The Card I Wish I Would've Made Bob's Brother

Sometimes life conspires against you, or so it seems. I was planning to make a third birthday card on Thursday, but realized that if I didn't get the cards in the mail that morning, there wasn't a prayer any of them would make it in time for the birthdays that are today, tomorrow and next Tuesday. So, I grabbed one I had in my stash and used it instead. This is the card I WISH I'd thought to make for Bob's brother, Rick.

All the regret began after I created this. This was inspired by a woman named Michelle Zindorf. She has a blog where she posts tutorials that teach you how to recreate the techniques that she is known for. Much of her work demonstrates her enormous talent in creating landscapes. One of the favorite things she does is work with silhouetted trees and skylines and suns or moons. Twilight is my favorite time each day, and one of the things I miss most about the Midwest is the flat terrain that allows me to see sunsets through blackened tree silhouettes. It just doesn't happen in these hills.

So, emboldened by this inspiration, I tried my hand at her techniques. I started with the pine branch from Peaceful Wishes and Always Artichoke Craft ink. After stamping, I embossed with clear EP. Then I used a post-it note with a 1 1/4" circle punched out of it to create the setting sun with More Mustard and Really Rust that I sponged inside the mask. After embossing that as well, I then began playing with sponging, starting with Soft Sky, then Cameo Coral, followed by Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, a touch of Purely Pomegranate, and Blue Bayou inks. That created the sky.

When I was finished, it looked a little "off" somehow. Unbalanced, unfinished. So I added another branch and that was better. Then I set about to mounting it so as not to diminish from the colors. During that process, I rotated it vertically and the whole look changed! This is what the final card looks like:

The reason I wish I'd thought to make this kind of card for Bob's brother is that he's such an outdoorsman. He also loves fishing, waterskiing, hunting, and photographing nature. He would've appreciated this, I think. Oh well...next year!

Thanks for stopping by during this gorgeous weekend! Hope you spent time out of doors today yourself!