Summer Sunsets

     Hi, friends! Today I'm back to share the project that I taught at my June craft club meeting. We recently marked our five-year craft-aversary! These amazing women have brought so many laughs into my life, and each month it's a treat to get together. Sometimes we get a lot done and sometimes accomplish nothing tangible at all other than laughing together and decompressing for a while.

     For our project this month, we created a summer sunrise behind the trees in the gorgeous Woodland embossing folder from Stampin' Up. After experimenting a little on my own, I found a few effective ways to approach creating sky effects.

     For our card project, I chose a messy watercolor effect with ink and aqua painters. We used a versamarker and clear embossing powder to create a resist on our trees first, then we painted away with a combination of Baja Breeze, Pool Party, Pistachio Pudding, and Calypso Coral Inks in the background. When the ink was dry, we used a Crumb Cake marker to darken the indented bark on our trees to add a little extra contrast. The effects were all different and just beautiful!

     We hand cut a few gold leaves for more sparkle and then embossed our sentiments in gold on a strip of vellum. What could be more perfect than a little gold thread "nest" and little wooden bird to top it all off? Here are projects by Gia, Stacy, and Lindsay!

(This was Lindsay's first time paper crafting. Like ever. What?)

     In experimenting with the sky for this class, I also tried a version with an ink sponged background. This also turned out nicely, so I used this experiment to create another card with that technique. I added a little red birdie, another strip of vellum, and a sentiment die cut on gold washi tape. I can't wait to use this technique on some winter-themed projects!

     I will bring this long and rambling post to a close! Thanks so much for visiting!