Summertime ........ Forever 21 Blog challenge

Happy Friday,

And it's the longest day too ....... more daylight time to spend in the old craft room - yeah!!
I've been up since stupid o'clock this morning so it really will be a lonnnnng day for me.  Just as well though, I had an early doctors appointment and I've still loads of catching up to do.  Well, I will go away on holiday I suppose!

As it's the 21st of the month it means we have a new challenge over on the Indigo Blu Blog. Before I tell you what the new theme is ....... thanks to everyone that took part last month, as always there were some amazing projects, you're such a clever bunch!  But, there can only be one winner, and  CONGRATULATIONS go to .................

Number 8 ......... Sara 

Well done Sara, your tag was gorgeous.  Enjoy your prize.

On to the new challenege.  The theme is............  

SUMMERTIME

Lets see all your cards/canvases/altered art etc. with a lovely summery feel.
What does summer mean to you?  I think of blue skies, warm breezes, long walks and barbeques with friends (had to have food and drink in there somewhere!)  The blue skies we've had this week, and the warm breeze.  Did loads of walking while we were away on holiday, but not had a barbie yet!!! Maybe this weekend.

Oh well, here's my version of summer .........

I started by stamping the gorgeous Take Flight bird onto some Indigo Blu Stamping card, then I cut the circle aperture around him.  If you saw Kay on Create & Craft last night she gave a fabulous tip for doing this using Nestabilities.
Decide where you want your aperture to be, I place my nestie and draw round it lightly using a pencil.  Cut around the part of the bird that's inside the circle.  Place your nestie back into position underneath  the cut out part of the bird, you can use some low-tack masking tape to hold it in place, then cut as normal.

I then took another piece of white card large enough to go behind the aperture, and stamped the Wild Flowers.  My summer sky was done using Distress Inks and a mask to make the sun, and the poppies I coloured with Copic Markers.

The little bird I coloured using Distress Ink Re-inkers and a water-brush, but you would use Copics/Pro-markers, water colour pencils, whatever you have in your stash really.  I stamped the little guy again cut out one of his wings and layered it over the top to add a touch of dimension .......

I also used my trusty white gel pen to add some highlights, and a spot of Glossy Accents to his eye.

I used the Wild Flowers stamp again just in the corners of the front panel to add a bit more interest, and then added a touch of Distress Ink around the edges.

The little flower scene was mat onto a piece of black card then the aperture piece was layered over the top using foam pads.

A bit of doodling around the aperture finishes the card nicely.  Hope you like it.

It's been hard thinking of summer these last few days, things have been a little on the 'festive' side around the old craft room.  Myself, and the rest of the Design Team have all had our Christmas hats on making lots of seasonal samples for Kays shows on Create & Craft/Ideal World.  Hope you all tuned in to watch the launch of the 2013 Christmas range, what do you think? Have you all got your Christmas cards and gifts planned now?
Don't forget Kay's back on our screens today too - 3pm & 8pm on Ideal World.

Well that's it from me.  I look forward to seeing all your SUMMERTIME entries on the Blog.  You've got until 8pm on July 20th to get your designs in.   There'll be another great prize up for grabs so get those stamps out.

Have a lovely weekend.  Hope it's summertime where you are.

Happy crafting!

Linda

xx