The Ton's August Challenge - My "Guest Designer" debut!

Hello again friends and crafters,

I have been working fervently the last couple of weeks designing my card for The Ton's August Challenge as a guest designer.  For August, the cue word is "SUMMER".

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As I began thinking on this challenge and looking at my stash (of growing) Ton stamps, I couldn't help but think of summer vacations in Maui with it's beautiful beaches and HUGE waves.  One of my recent acquisitions was their Wave stamp (it's amazing!).  I also recently got their Palm Tree stamp and I went to work designing a card using those two stamp sets. They are Layered stamps, so this card is not my typical kind of water-colored or Copic-colored card.  Needless to say, the stamps are amazing.  I did hand color the background of the card, but the card took longer to make than some of my fully hand colored cards.  I experimented with ink colors, material for the oval frame, etc.  This was the first card that I made a practice card first, again playing with color and layout.  So here it is, as my guest designer debut (drum roll, please!) - this is my first one, don't tell!

Products and Techniques:

The Ton Stamps:  Wave and Palm Tree

The Ton Adhesive Foil Paper in Royal Blue (used on oval frame)

The Ton Burnished Foil Tape in silver (on R side of base card-stock)

The Ton Inks:  Couture Color - Sky Blue Collection (Cali Blue, Azurite Dye, Deep Sapphire Dye), Lofty Mint Dye and Bright Emerald Dye.

Sequins from The Ton Couture Mixes: Winter Thaw and By the Moonlight

4.25" x 6" Strathmore Series 400 watercolor paper

4" x 5.75" Fun Foam layer

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White #110 card-base folded to 4.5" x 6"

For my card, I wanted cool color tones, so I started with the watercolor panel and applied the ink fairly randomly with a mini ink blending tool over some small palm trees that had been heat embossed first with some clear embossing powder. I varied the intensity of the ink to be lighter at the top compared to the bottom.  I then spattered some water onto the panel and blotted it away, however not much color was removed.  So I then decided to add some DIY shimmer to the panel by spraying some Perfect Pearls and water mixture onto the panel.  I then used my heat tool to dry it.  With my base layer done, I stamped the Palm Tree images on a separate piece of cardstock with the blues and greens listed above then die cut them out. Next, I stamped The Wave with the Blue Sky Collection, but I added the Bright Emerald Dye ink to the second layer of the stamp before using the Azurite Dye ink to that same layer.  That gave the wave a similar blue/green look that the trees had.  I die cut the wave out with an oval die, then stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  For the oval frame, I used 2 oval dies, one inside the other with an even reveal.  Previously I had adhered the Adhesive Foil Paper to a similar color blue card-stock, then die cut it with the 2 oval dies to give me a pretty foiled oval frame (without white edges) for my wave.  After deciding on the placement of the die cut images, I stamped the 2 trunks of the palm trees and the hammock, then the grassy mound (in green and blue). Next, I adhered the large palm tree to the upper right corner, overhanging it a bit, then adhered the oval wave piece, then the frame using Ranger Multi Medium Matte adhesive.  I then added some dimensional adhesive to the small Palm trees.  Next, I prepared my #110 NSW card base, laying a strip of the Burnished Foil Tape to the right side of the panel.  I cut some Fun Foam to layer between the base card-stock and the watercolor panel for added dimension.  Not yet satisfied, I finished the card by applying the darkest blue ink by hand to the palm trees to really make them POP and go better with the dark blue foiled frame.  I then added some sequins and other small elements from a couple of the Couture Mixes I had on hand.  Lastly, I stamped the small seagull near the wave. Now I was done!  I hope you enjoyed my card, and that it gave you some new inspiration when using the Wave and/or Palm Tree stamps.

Good luck and happy crafting,

Jill