It was sometime in the early part of 2011 that I began to visit Brenda's blog - at about the same time as I was becoming more interested in the Penny Black stamp company. Since then I've learnt much from her artwork & so it wasn't difficult to think of a number of things when pondering over my submission for her challenge.
I have CASEd the first card in Brenda's post Cherish & Dream in such a way as to demonstrate what I see in Brenda's artwork. A particular feature of her work is the matting of the main panel - there are usually two borders; the outer one thicker than the inner. Flowers & butterflies are common components as are die-cuts, swirls & pearls. More often than not there is some kind of stamping & inking (frequently with Distress Inks) combined with dimension in the form of shaped flowers or decoupage.
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| front of card |
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| close-up showing shine of wet embossing plus shaped dimension of butterfly |
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| close-up of background tone on tone stamping upon linen textured paper prior to card assembly |
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| inside of card |
Brenda & I share a fondness for Penny Black stamps & so I used these for all the stamped elements. She often creates an inky background or a scene but after my husband caught me 'red-handed' (his words) I abandoned my attempts & created a floral background using my favoured technique of tone on tone stamping.Recipe
Stamps Penny Black 30-117 free flight (butterfly & sentiment), 4159K
sundial (background & inside of card).
Inks Fired Brick Distress Ink (background), VersaFine Onyx Black (sentiment), VersaFine Onyx Black with Stewart Gill
Ultrafine Embossing Powder (butterfly), VersaFine Satin Red (inside of card).
Pencils/Markers etc… Memento Tuxedo Black Dual Marker (edging cardstock
& sentiment border).
Cardstock Whites & assorted blacks in various finishes from stash.
Paper Textured red from stash.
Dies Spellbinders Nestabilties Labels 17 (sentiment), Sizzix Bigz Die –
Elegant Flourishes (swirls).
The pearls are Papermania.