Big Deal Greetings to Go Cards

As soon as I found out what the February theme was and saw the direction of the artwork, I begged Tricia to let me be the Guest Artist for the Big Deal Greetings to Go.

I adore the vintage feel of Big Deal, and couldn't wait to play and stretch my creativity a bit. Here are the five 3-1/2 x 5" cards from the pack:

I had fun with a few techniques from the past, like mirror image stamping.

I love the saying for the card on the left, but it wasn't part of the stamps. What to do? Why you trim a sentiment apart and create it yourself! The card on the right is my feeble attempt at the Bokeh technique. I think I need more practice. After that little bit of trial and error, I had a little fun experimenting with masking, stamping and the Lite stencil:

The A2-sized cards in this month's Greetings to Go are scored to create these easel style cards . . . so cool!

The harlequin image stamp from the Short Sleeve Pants UM sheet was a great way to add some extra graphic interest to these cards. You know what else goes great with this Big Deal collection? See if you can spot all the different places I used brown print panels using papers from the Pattern Basics Neutrals collection.

The Cutaparts included in the Greetings to Go pack make creating awesome cards so easy, but who says you have to use them as is? I trimmed the "Life is . . ." quote into segments matted on banner strips for a fun twist.

I had a blast searching my stash for items that would coordinate with the vintage games theme. A wooden washer from Farmer's Market was a great way to add dimension to the Bingo "I-22" die cut. The Scrabble tile stickers and heart punch came in handy a few times, too!

My Big Deal Lite stencil got quite a workout for the 5x7" cards, the size really showcases various stencil techniques.

I made use of both the positive and negative when making backgrounds with pigment ink sprays. I added the harlequin pattern from the Poetic stencil in WOW Red and India ink. Isn't it a great match?

More game pieces from my stash add dimension.

Finally, I took a page from Kay's book to create the 3D heart, using her Up, Up and Away balloon card as an example.

I hope you're as inspired as I am with this Big Deal collection. Play on!

Creatively yours,
Karen

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Greetings to Go Guest Artists are given the current month's Club Scrap materials to work with:

• Greetings to Go Pack
• Embellishment Pack
• Collection Unmounted Rubber Stamp sheet
• Greeting Unmounted Rubber Stamp sheet
• Art Nouveau Unmounted Rubber Stamp sheet
• Extra 8.5 x 11" plain papers from the monthly kit

The artist may also choose to incorporate items from their own craft stash, as well as different inks and art mediums. We do our best to make note these additions in the card descriptions whenever possible.