Masculine

Hello there!  I can't believe how fast the time is speeding by;  its June already!  And a new month means the start of a new Clarity challenge.  This month we're asking you to make something for one of the men in your life;  now we all know how difficult that can be...  

Rather than revisiting some of my favourite "male" stamps, I decided to go for something different, and use the galleon and ocean swirl set that I bought a while ago, but which were still pristine and unused, (and no doubt, feeling unloved!)

I played about a bit to find the right colours and stencil for a gelli print I could use for my background sea.  In the end, it was Paperartsy Fresco Finish paints in Caribbean Sea and South Pacific, and System 3 Gold acrylic.  In my opinion, you really need a mega mount to produce perfectly layered gelli prints;  it makes it so easy to line up each layer so that you get that lovely hand printed edge.

I then brayered Peacock Feathers distress ink onto the gelli plate for the sky;  now you would be lucky to get this lined this up without a mega mount.

Then I stamped the galleon into place using black archival ink.

Then, using the same paints, I pulled a couple of prints with the Ocean swirl stencil on card and then on parchment.  I tore these out to create the wild, crashing waves.

A bit of whitework on the parchment swirls to add highlights, and to suggest the foaming crests of the waves.

  

I laid these out along with the stamps to make sure I was happy with the composition.

Then I stamped both the swirls into place with versamark and used one of the fancy Frantage embossing powders.  I particularly love this one with its little flecks of gold. 

I added a drop shadow with a light charcoal pencil;  you can see below what a difference it makes.

Using a versamark pen, I emphasised the crests of the waves with a little embossing powder too.

 For the final flourish, to create a really wild, raging sea I coiled some strips of card to make swirls of various sizes, then glued into place.  Now some of you will know that this is a technique we did at a recent retreat with Maria Simms.  And you will not be able to believe that I actually did more curling!  I can hardly believe it myself!

And that's it.  Simply edged with black and mounted on to a plain white card blank.

I hope you like the finished card.  I did enjoy the whole process of making this one;  playing with different ideas and techniques, and letting it grow and develop as it went. 

Now I can't wait to see what you're going to come up with.  There's some really great work entered into the challenge every month, and it gets harder and harder to choose our top 5.  No need to worry if you're a beginner though;  the winner is chosen at random, so everyone has the same chance to win that £50 Clarity voucher.     

I have set myself a challenge too:  to be back soon for a chat and share another of my cards.  So hopefully it won't be long till next time.  Xxx