New Year Robins in Winter

 Hello again! I hope you are well. My neck and my ankle both seem to be slowly improving but continue to surprise me with the random zing. It's painfully unnerving to walk around all fine and dandy without a care, and then suddenly have your ankle buckle without warning! So I keep my cane with me, although I'm beginning to leave it and forget where, lol. Still wearing the neck brace for 6 hours a day as well. 

I have a Happy New Year card to share today which was done with some low-key Asian flare. I like to call it Zen Style, which I feel is perfect for the new year. Zen is contemplation, reflection, intuition, meditation, introspection, peace and calm. Our natural world is still and tranquil in winter (minus the occasional storm), so what better time to get in touch with these qualities through my art. And since Gecko Galz theme this month is Far East Beauty, I have an added incentive to explore this style. It won't all be in-your-face because I don't have too many people I'm currently making stuff for who are real happy with China at present and that includes me, but the Far East includes multiple countries/cultures, and Zen is of Japanese and Buddhist origin. So Zen can be a look, a style, an attitude, a feeling.

  

My card design was based on this Split Coaster Stampers sketch SC727 from 2018. To accommodate both my images, I chose to resize the sketch to 5x7", then reverse the dimensions to "scrunch it" into a  landscape orientation without turning it. The result was perfect for my images.

This Gecko Galz image from their Happy New Year Baby collage sheet is so pretty. I wanted to showcase it to be noticed as much as the focal image, so I used some very old MAMBI 12x12 scrapbooking stickers around it for a frame. Then I cut a Spellbinders Doilies Motifs die to top it. 

I used a 7x5" Kraft card base and some deep red SU card stock to mat the Seven Gypsies Sushi designer papers. I also added some MAMBI medallion stickers  as round accents on the left vertical strip.

The focal image is A Day For Daisies' Five Robins in Winter, which I feel in love with and had to have but have never used until now. I used Promarkers to color it. I decided that the robins should be Flame Robins with deep red bellies. I also chose on purpose to give the background trees color to signify that winter is here now but spring is not far behind. I began with a dull grey green, then layered a very light green on top and then coated it all with yellow Wink of Stella to try to blend with the greenish-gold in the Sushi papers. Finally, I coated the snowy ground with my clear Wink of Stella and accented the far horizon ground and the fencepost snow with Icicle Stickles which has flecks of blue in it, reflecting the pinkish blue sky. So, there is a ton of glitter on it, yet it is still completely Zen. Gotta love it!

  

The inside of the card features a Digi Doodle sentiment, and the back of the card has my custom Amy siggie (for people who don't know me as Aimeslee) on a little collage of Sushi paper scraps. The round element is an Asian-style Spellbinders die cut.

Here are some detail shots to try to show all of the shine that comes off this card in real life:

  

  

You can click on each pic to see in more detail.

And a final view. I very much like how this turned out and I can't wait to explore more Zen Style in the next few weeks. I hope you are able to embrace the new year with anticipation and hope in some way, even though it's still the same old same old so far in reality. There does seem to be light at the end of our tunnel, though. We just have to wait patiently, which is as Nature commands us. Until next time, stay warm and well! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:

1.   Split Coast Stampers sketch SC717

2.   Outlawz Twisted Thursdays 12/31-01/13: AAG + Opt. Twist Glitter -- Option played!  #1/2

3.   Die Cut Divas January: A Rachel Vass Designs January Frame It -- I created a little frame for my sentiment image using a Spellbinders motifs die on top, and I framed the focal image with a card stock mat as well  #1/4

4.   Paper Funday #24: AG + Opt. Christmas/Holiday -- Option played!  #1/4

5.   2 Crafty Critter Crazies January 2021: AG with a Critter -- 6 birds, 5 on the fenepost, one on the sentiment  #1/5

6.   Crafty Animals #46: AG with an Animal  -- Birds

7.   CHNPPC January: AG with Patterned Paper 

8.   ABMTTC #131: AG  

9.   ABMTTCXtra January: AAG  

10. The Creative Crafters #35: AG  #1/3

11. Passion for Promarkers Mega Challenge #572: Add a Sentiment  #3/3

12. Creative Sketchy Girls #55: Anything Is Allowed  

13. Classic Design Challenge Jan 2021 #1: AAG  

14. Gecko Galz January Customer Blog Challenge: Far East Beauty  

15. Gecko Galz Facebook January Challenge: Good Wishes AG  

16. Stamping Sensations January: Use Your Favourite Stamps -- the A Day For Daisies digi stamp "Five Robins in Winter" is one of my favourites that I forgot I had for a long time.