Island Life Round II - Card 11

Last year I won a set of stamps called Island Life from Marks Finest Papers. This set has two good sized images and many sentiments. I used the other image from this set on this card here.

I played with my Tim Holtz stains on some water colour paper before I left home and brought a few of the finished sheets with me up to the lake. One of them reminded me of the sky at night maybe just before or just after a storm...so I decided to use the second image from this set with it. The image on this background makes me think of the importance of safe harbour.

This card is going to someone who is going through some uncertainty right now.  So no matter what is brewing at sea, or on the lake, no matter what life holds, safe harbour is key. Family and friends can be that harbour and I wanted to show we are there.

Sadly, I did not think to write down the stain colours I used...my bad! The image is stamped with Momento brown and coloured with Prisma pencils and gamsol. It is so much easier and lighter to bring pencils to the lake instead of copics.

I made a little boo-boo when colouring and somehow dented the paper at the top right. I fussy cut out the image and pop dotted it onto another piece of matching card. This time I chalked the sky, trying to get something a little safer and calmer looking than the shades in the background. I just used a cotton puff for removing makeup to do the chalking...cuz that is what I had up here...lol.  A quick mat with a snippet of distressed brown card and it was ready to place on the background.

The sentiment is Tim Holtz. I stamped direct to card. I am getting braver with that now.

I am happy with how this turned out. I have been trying to shake things up a bit with my card making by trying some new techniques. The TH stains have a learning curve, that is for sure. But I won't learn if I don't practice, so expect more of these backgrounds to show up on my blog.

P.S. I wet both sides of the water colour paper before running through the stain. I let it air dry and then weighted it. If there is a better way, please let me know. It was still not completely flat, but once attached to
the card base, it seemed fine. I wondered if I should have ironed it...

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets
2. Marks Finest Papers Inspirational Challenge The Blue S&P made me think of the sky and the sea.
3. Mod Squad Challenge - Coastal Inspiration