Hi there, lovelies! I’m burning the midnight oil severely, but I promised myself that I’ll get this post nailed tonight no matter what… I spent a great deal of time earlier today, moving Julka (my younger) to her own room (finally a bedroom of our own again, woo hoo!) but I got sucked in, as I would, for hours on end. So typical of me 😉 Anyway, I have a new sketch for you and although I still haven’t managed to prepare it early enough to manage a Guest, I do have an accompanying tutorial which I hope you’ll enjoy 🙂

This particular sketch was triggered by Make It Monday #143: Modern Whimsy Style. If you know me a bit, you should well know that it’s a style that I reach for a lot - often with a bit of retro / vintage sneaked in like it happens here. Danielle’s style, who’s a host of the MIM is also one of my personal favourites (um, no surprise here) and I couldn’t wait to whip up something for the challenge.

I love my splatters and layers of elements and since I got a few request recently, to explain how I layer the elements on my cards, I thought it would be handy if I did just that.
I started with a layer of white card, which I cut slightly smaller than my card base. I stamped the pattern from Polka Dot Basics in black ink. I inked the stamp unevenly on purpose.

Then I embossed the Clock Face die (I shared the instructions in a video tutorial a few days ago, here)

…and stamped the corresponding shape, from the Hands Of Time set, over the embossed shape. The images overlap and you won’t achieve an even impression, but again - it’s not the point here.

Then I added a splatter with Smooch Spritz, in the opposite corner. I’m now working on adding some balance to the design.

I clustered a few random number stamps, aiming to make them appear as if they’re spilling from above the splatter. This is adding movement to the picture.

On a separate piece of card, I stamped the leafy branch from Turning A New Leaf (still one of my favourites), with Ocean Tides ink. Then I dabbed Versamark on to the tops of the leaves only. I kept my ink pad at an angle, making sure the ink only goes where I want it to.

I stamped the Versamarked leaf again, directly on top of the image, and embossed it with gold.

I then cut the image out and mounted on dimensional squares, in the bottom corner. If you own the die, you could die cut it instead.

I initially wanted to add the sentiment on the banner or a piece of DP, over the branch but I decided that it’s too pretty to cover to such extent. Therefore I added it under the previously stamped numbers. I used grey ink (same as for the clock face) so that it doesn’t stand out so much and compete with the rest. See how I added an element of surprise, by stamping it vertically?

It still looked kinda bare to me afterwards, so I decided to add a bit more definition by sewing a couple of lines. I combined zig-zag with regular stitch.

To hide the stray bits of thread at the ends of the stitch, I flip the panel over and pull on the loose end until I see a loop coming through. I then grab and gently pull on that loop until I lace the whole of the stray tread underneath. In the same manner, if I want the ends show up and hang from my card (like I did to the other end), I do the same thing but in the opposite fashion - letting the “upper” thread bring the one underneath to the surface of the panel instead.

Once I was satisfied with the result, I moved back to the lower corner and began layering stuff on top of the clock face. First up, I glued two small feathers (local craft store find).

And lastly added a die cut bird cage, a wood veneer bird and a few more splatters of ink. I wanted drops this time so instead of spraying directly onto the card, I turned the tube upside down and pressed the nozzle half way down until I saw ink oozing through. Then I flicked it over the card. Note: I do my best to make the ink go where I want it to but it’s always a hit and miss thing 😉

If you would like to play along:

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