January 1, 2020: Not So Far Away

Happy Hump Day! Hard to believe, but 18 more Wednesdays and the date will be 1/1/2020. Only 4 more months of 2019. I've been making Happy New Year cards here and there to have a few on hand to send if I forget someone at Christmas. So, I'm sharing one with you this morning!

I played around with a Shabby Chic style with as much texture as I could muster, and I used a Gecko Galz collage sheet image and a Beccy's Place digital stamp which I colored up with my ProMarkers. I also had to draw inspiration from a photo Beccy posted (keep reading - I explain). I chose to make an A2-sized card this time.

    

First is Beccy's inspiration photo, then my card, then the Split Coast Stampers sketch from June that I used. I was inspired by the trellis, the walkway and the greenery. I used the top of a die cut frame as a trellis for my silk leaf ribbon that sits behind Beccy's January 1st digital stamp. I used a diagonal striped paper and embossed some chalk inked stripes on my strip elements and rounded diamond mat that frames the collage sheet image/sentiment.

SUPPLIES:
Papers: DCWV Mat Stax card stocks; My Mind's Eye and Teresa Collins patterned papers; photo paper; 110# index stock
Die Cuts: Avery Elle; Spellbinders
Stamps: Beccy's Place Digital; Autumn Leaves; Altenew; My Favorite Things
Inks: ProMarkers; Memento; VersaFine Clair; Brilliance: VersaMagic Chalk Ink; Sakura gel pen
Other: Gecko Galz Image from Ring in the New Year collage sheet; Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes embossing folder; edge distresser tool; clear embossing powder; silk leaves ribbon and enamel dots from my stash

Shabby Chic is a style which I've always found pleasing. I don't purport to be at all knowledgeable except for a basic understanding of it, but right or wrong I follow something I read a while back. Some well-known paper artist with an eclectic style was explaining her embrace of grunge and also shabby chic. She said they were really almost the same style, distressed with LOTS of texture, except that with shabby chic she used white, creams, pastels and with grunge she used darker, dirtier colors. I read that and thought, okay, I see that. Since then, I have always tried to use light inks to edge with and pastels where I could when attempting shabby chic.

For this card, I have distressed all the edges and then I've lightly and randomly inked the edges with my Brilliance Moonlight White Dewdrop pad. I also added some splotchy white patches on the striped paper with my white chalk ink pad. I used my white inks to highlight the raised stripes of my embossed pieces, and I white ink-edged my collage sheet image.

I took my ProMarker colors for the digital stamp from the collage sheet image. I kept my coloring muted except for the yellow flowers. I fussy cut it out and popped it across my trellis die cut and my lower elements. I used various enamel dots in matching shades to mimic the balloon ball shapes in my image.

I did a bit of glitter work with my Sakura glitter gel pen on the collage sheet image. I colored all the background stars and a lot of the champagne glass. That combined with the glittery gold enamel dots and the gold-ish hue of my patterned papers succeeded in suggesting to me a festive atmosphere appropriate for New Years.

 On the card's inside, I stamped Autumn Leaves and Altenew sentiments in Memento ink.

And on the back of my card, I stamped an MFT siggie with VersaFine Clair and clear-heat embossed it on a snippet leftover from the front.  I stacked that above more front snippets, including the bottom of my trellis frame. I used a different piece of the Teresa Collins patterned paper from the same collection

In the end, I'm still not confident this screams Shabby Chic style, but I do see definite touches! :-)  Truth be told, that may be as good as it gets with me, I'm stubbornly eclectic and apparently happy that way {grin}.

CHALLENGES:
1.  Split Coast Stampers Sketch #SC753 - sketch is shown above
2.  Beccy's Place August Challenge: Beccy's Image + Photo Inspiration - Please read my post for what inspired me in this photo. I used Beccy's January 1 digital stamp in black and white.

3. Gecko Galz August Facebook Challenge: Let's Celebrate! and Distress It! 

4.  Country View August Challenge: Texture
5.  Outlawz Festive Friday Aug. 23 - Sept. 5: Anything Goes Theme
6.  The House That Stamps Built Challenge A2119: Inspiration Color Palette

7.  The House That Stamps Built Challenge A2819: Anything Goes
8.  PaperBabe Stamps Challenge #100: Gold
9.  The Creative Crafters Challenge #19: Anything Goes
10. Crafts Galore Encore Challenge #66: Anything Goes
11. 12 Months of Christmas Link Up Challenge #56: ACG + Opt. Sparkle, Glitter or Bling -
 - I have played the option.
12. Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge #452: ACG + Opt. Wet or Dry Embossing - I've played the option with dry embossing.
13. Merry Little Christmas Challenge #13: August ACG
14. Moo Mania Challenge #198: Letters and/or Numbers
15. I Love ProMarkers Challenge #391: AG
16. Colour Crazy Challenge Week 32: Always AG with Colouring
17. Brown Sugar Challenge #292: AG
18. Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper Challenge: August AG with PP
19. ABMTTC Challenge #98: Always AG
20. Your Scrapbook Place Challenge: August Always AG

Well, that's it for me today. Honey and I are planning to meet a group of friends at a popular restaurant down the coast a bit tomorrow night to eat some good chicken fried steak and listen to a blues rocker we like. He's pretty loud so I'll probably be half-deaf Friday, haha. I'll still be happy for the weekend though and I hope we all have a good one! Thanks for coming by! XOX