Once again, I finally got round to using something that I have had for ages and never used. This is actually my second card made with the Groovi system by Claritystamp, but I will not be posting my first effort until after my Mum's birthday at the end of December, as I don't wish to spoil the surprise.
I feel like an armchair expert, having watched hours of demonstrations by Barbara Gray, Paul Church and Maria Simms as well as looking at examples of incredible work by the Clarity Design Team and others. I knew that it was important to plan out the composition, especially which layers would be at the front and which further back, as, just like composing a stamped image, the front layers are put in first and then you work your way back. The great thing about the Groovi system is that you can mix and match plates, re-organise the layout of any part of any plate and play to your heart's content.
I started with the banner from the Banner Border bar and traced the outline using the number 1 (finest) ball tool. I then switched to the Oval Nesting plate and traced the outermost and third oval in, taking care not to go through any part of the banner. The next step was to trace the shepherds and star from the largest of the Shepherd Christmas Windows and add the words around the inside of the oval frame. The words appear in two straight lines on the Groovi plate, so I adjusted the angle slightly between adding each letter, to fit the curve of the frame. The 'Peace and Goodwill' is part of the sentiment on the Dove Christmas Window plate and I adjusted the gap between words and the angle of the letters to fit the shape and size of the centre of the banner. The background behind the shepherds was added using the landscape plate which came with the Groovi Starter System.
Having finished all the line art, it was time for a little white work. I discovered with my first card, that this process takes patience and needs to be built up very slowly. I used the number 3 ball tool and the soft side of the mat which came with the starter set to add feather like strokes to the outer sections of the banner. I kept swapping ends and built up very, very slowly, eventually swapping to the number 4 ball tool. This is something that I still need to practise, but I'm becoming happier with my results.
As I was intending to cut out the image (I haven't mastered picot edges yet) and use narrow tape to attach it to a dark mat, I need to colour in the areas which would be glued, from behind. For this I used Distress Markers in Chipped Sapphire and Fossilised Amber, as well as an array of greys, browns and greens. Once finished, I cut the whole image out using decoupage scissors, keeping close to the outer edge and leaving the embossed outer line. I used thin sections of heavy duty tape to attach the Groovi image to a piece of iridescent dark blue paper (14.4cm x 14.4cm) and matted the whole thing onto a 15cm x 15cm white card blank.
I feel like an armchair expert, having watched hours of demonstrations by Barbara Gray, Paul Church and Maria Simms as well as looking at examples of incredible work by the Clarity Design Team and others. I knew that it was important to plan out the composition, especially which layers would be at the front and which further back, as, just like composing a stamped image, the front layers are put in first and then you work your way back. The great thing about the Groovi system is that you can mix and match plates, re-organise the layout of any part of any plate and play to your heart's content.
I started with the banner from the Banner Border bar and traced the outline using the number 1 (finest) ball tool. I then switched to the Oval Nesting plate and traced the outermost and third oval in, taking care not to go through any part of the banner. The next step was to trace the shepherds and star from the largest of the Shepherd Christmas Windows and add the words around the inside of the oval frame. The words appear in two straight lines on the Groovi plate, so I adjusted the angle slightly between adding each letter, to fit the curve of the frame. The 'Peace and Goodwill' is part of the sentiment on the Dove Christmas Window plate and I adjusted the gap between words and the angle of the letters to fit the shape and size of the centre of the banner. The background behind the shepherds was added using the landscape plate which came with the Groovi Starter System. 
Having finished all the line art, it was time for a little white work. I discovered with my first card, that this process takes patience and needs to be built up very slowly. I used the number 3 ball tool and the soft side of the mat which came with the starter set to add feather like strokes to the outer sections of the banner. I kept swapping ends and built up very, very slowly, eventually swapping to the number 4 ball tool. This is something that I still need to practise, but I'm becoming happier with my results.
As I was intending to cut out the image (I haven't mastered picot edges yet) and use narrow tape to attach it to a dark mat, I need to colour in the areas which would be glued, from behind. For this I used Distress Markers in Chipped Sapphire and Fossilised Amber, as well as an array of greys, browns and greens. Once finished, I cut the whole image out using decoupage scissors, keeping close to the outer edge and leaving the embossed outer line. I used thin sections of heavy duty tape to attach the Groovi image to a piece of iridescent dark blue paper (14.4cm x 14.4cm) and matted the whole thing onto a 15cm x 15cm white card blank.
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