Beach Cat

It’s been rather rainy and overcast today. Definitely not the same summery weather we’ve been having recently. I decided to make a summery card in the hopes of tempting back the sunny weather so that I’ll have good lighting for working on my videos. So far no luck, but the forecast for tomorrow is looking less rainy than today at least. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to get my recording done!

I started by laying out my stamps, which are from Newton’s Nook Aloha Newton, onto my card base in my MISTI. I picked them up with the door of my MISTI, and started on my stamping. I actually didn’t stamp onto my card base immediately. I first stamped using MFT Black Licorice Hybrid Ink onto a panel of white, alcohol marker friendly card. Then I removed the panel and, without reinking, stamped onto the card base. This way I got a second generation impression on the card base.

I set the card base aside and set to work colouring the panel I had made. I used my Spectrum Noir Illustrator markers to do my colouring. I started with my yellow markers to colour in the sand area, then went over it again with a golden yellow to knock the colour back a bit. I then coloured in my sky with a light blue, using the bullet nib to carefully go around the edges of the trees and leaves as I found that easier than using the brush tip.

I used some earthy browns to colour the trunks of the palm trees as well as the coconuts, keeping the shading towards the left hand side. For the leaves I went with dark greens and used flicking motions to give them some texture. I’m not entirely happy with how it turned out, so I’ll have to practice a bit more in future.

I also went with green for the hammock, though I went with a lighter yellow green shade rather than the dark greens I had used for the leaves. The only thing left to colour then was the cat, and I decided to leave the cat white. I bought in my lightest grey markers, which are actually Yosoo alcohol markers not the Spectrum Noirs, and used those to add some shading to the cat. I also used my lightest pink SN marker to colour the ears and nose.

With my colouring completed I needed to trim the panel down. I used the guides on my paper trimmer to measure either side of the sentiment and trimmed it with the idea that the sentiment would be centralised. I also trimmed a section off of the bottom to make the panel a bit shorter. Then I cut a fishtail banner end into it.

I used my tape runner to adhere the banner panel to the card base, making sure I had it correctly lined up with the stamped lines on the card base before pressing it into place. I decided to embellish with some Nuvo Drops as a final touch. I wanted to keep them very subtle so I chose my drop colours to match the background they were on. I used Simply White Crystal Drops on the white areas, Limoncello Jewel Drops on the yellow, and Sea Breeze Jewel Drops on the blue.

I really like this design. The spotlight stamping is such a fun look, and I’m very pleased with my colouring of it. It’s not perfect – the sky in particular is a bit blotchy, but I think that actually adds to the realism, because the sky often does have unevenness in its colour. I like the subtle look of the tone-on-tone Nuvo drops too.

Love,

Lady Joyful

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Challenges included:

Addicted to Stamps and More – Make Your Mark

Digi Choosday – Anything Goes

Fabrika Fantasy – Animals

Inky Paws Challenge – Color Challenge

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes

So Suzy Stamps Challenge – Summer

Stick It Down Card Sketch – Sketch

TCP Tuesday – Outdoors

The House That Stamps Built – Summer Vacation

The Paper Shelter Challenge – Summer Vibes