The Year of the Blended Background

I declare this the year of the blended background!

I call this card "Darkest Night" due to the sentiment and the background.  I used the following inks:  Memento Bahama Blue, Memento Paris Dusk and Colorbox Midnight.  I used a white gel pen for the stars.  The sentiment is from the Gina K Designs stamp set "To the Moon and Back" and is absolutely perfect for this card.  I used some iridescent sequins (which on second thought was probably a mistake since the card was perfect without it).  The technique is the Torn Paper Technique. 

I had a hard time finding a stamp set to use for the foliage silhouette.  Finally I decided on  the Inkadinkado "Down by the Seaside" set.  There is an image of a grassy foliage coming out of the middle of some seashells so I only stamped the top portion that was above the seashells.  I also did stamp surgery on the image that has a grass clump with a sign coming out of it that says Beach.  I cut the sign out of the image to create the smaller clumps of grass in the focal point of the card.

I recently purchased the Taylored Expressions blending brushes.  Everyone is selling blending brushes now and I have to tell you, they are way better for me than the foam rounds for getting a smooth blend.  No matter how careful I was before there was always one spot where you could see the outline of a round foam in the middle of my blends.  I always "fixed it" so it wasn't so obvious but it was still there.

These brushes are a game changer.  If I get a little heavy handed in one area it is really easy to blend it smooth again.  There will be a lot more blended backgrounds for me.  My daughter works at a veterinary clinic and likes my blended background cards to give as sympathy cards for the employees that have lost their pets.  The employees are loving the landscape blended backgrounds.  Here are some more.  

I have been trying to figure out what the two cards on the right need and I suddenly realized that the night scenes could use a moon and the sunrise scene could use a sun coming up.  That would make future cards with a lot of background space appear less sparse. 
 

Plaid Bear Tracks Quilted Throw using the Accuquilt Die Cutting System

I just finished this throw sized quilt for my adult nephew who had a tough year and loves the color red.  I used the Accuquilt Block on Board for the Bear Paw or Bear Tracks quilt design.

The block on board die systems have every shape you need for the pattern, all arranged on one board.  I put 4 bear tracks together to make the larger block designs.  I decided to use plaids to make it more masculine.  I didn't have enough plaid fabrics so I supplemented with some other red fabrics I already had.  

I found the absolute perfect fabric to add to the back. It even had plaid bears with the identical buffalo plaid that I used in the design.  I tried a flanged binding for the first time and I really like the way it breaks up the monotony of the black border and binding.

I am so pleased with how this turned out and my nephew is in LOVE with it.  He even wanted to know exactly how I pieced the front together so I showed him how there are little triangles that are cut out and sewn together to make squares and then the little pieces are sewn into bigger pieces and batting is put in between the front and back and it is quilted so it doesn't shift, then a binding is sewn on to finish up the edges.