Link in the chain — December

Happy New Year! It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge and having forgotten to sign up for November’s I made sure I was early in the sign up list for December. It’s the month that departs from the usual pattern of sketch/colour palette/theme etc and gives us a tic-tac-toe board to play with. 

 It’s a five by five board and even though I’m usually up for extra challenge I find 25 options a bit too much! So I played the “regular” way and chose the penultimate horizontal line — squares, deer, emboss, splats, Santa. I hope Rudolph counts in the “deer” category!

I used a square card base and embossed with a die for more squares before stamping the image, masking it and using low tack tape to mask off the edges, blending three shades of blue ink and splattering with metallic watercolour. The image is coloured with Copics and then came the scary bit! I thought it should work to do an eclipse style sentiment using an embossing folder rather than cutting out and sticking back the lettering. It was still a bit nerve-wracking putting the carefully coloured card into the folder and squishing it through the Big Shot. It worked pretty well I think, just like a “traditional” eclipse sentiment, it shows more at some angles than others.

All that embossing and masking means I managed to stick to my one layer preference for CCC. It’s gone to Arlene in California, hope she likes it!

Stamps:
Holly Jolly (Penny Johnson/Stampavie)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire)

Other:
Stitched square frame dies (Paper Rose)
Copic markers 
Sayings embossing folder (Darice)
Gansai Tambi Starry Colours watercolour paints