Snowy Grace

Hi friends!  Happy Friday.  This has been one of those weeks that was all work and no play.  And even though my work is usually play, this week work was WORK.  {wink}  After staring at numbers and rate charts all week, I decided it was definitely time to make something pretty.  Charmaine's CAS Viva la Verve Week 5 sketch seemed like the perfect jumping off point.

I was feeling a little wilted from the week and wanting to get artsy, so I pulled out a Donna Downey stencil I ordered a while back and some Gelatos.  I had intended to follow the sketch to a T, I mean really... there's not much there to change, but once I saw how my hollyhocks turned out, I couldn't bear to stamp over them, so I moved the sentiment to the top of the card.  It's the Grace plain jane and I stamped it in black ink first, then embossed over the top of it in white slightly offset to give a little depth.  The paper is brown paper bag, I just love how natural it looks.

The nitty gritty how to:  I taped my stencil down to a 4 x 5.25" piece of brown paper bag then went over the hollyhocks with first a pink gelato and then a coral gelato.  Next I blended as much as I could with my finger (with the stencil still on - be sure it's taped down really well so it doesn't slide), then went over it again for some more blending with a baby wipe.  At this point I used a pencil to outline the stems on the stencil, then pulled off the stencil and freehand outlined the hollyhocks (this makes up for any sliding of the stencil).  Next I added some white paint to t flowers.  I love the Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint that come in little bottles like Stickles.  So easy to apply! Next I blended the white paint with a slightly wet paint brush and let it dry for a minute.  Another quick run-through with pencil to outline anything that was covered up with the white paint and I was ready to distress.  I use a Tonic Distressing Tool to distress the edges of my paper. The trick is to not make it look uniform. Don't be afraid of ripping the paper. Use varying pressure as you work your way around the edges. If your paper isn't curling very much, spritz it with a little water and let it dry about 30 seconds, then try distressing again.  I did a soft little border around the paper bag panel with a white gelato to soften up the contrast and account for any of my whites not matching.  Then it's just glued to a card base and I finished with a little linen thread and a rhinestone.

That's a lot of typing for a 20 minute card!  LOL  It really was simple, though, and I can totally see myself making a bunch of these just changing up the colors and sentiment as a card set for gift giving.

Well, that's all from me today!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend and if you get a chance, be sure to give the VLV sketch a try.  This is the final sketch for January, so you have until Thursday to get all your cards done for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Verve.  And I happen to know for a fact that there's some yummy new Verve releasing at the end of February that a gift certificate would totally come in handy for!  {wink}

Enabler's List
Stamps: Grace Plain Jane (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  brown paper bag, white cardstock
Ink: Black, Versarmark, white, pink and coral Gelatos (Faber-Castell), blank canvas studio paint (Claudine Hellmuth), pencil
Accessories: Hollyhock Stencil (Donna Downey), linen thread, rhinestone, white embossing powder, Tonic Distressing Tool (Ranger)