Thursday 28 July 2016

Enchanting Eilean Donan Castle

Hello Again,

I created this card to try to capture a beautiful sunset at Eilean Donan Castle that John took back in April when we were out visiting the West Coast and Skye for his birthday. He took a fabulous photograph which we now have framed in our dining room, and that inspired my image. (You can see his photo, titled the blue hour on a recent blog on our guesthouse website using the following link: http://www.inverglenguesthouse.co.uk/favourite-locations-eilean-donan-castle)






It took me a couple of attempts to get the background the way that I wanted it. My first attempt using paints on the gelliplate was just too heavy, then I tried with inks and Gelli/stencil card, but again it was a little too bright and blotchy. Finally I settled on trying watercolour paper, which did the trick!

To create this background, I applied a mixture of adirondack and distress inks to the Gelliplate (Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick, Peacock Feathers and Eggplant), spread it out with a brayer, then spritzed it with some water. I then used a piece of watercolour paper to take up the ink, and dried it with a heatgun before moving on to the next step.

I used Versafine black ink to stamp the castle and bridge image onto the Gelliplate, then using the Clarity Gelliplate mount, I stamped the "reflection" image onto the background, and restamped both images directly onto the card. To balance out the image, I stamped a few scots pine images on the right hand side, using second generation ink to stamp the reflection images. Finally I stamped the word and flourish into the bottom right hand corner, and cut down the paper to size and edged it with a black sharpie pen.


All the stamps I used were from Clarity Stamp : Eilean Donan Castle and Bridge stamps are available to Clarity Club members as back issue NDC stamps. The Forever word and scots pine stamps are part of the Scotland unmounted clear stamp collection, and the flourish is from the Letterbox kit.

Hope you like my card, and I'd be delighted if you left a comment for me below, Susan x

18 comments:

  1. Wow stunning how you have created this art work crafting hugs xxx

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  2. Hi Susan.....a fabulous card and a fabulous castle to depict. I was up there last December for my birthday....just love it.
    wishing you all the best in the challenge. Take care and hope to get up to your guest house too at some point. hugs xxx

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    1. Thanks so much Emma - you're welcome anytime. I finally got to go inside Eilean Donan this year, after 4 years of seeing it from the outside! x

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  3. A masterpiece and an award winner ! I would frame this beauty .

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    1. Thank you so much Janice - I know just who is going to get this card, so hope they like it too! Susan x

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  4. A stunning card it is beautiful. Good luck in the challenge and thank you for entering. Xx

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  5. Very colourful but like how you have done this good luck in the clarity challenge x

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    1. In real life the colours had even more contrast with the lit up castle, but I thought it would be too dark for a card. Thanks for your comment and best wishes, Susan x

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  6. A fantastic atmospheric background, Susan. Been there and seen it many moons ago. Best wishes in this month's Clarity Challenge. ;~}

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    1. Thanks Shelagh - they say it's the most photographed castle in Scotland! Susan x

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  7. Gorgeous card Susan: stunning composition and colours. Thanks for entering the Clarity challenge, and good luck. Xxx

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  8. Beautiful scene Susan. I love the colours, it's quite dramatic.
    Thank you for joining in with us again this month, and good luck x

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    1. Thanks Carole - it was even more dramatic in real life! Such a beautiful place to visit x

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  9. A delightful scene Susan. The colours in your background are just fab. Thanks for joining the Clarity challenge this month. Good luck! x

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