Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Country Girl Birthday

 Hello again and hope you are well. I had 2 good health days and 1 horrible one since I last posted. But the horrible one was caused in large part by sleeping on my neck wrong, so I've corrected that by wearing my neck brace while sleeping. Aside from the occasional coughing/choking fit, lol, it's working {knock wood}. No change on my ankle.

My card share today is for a close friend's birthday. She's at heart a country farm girl and loves classic red pick-up trucks, and shabby chic and vintage decor. Last year when I saw Spellbinder's Truckin' Thru the Seasons die release, I bought it with her in mind and was gonna make her a Christmas card with it, but my neck and ankle had other plans for me. 

   
While looking through Split Coast Stamper sketches, I saw this one and my first thought was, what in the heck would someone do with that? Then a scene with her truck just magically appeared in my head! LOL True story. I resized the sketch to half-sheet (8.5 x 5.5) size in PSE and I also did some hybrid-type work with digi stamps before printing out to use on my card. I took process shots so you could see my steps. Here goes:
    
The photo at left shows the sketch printout along with the printout after adding the 2 digi stamps Old Mailbox and Nell's Cottage from Beccy's Place that were perfect for my "vision". This step is to adjust image sizes. I also added an actual-size photo of the truck die cut. Beccy's optional challenge twist for January is to add some doodling or zentangling, so I'm offering my freehand drawing of the foreground hill (the curvy sketch element) and also the far horizon and road between the two. (I don't zentangle because it cramps up my hand.) In the righthand photo, I removed the truck to just print out what I want for the card front and then print that again on Avery removeable label paper for masking.

  
These 3 photos shows my coloring/stenciling progress, left to right. In Photo 1 I've done the drawing with my Carbon Desk Pen and then colored the grass with Promarker. Photo 2 shows the mailbox, road and house colored and the sky stenciled. Photo 3 shows the road stenciled and the Avery Elle stamp Happy Birthday added and heat-embossed. 

I used an MFT stencil and Distress Inks for the sky and a The Greetery stencil and Distress Inks for the road. The Route 65 is a digital element I created from a Route 66 sign. The card base is Bazzill Kraft card stock and all the designer paper is very old 12x12 Jenni Bowlen scrapbooking papers. The front paper that's peeking out was ink and edge distressed.

All die cuts were cut from white card stock which I then colored with Promarkers, except for the silver parts which were colored with Silver Fox Smooch Ink The balloon strings were drawn with a Sakura Silver Gelly Roll. The balloons were cut from a Divinity Designs die.

On the inside, more of the Jenni Bowlen paper and hand-stamping on the left hand side using Sugarloaf See D's, Autumn Leaves Ronna Farrer and Hero Arts stamps on a Spellbinders label die cut mat. The right hand side features Beccy's Place printed digital sentiments from Old Mailbox.

The back of my card has more Jenni Bowlen papers and another Spellbinder label die cut where I stamped the Autumn Leaves heart more prominently this time and my Lawn Fawn siggie stamp.



Some close-up shots.

And a final view. Thanks for coming by to have a look. I hope we all have a great day! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
2.   Beccy's Place January Challenge: AG + Opt. Doodling -- Option played! I drew the horizon, road and balloon strings freehand to tie the scene together.
3.   AAA Birthday Game #21: Stenciled Background -- I stenciled the sky and the road.  
4.   Happy Little Stampers January AG with Dies -- Used Spellbinders truck die and Divinity Designs balloon die  
7.   Try it on Tuesday: Uplifting or Positive Quotes -- On the front and inside
9.   I Love Promarkers #426: AG -- used Promarkers throughout entire scene  #2/3
10. NBUS #22 - first time to use the dies  

23 comments:

Beccy said...

Wow! This isn't a card Aimeslee, it's a little work of art, and I'm sure your friend is going to love it! Thank you for sharing your process with us, what a labour of love. I really like the way you did the flagstone drive, the beautiful grassy hill and the fabulous sky. Gorgeous!
Cheers,
Beccy
P.S. I hope your neck and ankle are feeling better very soon.

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

OH! I feel your pain, nothing worse than not being able to sleep and then waking up worse for wear! I hope your feeling better today. Keep braced up is the answer? Anyhow, Another amazing card Aimeslee. so many wonderful details, love how you got to the design and how you did it. printing out on masking paper! cleverrrrr! Your colouring is amazing, the effect of the card is like a painting. Love the car and balloons and of course your finishing off the insert and back too. Your friend will be over the moon with this card.
Faith x

Hazel (Didos) said...

