Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Delight In Nature TE13" Artist Trading Card

 This is my second Artist Trading Card (ATC). I used plain white card for the background, using "Sea Grass" Ranger Archival Ink through the Tracy Evans "Grunge ST3" stencil. I then added some colour to the edges of the card using "Sky Blue" Ranger Archival Ink,

Next, I stamped the flower in the middle, which is part of the Tracy Evans "Delight In Nature TE13" stamp set in Versafine Clair "Morning Mist" grey ink.  I then coated the area with Pebeo Drawing Gum as a mask.

Once the drawing gum was dry, I used two shades of Distress Inks, Ripe Persimmon and Carved Pumpkin colours, using Peeled Paint for the stems of the flowers which are the Tracy Evans "Daisy Daisy ST5" stencil.  I then rubbed away the masking fluid.

I used Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink to stamp the word "garden" along the stem of the flower.  The word is part of the Tracy Evans "Dog Rose and Butterfly TE45" stamp set.  I added white gel pen and black fine liner to the stems and to areas of the flowers.  I used a 2B pencil and a paper stub to add shadows to the main flower and then added colour to the petals using Derent Inktense Pencils.

Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Dog Rose and Butterfly TE45" Gold Heat Embossed Card

When I started to make this card, I had a clear idea of how I wanted it to look.  I'd choosen the background, the stamp and colour of embossing powder before even going in the craft room.  Sometimes when creating, things don't always sit right and this is one of those makes for me.  I actually made this card yesterday, walking away from it to see how I felt about it when I saw it again. It is now growing on me slowly.

The background is two shades of brayered Colorbox Inks.  Greens and blues are my favourite colour combo! For the central design, I used a stamp from the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "Dog Rose and Butterfly TE45" stamp set, initially stamping it in Versafine Clair "Twilgiht" dark blue ink, but then I decided to add Wow! Rich Gold Embossing Powder over the top of the stamping and heat set.

On a small off cut of blue card, I then stamped three butterflies from the same stamp set and repeated the heat embossing process.  I fussy cut the butterflies and glued them into position.

Next, I drew some circles with a gold gel pen and added some line detail to them.  I then used a dark blue Posca Pen to add three lvertical lines from the top right and the bottom left, to balance the design.  They looked too prominent, so I added some line detail using the gold gel pen again.  Finally, I added some tiny dots of "Blackberry" Liquid Pearls across the surface.