A Twist on Earth Day

Greetings!

I made this little 3½ X 2½ inch card for the WTCs (Women’s Trading Cards) Earth Day 2016 Challenge.

  Most Earth Day pictures are about going green, recycling, stopping pollution, celebrating the Earth, people uniting and so on with the theme.  I wanted people to think about what we have done to the Earth through the years with carelessness and greed; to say, “I’m sorry for the damage we have done to you.”  I hope this is a reminder for us all to do better to take care of the wonderful place God has given us in which to live.

Challenges Entered

Women’s Trading Cards WTCs at https://www.flickr.com/groups/wtcs/

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Instructions

I found a black and white clip art of the Earth on the Internet, sized it to my intentions, then printed it on 110# Neenah Solar White cardstock. The cardstock was then cut down to 3½ X 2½ inch Artist Trading Card (ATC) size.

I proceeded to color the Earth with Prismacolor Colored Pencils:

gray – Color very lightly all over the Earth using small circles and ovals. Lean pencil slightly, coloring on the side of the pencil. Turn pencil regularly to keep the point sharp.

land – Using the pencil points, color lightly with dark brown, apple green, dark brown again.

water – Using the pencil points, color lightly with sienna brown, true blue, sienna brown again

Earth – Color very lightly with gray all over the Earth again; With dark brown, trace the circumference.

Using Gamsol and blending stumps, cover the entire Earth in sections – blend the land with Gamsol, change stumps; blend the water with Gamsol.

At this point, if you want more color for the land and water, repeat the colored pencils until you get the colors the way you want them.

plants – Using Stampendous Encouraging Words Stamps, stamp the plant parts using a Leaf Green Simon Says Stamp Ink Pad. Color the leaves and go over the stems with dark green and apple green Prismacolor pencils. Then to entirely cover up the land masses that are showing through the leaves, color the leaves again with Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss. Smooth out the colors with a Tim Holtz Water Brush. Let this dry.

Using the same colored pencils as before for the land, touch up the land where colors may have been washed out by the water.

space – Color the space around the Earth with a black Prismacolor pencil in small circles and ovals. Go over the area with Gamsol and a blending stump.

Using a white Prismacolor pencil, color around the outside circumference of the Earth, as well as the perimeter of the plants. Put little scribbles of white here and there in space. Go over the white areas with Gamsol and a clean blending stump.

sentiments – I used my MISTI (Most Incredible Stamping Tool Invented) to stamp, so I could repeat the stamping if needed and as it turned out, it needed it.

Anchoring the little card in the bottom left corner of the MISTY, so I could put it back in the same place if I needed to re-stamp, I placed my top sentiment where I wanted it. VersaMark Ink was used to ink “Thinking of you at this difficult time…” Removing the little card, but not the sentiment that was stuck to the MISTI, I sprinkled the words with Wow Platinum Embossing Powder and shaking off the excess, an embossing heat gun was used to melt the powder. I didn’t think the sentiment could been seen well enough, so I repeated the process but used Recollections Ebony Embossing Powder to heat emboss the words. Now the sentiment was embossed in black with sparkly edges.

I repeated the same process with the words, “sorry for your loss” on the right side of the card 5/8 inch from the bottom.

The sentiments still looked too dark to me, so I traced over all the letters with a white Gelly Roll pen.  Hind sight, I should have heat embossed the sentiments with white embossing powder and that would have done the trick.  So I wasted time and supplies.  However, remember the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  I find this goes EVERY TIME I make a card!  I must only laugh….ha!

Last of all, small dots of Stardust Stickles were scattered over the black space to resemble stars and such.

Feeling a little silly,

Tricia Ann

Add-On

Have you ever heard the rest of the poem?  It is such an old quote, written back in the 1800’s, that the author is not truly known.  It could have been W.E. Hickson, T.H. Palmer, or who knows.  Here’s how it goes……

‘Tis a lesson you should heed,
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again;

Then your courage should appear,
For if you will persevere,
You will conquer, never fear
Try, try again;

Once or twice, though you should fail,
If you would at last prevail,
Try, try again;

If we strive, ’tis no disgrace
Though we do not win the race;
What should you do in the case?
Try, try again

If you find your task is hard,
Time will bring you your reward,
Try, try again

All that other folks can do,
Why, with patience, should not you?
Only keep this rule in view:
Try, try again.

***********

There is a joke that states, “If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.”