Oh this is super, what a great make, Im sure your friend will love it. Hope the pain eases more for you soon, Hazel xx

Beth Norman-Roberts said...

Everything about this card is fun. Im sorry you weren't able to make a Christmas card. Thankfully you feel a bit better. So much detail goes into your cards. Your card still hasn't reached me. I hope it didn't go astray.

My name is Erika. said...

Sorry to hear about your neck Aimeslee. The neck brace doesn't sound fun but if it works, then that is a good thin and worth it. This is a great card. You added so many nice details. Thanks for sharing with us at try It on Tuesday. Hugs-Erika

Monica C. said...

Oh what a fun card, Aimeslee! I love that die set, I own it too. Your scene with all the elements is lovely. Thank you so much for the process photos.
Hope you get to feel better soon.
Hugs Monica

Marjut said...

Beautiful. Thank you for joining us at Try it on Tuesday.

Jane said...

Oh wow such a lot of work has gone into this card! Awesome end product, love it. Thanks for playing at AAA Birthday, hope to see you join in with future challenges too. Stay safe and keep crafting!

Let's Art Journal said...

Such a fabulous card! The quote is such fun - I love it 😁. Thanks so much for joining in the fun at Try it on Tuesday! Hope that you are on the mend, take care! Hugs, Jo x

Cardsbymaaike said...

What a fun card, lovely layout and sure to make someone happy. Thank you for playing at AAA Birthday Challenges.

Leslie said...

This is super adorable! I love that die set, too, and I know your friend will love this card!

Darnell said...

You've made a thoughtful and fun card for your friend, Aimeslee! I'm sure she loved it! You put a lot of work into the process and the results are amazing and very detailed! Thank you for sharing with everyone at NBUS! Take care and keep safe! Hugs, Darnell

ahlers5 said...

Oh my gosh, this card is truly amazing. I read all the details and then read them again! Wow,that's some card! One of my fav things in the spiderweb in the mailbox, yuck, but beautiful. I have had that happen. I'm so sorry your neck has started up again. I hope it returns to normal soon.

Chrissy said...

Fabulous dies and fabulous scenes, love them.Thank you so much for joining in with us at 613 Avenue Create..hope you will play along again..

Luv CHRISSYxx
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NickScrapShack said...

Fantastic card! I love how you combined all different images and embellishment. Looks fantastic all together. Thank you for playing along with us at I LOVE PROMARKERS. Best of luck with your entry. Nick DT

pearshapedcrafting said...

What a fabulous card! The time you took making was definitely time well spent! All those fabulous details are brilliant! Thanks for another great entry at Try It On Tuesday! Chrisx

Cath Wilson said...

Wow! This is fab, Aimeslee! Not only the amount of work you've put into it, but the scene is perfect. What a great idea and so beautifully executed.

Sorry you've not been well. I hope (and now pray) you'll soon be much, MUCH better and in much less pain. I know how that feels. Glad to see you've still been able to craft. It makes such a difference and is so therapeutic. That's my plan for this afternoon...let's see how that goes ;-)

Be blessed and stay well!
Cath xx

Teresa said...

This is GREAT!!

Sandra Wright. said...

Hello Aimeslee, I hope you are keeping safe and well.
I want to Thank You for dropping by my blog to say hello and to leave such lovely comments.
I saw an advert the other day for Artistic Outpost, so I had to take a look. Nothing new, so I guess they are not producing any new stamps anymore. I looked through their site and I counted out 34 of their sets that I have.lol.
Like you I would never part with them, they were my favourite stamps at the time and I remember eagerly looking for new sets.
I still use mine often.
Thank you for joining in with our challenge at More Mixed Media with your stunning card, it's awesome.
Take care my crafty friend from over the pond.x

Becca Sadler said...

Aimslee: (1) First, I'm sorry to hear a bit in this posting about some health issues. I'm sure the crafting process to make this card helped you focus on something besides those medical needs for a little de-stressing. (2) Secondly, the card was stunning and then to read all the steps and techniques you used to put it together makes your birthday card extraordinary!!! (3) Thanks for linking to A Place To Start challenge blog this month! --Becca/DT

Wei said...

Awesome job! Thanks for playing along with at AAA Birthday Challenge. Looking forward to seeing your creative projects in the future galleries.

Nandini said...

Amazing card! I love all the little details you have added to make this card so special! Great to see you in the HLS gallery. Hope you will join us this month too! Nandini, DT

Chana Malkah said...

Congratulations! You were chosen as a Rising Star for the week of January 11th - 17th at A Place To Start! Please stop by our blog and grab your badge. We hope you will join us in our February Sketch Challenge!

The Resident Design Team