I am so excited!!! I finally finished the first 5 weeks of 52CardPickUp. I decided to do a "Monthly Theme" for this creative endeavor, showcasing what each month means to me... the colors I associate with it, little family tidbits, quotes, definitions, just anything that I think about when I recall that timeframe.
January has always signaled a New Beginning for me, a doorway to new adventures and colors I find crisp, clean yet inviting. I had no idea how complexed this little exercise would be. I thought due to the smallness of playing cards, it would be a breeze to complete 5 in no time. Boy was I wrong. I had too much fun creating backgrounds!!! I had to force myself to stop so I could begin working on the cards themselves!!!
First I had to decide how I wanted to cover the cards... I wanted them similar but not the same. They had to be my most favorite color combo of iced blues, pearly white and Cardinal red or garnet Red.
I wrapped all 5 in various Tim Holtz Tissue Tape. I then lightly painted each with Tim's new Distress Paints White Picket Fence. I heat set this as I did not want the paint to mix with the stains I was going to put on top. I painted a few cards with Tim's Crackle paint for texture in a few places, but not the whole card.
I put Iced Spruce and Weathered Wood Distress Stains into my craft sheet and dragged the cards thru those colors. I also mixed some Distress Paint Picket Fence with the stains for a marbled look. I heat dried all sides.
On the cards with the Crackle Paint, I added Iced Spruce directly to that area, making sure the stain got into the cracks of the paint, then I blotted the excess off with paper towel.
I wanted the cards to have a sparkle, a subtle sheen, so I mixed Iced Spruce with a tiny dab of Golden Pearl White Acrylic Paint, spread it on the craft sheet and dragged the cards thru. Gave then all a nice iced look in several places.
Card 1, the Cover Card -- week 1:
A play on the popular book, "50 Shades of Gray" (although I have not read it, yet)
Added the wise old owl... hopefully I will remember the lessons of the past year(s) as I move forward into this New Year...
Card 2 -- week 2
White snowflakes from embossing medium and Title Card for story on back...
Recalling a great remembrance with my daughter when she was around 6 years old, so fitting for the month of January when it snowed in Phoenix many years ago...
Card 3 -- week 3
Winter's bare trees, with January's bird, a Cardinal
Loved this quote.... a lesson I can learn from, although it IS difficult to let go at times, it serves no purpose to hang on, and trees let go so freely, as a course of their lives, cause if they survive the winter, they will begin again and what a glorious ideal to look forward to... renewal
Card 4 -- week 4
January's flower is the Carnation... I have always loved that flower and its sweet cinnamony fragrance. Made these little beauties with Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral Die using the smallest flower. I cut them from coffee filters, cuz I knew the filter would hold up to being wet. I made a stain from Lindy's Stamp Gang Magic Micas Bougainvillea Fuschia, dragged 10 little cutouts (for each flower) thru it and let them dry. I gathered them all onto a tiny brad, making sure the petals were not in alignment as I added each layer. Once I got them on to the brad, I closed the feet, and lightly spritzed with water to crumple the layers together. I held onto the flower with long tweezers and heat dried it, scrunching the layers together to form the flower. Did this to all 3 pictured. Added floral wire for the stems
Thought this quote was apropos, besides loving the actual words, flowers bring so much to my world.., their colors, their smells... each distinct with its own beauty, how can one not smile??
Card 5 -- week 5
Last card for this month... I love how January has been defined as the doorway, which it is to a new year... a passage of all things that were to all things to be...
So I thought a door was a fitting way to close the month, with tidbits about January hidden behind... but the most precious story of January is the birth of my beautiful granddaughter Caitlyn, 3 years ago.
WOW, that was a long story... hope you like these cards. I tried to use all things symbolic here, the red text for the birthstone Garnet, as was the red of the carnations, along with the red for the Cardinal. Plus the icy blues for the coldness of the month, yet that ice has a beauty all its own, a shimmer, a calming of my Soul...
