I Predict Your Year Will Be Filled With...

Inspiration: ColourQ #299 + Just Us Girls #516

This was one of those cards where I didn't have a clear plan when I got started. All I had was a background created during a testing new mediums session. 

I was very happy when Deco Foil came out with its Transfer Gel Duo, which allow you to foil without a heat machine. I was curious and I grabbed a jar at my local store to test it out. I made a couple of backgrounds at once, this one using the Hocus Pocus stencil from TIm Holtz. I used another new item I was curious to test: black watercolor paper! I remember wondering earlier this year when I was working with Nuvo's shimmer powders if black watercolor existed and how the powders would look on it. Then, not long afterwards, my local store owner mentioned in one of her weekly videos that she had black watercolor come in. She was already sold out when I asked for a pack to be put aside, but she called this week to confirm she had received some more. I will say the first try with the shimmer powders was not conclusive. You get the shimmer but not the colour, which was a little disappointing. Because the colour was not popping, I decided to add the stenciling on top with the foiled stars.

Here is another thing I noticed and want to share. I invested in Pixie spray to use my stencils, which I love, but it does not adhere well to watercolor paper (gave me that problem on white watercolor paper before and on the black one again today). Because of that, some of the gel seeped underneath the stencil and I would say about half of the stars are not really crisp. The background was still usable, but I will keep this in mind in the future when pairing stencils and watercolor paper. The foil I used on the stars is Amber Watercolor. It has a nice ombre look that goes from soft gold to dark copper, which gave the starry background great dimension. 

Once I was done with the background, I went hunting for images that would look cool pair with it. Nothing was really jumping out at me until I spotted the Fortune Teller Tabby set and thought that could look cool. I picked an unusual colour combo from an old ColourQ challenge and pulled out the Take the Stage Die-namics to create curtains around the tabby. Lawn Fawn does have curtains on the Theater Shadow Box Add-On set, but they're significantly smaller. Initially, I thought I wanted to use the Reveal Wheel to have various sentiments appear in the crystal ball, but I couldn't get the table placed where I wanted it using the dies as is and I didn't want to fiddle, so I switched to another idea instead. Because new year is coming up, I decided to switch the original sentiment from "I predict your day will be..." to "I predict your year will be..." Thanks to my sentiment spreadsheet, I was able to quickly filter the options to find a Lawn Fawn set where the word "year" would be included in a sentiment. I pulled out two options, but the Yeti or Not stamp set had the best size and font of the two options, so I performed stamp surgery and cut my clear stamps apart so that I could insert the new word in the existing sentiment. I was hesitant the first time I ever did that, but I've quickly discovered it is totally worth it.

For the floor, I decided to have her be in a fog cloud, so I used the Puffy Cloud Borders die and I added fine glitter around the edge. There was empty room above the cat's head and I decided it might look nice to fill in the space with the year. I wanted to do a banner and remembered there is a small one in the Scalloped Box Card Pop-Up, but the numbers I wanted to use would have been too big for the little banners, so I ended up using the string on its own and gluing the numbers directly on it. I like how that detail turned out. I then added a few copper stars from Stampin' Up! to fill where the stencil didn't have any, and I decorated my matching envelope.

Tip: I wanted to add Crystal Effects on the crystal ball, but I have noticed in the past that it sometimes change the colour of the dye ink underneath, especially for inks with red or pink undertones. So I decided to test out what would happen if I applied a thin layer of microglaze over my crystal ball before adding the Crystal Effects. I'm happy to report that it works very well! Only thing is that I had applied Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer on around the edges and the microglaze totally dulled the sparkle. That was not a problem since I have the Shimmering Crystal Effects from Stampin' Up! and I got the shimmer back when I applied it.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Fortune Teller Tabby, Yeti or Not (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Rich Razzleberry, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Whisper White,
Grapefruit Grove Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!); Black Watercolor Paper (Stonehenge)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Rich Razzleberry, Summer Starfruit Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!);
VersaMark
Dies: Scalloped Box Card Pop-Up, Fortune Teller Tabby, Puffy Cloud Borders (Lawn Fawn);
Take the Stage Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Mini Caps Alpha and Numbers (Taylored Expressions)
Accessories: Amber Watercolor Foil (Deco Foil); Hocus Pocus Stencil (Tim Holtz);
Antique Shades Iridescent Shimmering Watercolour Paints (Cosmic Shimmer);
A2 Anthracite Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Gold Uni Pen (Posca); Markers (Copic);
Star Designer Elements, Calypso Coral Stampin' Emboss Powder, Sponge Dauber,  
Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush, Shimmer Powders (Nuvo)

 

Comments

[Susan VanDeVusse]

This is fabulous! Your background is gorgeous and so perfect for your little fortune teller. Beautiful details and design. Thanks for playing along at JUGS!