors and the bubbles are filled in with blue, acrylic laquer. It's not my best carve ever but I love-love-love this card.
The second card was one of my first creations before I really became involved in group swaps. This card was interesting because I had an inspired moment where I knew exactly what I wanted to do and then watched it unfold as I hoped/envisioned. That's the best feeling. I layered the burgundy outline of the sun underneath the top layer of paper by cutting out the sunshine a little smaller. I think it gave the card the perfect touch. This card is called "Queen For A Day".
The third card was made for the Child of the 80's group swap, hosted by The Toadfrogs. I knew I wanted to make a card about Pacman as it was (and still is) my favorite arcade game. The reason I love this card so much is because I really struggled over what to carve, the layout, everything. For weeks I had no idea how to make it work. I couldn't decide whether I should carve one of the little ghosts, Pacman or even the fruit prizes. I also couldn't figure out how to get everything to work on the black background...but I knew I wanted to make the card look like the arcade game somehow. THEN IT HAPPENED. I decided to carve the actual maze. I wasn't sure if the blue ink would show up on the black paper but it did...YAY! I used yellow, acrylic paint to make the dots and printed out teeny, tiny versions of Pacman and the ghosts. It took awhile to glue everything on each card but I'm very happy with how things turned out. *big grin*
The last card was my first BIG carving challenge. I was really nervous about this image as it was so detailed. This card was for the Art by Amy Brown group swap hosted by Autumn Whispers. I ended up having so much fun carving this stamp from start to finish. It's not as detailed as it could've been and I didn't get super detailed with the card layout but it's pink and it's glittery - so I love it. I stamped the image in black, pigment ink on a vellum overlay and then embossed over the black image with holographic embossing powder. I look at this card with great nostalgia remembering how excited I was when it turned out okay.
