Whimsy Stamps ~ Easter Blessings

Hey crafty friends, I'm popping in today with a lovely Easter themed card I've made for my wonderful mum. I know she's going to love this card. I'd have made another for my mother-in-law too, but this is not a posting friendly design as there's quite a lot of dimension and delicate layers, but she'd have loved this too I'm sure. It was inspired by a hymn my daddy loved, 'The Old Rugged Cross' and I had the idea for this design at the end of the Easter season last year and I've been planning it in my head ever since! I saw the ends of the wood planks and the idea of using them to create a cross started forming in my head. 

I wouldn't say I felt overly confident a year ago to create the ink dragged woodgrain background, but I've been experimenting more with ink and mixed media and inky techniques this past year, so felt more confident to try this idea I had in my head. Helped greatly by the lovely Tonya Brooks who shared a fabulous woodgrain technique with us recently. I'd already been playing, after watching Gina K sharing her ink dragging techniques, but seeing Tonya's tutorial gave me the nudge to have a go with this idea. If you're interested, I'll share some pics of my process a little further down in the post. I tried to hunt down Tonya's tutorial, it was shared for one of the Whimsy Newsletters I believe, I got her involved in the hunt too, but neither of us can track it down, so I'm hoping you watched it when it was shared! 

I know the imagery I've depicted isn't perfect, there would be no 'nails' at this stage, so if it helps to see those rather as holes where they once were, that works too. The shroud and crown would not be there either, but this piece is about depicting the idea and feeling of the resurrection. Artistic license you might say and I know this will hit home for many. I've used some Pumice Stone Distress Spray Stain and Unravelled Mica Spray Stain to age slightly some mummy cloth to create the Shroud. 

I've used a beautiful die set from Whimsy called Savior and there is a lovely stamp set too of the same name. I've used them both to create this card. I started with some loose watercolouring for a soft background, I used some Perfect Pearls in water with the Distress inks to do the watercolouring, so there's actually a lovely shimmer to the background. Tattered Rose Distress Ink and Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink were the two I used to create the background. I popped up the watercoloured background on thin foam to mount onto the lovely cream card base. This added just a touch of dimension and interest, but I left this otherwise very clean and simple. 

The final touch was the sentiment, which I diecut with the oval frame from the original Quick Strips Die Set from Whimsy, they have several now and they are all fabulous! I'm looking forward to getting the latest set too. I tried several times to stamp and emboss the sentiment in gold, I thought it would have looked lovely, but the 'is' got obscured during the embossing process. This will be, because I was stamping on textured watercolour paper, so I ended up stamping it with Versafine Clair Pinecone Ink. I actually love the rustic finish this gives, I think it actually works better for this design, so a happy accident that the gold embossing refused to work! It has ended up with quite a monochromatic finish too apart from a tiny touch of Tattered Rose in the background.

I started off with a white cardstock panel, I used Hammermill 100lb. I ink blended tea dye roughly all over the panel. Then I inked dragged a mix of brown Distress Inks starting with lighter shades and working up to the darker ones. I dragged the flat surface of the Mini Distress Inks across the panel, rotating the page180 degrees to give a different starting point. As I worked my way up to the darker inks, I tipped them on their edge to get some deeper lines, like cracks or shadows between planks. I used Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso and Scorched Timber. I diecut this panel with the Slimline Fence Die from Whimsy and dragged the ink over the wood planks again after diecutting to bring out the embossed details. 

I used three different inks to do the topcoat drag. I got a warm but rustic dark timber with Ground Espresso. I got a midtone wood plank using Brushed Corduroy and the final ink I tried was the Scorched Timber, which gave a really deep aged distressed wood finish. All fab, depending on the project they're wanted for, so it was fun to experiment. 

I did another ink dragged panel but with darker inks for the Crown of Thorns. I used Walnut Stain for the first drag and then Ground Espresso and Scorched Timber. This gave a lovely dark woodgrain to diecut the Crown of Thorns from the Savior Die Set with. I assembled the cross with foam and added it to the watercoloured base layer. I draped the shroud over the cross and then fitted the Crown of Thorns over top. 

We've had such a lovely Easter release at Whimsy during March, I'm not sure the Quick Card Fronts I've ordered will arrive in time for Easter, so I'm very happy to have got this card made. I hope you've enjoyed this step through my process and do leave me a comment if you visit, I'd love to know you've been here and if you've a blog too, I'd love visit in return. Wishing you a creative and wonderful week. Hugs, Wends xoxo

 

(I share thumbnails to the elements I design with, in order to make your search for them easier, in case you like something I've used. I do use affiliate links where possible, and so appreciate if you use these when shopping. They cost you no extra whatsoever. I am proud to design for the companies I do and always feel happy to share where my inspiration and where my crafty stash comes from. I am occasionally gifted products to use, but I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

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