Italian Summer (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are enjoying the Summer projects that my team mates are creating this month. Summer always makes me think of holidays to favourite places, and one of my favourite haunts is Italy. We have recently returned from a week's holiday in Lake Garda, and so it was easy to choose which stamps I should use for my Summer related project....

I started my design by covering my gelli plate with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink, using a brayer, and then laying a piece of smooth card over the top. This is a really quick way of creating a coloured background. I added a crackle finish, using the large crackle stamp from the Echoes of Italy stamp plate, using second generation stamping. I used the large decorative design along the bottom to create a border, and then edged the background with Wild Honey Distress Ink to add some shading.

I stamped the main image onto a rectangular panel, and coloured it with water based markers and a water brush. I drew a few birds by hand with a permanent fine tipped marker. I stamped the sentiment onto a smaller panel, and added a bit of colour to the background using a blending foam. All of the panels were matted onto dark brown card before I assembled the card.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx