Fab 'n' Funky - For A Child

Hey there my lovely blogland buddies. How is your year shaping up so far? My kiddos are on their Summer holidays right now, so we are filling our days with 'Staycation' fun until we can get to away for a bit. Hubby's head down on a big project right now. So we've been enjoying the Auckland adventures.

I'm popping in today with a DT creation for the latest Fab 'n' Funky challenge, which is being hosted by our lovely Julieanne, whose chosen the sweet theme ~ 'For A Child'. It's perfect for our sponsors Inky Impressions this week too, as they have the most enchanting kiddies images.

I worked with the lovely digital image called Christopher's Day In The Mud. One look at this image and I knew I wanted to use my Distress Inks. So he's been coloured up with a mix of Distress Ink markers and pads. I love the soft wash effect they give. I kept the tones very earthy and muted.

To say I hit a funk after colouring up this image is understatement of the week! I had NO IDEA how I wanted to finish this card. I toyed with the idea of making a shaker card, but was worried the soft watercolouring would be lost in the depth of the aperture and I had no 'bugs' to add to the shaker mix, which I thought would have been so cute. So after drawing a complete blank, I went to bed and when I woke up in the morning, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do. I hunted down some papers to tone in with my colouring and diecut the image and the green mat using a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle from this Bundle Of Stitched Shapes.

I had a sentiment in my stash, which I picked up at the Ally Pally craft fair years ago from a huge bin of loose grey rubber stamps. I so wish I could recall the store that had these large bins of grey rubber sentiments, as I have loads and really would love to be giving them the credit due! So if anyone knows, please do tell me. I thought it was a really good match for this wee fella grubbing around in the dirt. It of course makes me start singing 'you make my heart sing' and when I was hunting through my sentiments for this stamp, I found I also had a Magnolia one with the full phrase, so I stamped that one on the inside of the card. I've used Memento Olive Grove to stamp the sentiments, which doesn't show up well in the pics, but is a lovely dark Olive Green, which suits the theme of the card.

 

The paper I used behind the image is from Pixel Scrapper ~ Tina Campanale from her Dear Dad set. I used another digital paper to create the plaid edges from a My Grafico freebie by Shery K Designs. They toned in really well both of them with the colouring and I think tie the card together really nicely. I left just a peep of the paper down the right hand side, as I wanted a wider strip down the left. I love symmetry, but occasionally I really want to take things a little 'off centre'.

I completed the card with a splash of enamel dots, which hubby thinks echo the muddy fun in the picture, so I thought that was a happy coincidence. They were actually a paler brighter green, but I wanted them to tone in with the deeper green in the watercolourings, so I used my 'Moss Green' Promarker and coloured over the enamel. I gently heated the dots afterwards to set the ink. I did the same trick here on this previous make and the original colour of the enamel dots you can see here on this creation.

A very CAS card design, which allows the image to take centre stage. So considering the funk I was in trying to put this card together, I'm delighted with the outcome. I hope you'll come play along with us this week and showcase your 'For A Child' creations. We'd love to see what you'd do. I'll be back again soon with my next DT creation on Saturday. So watch this space. Until then, big hugs from me and have an awesome week, Wends x

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Challenge Entries:
Crafting From The Heart: #94 ~ Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge: #260 ~ Anything Goes
Inky Impressions: #281 ~ All Things New = new papers
Stamping Sensations: January ~ Anything Goes With A Die
Moving Along With The Times: Spots & Dots = enamel dots
Deep Ocean Challenge: #120 ~ Something New = new papers
I Love Promarkers: #300 ~ Use Something New = new papers (Promarker used on enamel dots)

Update: My wee make made Top 3 at the Inky Impressions Challenge. Thank you so much, I'm honoured. Congrats to my teamie Pat K, who was the Inky Favourite with her gorgeous kitty card.