Hello! Today I’m sharing my inspiration for the start of the April Get Creative Challenge. For this card, I’ve chosen the pre-colored Geisha image, called Japanese Lady from Ike’s Art. I’ve always loved using pre-colored images as my features because they give me lots of time to work on the rest of my card design.
For this card, I digitally removed the background of the Geisha and added an old digital Japanese paper that I had on file behind her. To give this compilation a little dimension, I slightly blurred the patterned paper. This allows the sharper, foreground image to stand out just that little bit more. I saved this compilation as a jpeg file ready to print.
Before I did print however, I chose a frame die that I thought would work well with my image. I chose the Spellbinders Tallulah Frill Layering Frame die set and measured the inner area of the outermost die. I then sized my image and printed it out onto regular cardstock, using the free Avery Design and Print Software. This software allows me to precisely size my printed image to the millimeter.
The next step was to die cut the frame from gold mirror board and trim the Geisha image down to size. I discovered the dimensions of the My Favorite Things Inside and Out Stitched Rectangles die set dimensions matched that of the Spellbinders frame so, instead of just cutting the Geisha image with my trimmer, I used the rectangular stitched die to cut it out.
I glued the Geisha panel onto the frame and set it aside to dry while I compiled the rest of the card. For the card base itself, I cut two pieces with the Sue Wilson Mosaic Border Background Die and created a landscape hinged card base. I cut a matting layer of mirror board, one quarter inch smaller than my card base. I then cut a second black matting layer, again one quarter inch smaller than the mirror board layer, and glued both layers to my card base, using liquid PVA.
I added small dots of Ranger Multi Medium Matte Adhesive to the outer areas of the gold frame and glued it directly onto the black matting layer and added a gold half pearl to each corner of the black panel. I then got some really old Japanese word peel off stickers out and chose the “blessings” sticker to add to the top right of the Geisha panel, as well as a small happy birthday peel off greeting sticker to add to the bottom right. Peel off stickers are much more suited to a design like this where stamping and embossing will give a less shiny and slightly bulkier look in comparison.
It’s been years since I made my last Geisha card and it was great to revisit the theme again. Thanks so much for spending time with me today. I look forward to next time…😊
Constantly Carding 