Handmade Southwest Desert Card & Hawk on a Fence

Peek at my Handmade Southwest Desert Card

A handmade card with a southwestern theme is what I had in mind when I sat down to design my card. I wanted it to be quite different from my two other southwestern themed cards that I previously shared on this blog Southwestern Sunset Card and Southwestern Sunrise Card. I thought about the time I explored some of the botanical gardens in Arizona and wondered what memories I could incorporate into my card. The first thing to come to mind was the very large saguaro cacti with nesting bird holes in them. Check...I could definitely incorporate a few cacti in my southwest desert card. Then I thought about the hot sun, sandy terrain, and my ever present hat. I took these snippets from my memories and designed my handmade Southwest Desert card around them. I decided my handmade card would feature a desert scene with a woman looking up at a large saguaro cactus with a nesting bird hole in it. The colors I selected for my card (kraft and tangerine orange) were based upon a piece of scrapbook paper with a pattern resembling cracked earth. The coloration of the paper reminded me of the Southwestern deserts.

Speaking of deserts, it was like a desert here over the winter months. We got very little snow and the entire landscape has been dry, dry, dry. During this time we have observed several hawks out and about. One such hawk decided to warm himself in the late afternoon sunshine on one or our garden fences.

Hawk sunning himself on my garden fence

Can you see him on the top rail of the fence just to the right of the bird feeders that are on the left of the picture? Here are a couple of closer views of him.

Closer view of hawk sunning himself on my garden fence

Hawk looking around and enjoying the late afternoon sun

I'm not sure what kind of hawk he is, however, he has a grey back and a breast with rust barring. He could be a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Whatever he is, he sat there in the sunshine for well over an hour and was a beautiful bird of prey to watch. Oh well, back to our card crafting.

My Love of Papercrafting Challenges

I follow many challenge blogs and my handmade Southwest Desert Card reflects the following challenges:

• Daring Cardmakers want to see a hat. The woman in my handmade Southwest Desert Card is wearing a hat.
• Prairie Fairy Fridays Challenge is an anything goes this week. My handmade Southwest Desert Card meets this challenge.
• DYSU Challenge to get your bling on. My handmade Southwest Desert Card meets this challenge with its amber rhinestones.
  

Handcrafting My Southwest Desert Card

 

Card Statistics

• Final Card Size: 5.5" tall x 4.25" wide
• Tools: cactus stamps, cloud stamp, woman stamp, scoring board, paper cutter, scissors, ruler, blending stumps, sponge pieces, computer, non stick craft mat, artists tape
• Materials: cardstock, scrapbook paper, inks, colored pencils, gamsol, cover stock, adhesive, artists tape, spray sealer, rhinestones, post-it notes
• Card can be Purchased in My Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Handmade Southwest Desert Card

Front View of My Handmade Southwest Desert Card

My Handmade Southwest Desert Card

To start my card I created the card base from kraft cardstock that I scored at the top so that it opens vertically from the bottom. I layered the top of my handmade card with a piece of the patterned paper I had selected and matted this paper with a coordinating tangerine orange cardstock. Across the center of this panel I affixed a strip of the kraft cardstock.

Creating My Desert Scene Background

For the focal point of my card I decided to create a Southwest desert scene using a variety of techniques. The first thing I did was determine what size I wanted my image panel to be and then used Photoshop elements to lay out and size the digital stamps I was going to use in my scene. In this case those elements included a blooming saguaro cactus, a non-blooming saguaro cactus that I used twice (one image flipped horizontally), a cloud, and a hat wearing woman. Once my layout was completed I printed it out on my white cardstock panel.

Before I created my background I needed to make masks from artists tape for each of my digital elements. I covered my image panel with artists tape and sent it back through my printer and printed the digital elements on the artists tape. I pulled the artists tape off of my image panel and cut out each of the elements. Once my elements were cut out I placed them back on my image panel over their respective printed image. This created masks for each of my digitally stamped images on my image panel so that they would be protected while I created my background.

To start my background I placed a post-it over the top part of the image panel slightly above the half way point to mask it. I created my horizon and desert floor by first sponging tan ink on the lower portion of the image panel and then adding a sprinkle of darker browns. I removed the post-it mask and allowed the ink to dry. Once the ink was dry I placed a post-it over the lower portion of my image panel with just a snippet of the tan ink showing above it. You need a little bit of the ink showing above the mask so that you don't end up with a white line along the mask when you sponge above it. Now I needed to create my desert mountains and my sky. For this activity I needed another two masks.

I took another post-it and cut the profile of my mountains out of it. See the picture below as an example of what I'm talking about. Pretend that it is a square post-it and I cut along the red line. With this cut I create two masks: one for the profile of my desert mountains and one for the sky above the mountains.

Example of creating sky and mountain masks from a post-it

I used the upper portion of this post-it (the sky mask) to cover the top portion of my image panel. I left a gap between it and the post-it already in place covering the previously inked lower portion of the image panel. The gap left between the two post-it note masks is the same shape as the mask for the profile of my mountains that I use later in this process. See the example below for my post-it mask placements.

Placement of desert floor and sky masks on image panel

 

With the horizon mask and the sky mask in place, I sponged a dark peach ink in the gap between them to create my desert mountains. I removed the two post-it masks from my image panel to allow the ink to dry.

After the ink dried I placed the post-it mask for my mountain profile (the portion below my red line in the picture above) over my inked mountains with just a snippet of the ink showing above the mask. See my example below.

Placement of mountain mask on image panel

Now I sponged in my sky starting with my sun in the upper left corner. From there I sponged in a little lavender ink along the mountain tops and then completed the sky by sponging on several shades of blue ink. I removed the post-it from my mountains and allowed the ink to dry. This created my basic background in which I added details and shading.

Coloring My Images and Adding Detail to My Background

Once all of my background inks were dry, I removed all of the artists tape masks from my digital images. Using gamsol and colored pencils I colored the three cacti and the woman. I layered several shades of green on the cacti and finished the front cactus by adding a bird nesting hole to it. To complete the desert floor I drew in some green desert plants and added shadows with my colored pencils.

For the desert mountains I added depth to them with several shades of color from terra cotta to chocolate. Again, I used gamsol and colored pencils to achieve this effect. I also added some subtle shading to the sky with my colored pencils.

Once my image was completed I matted it with tangerine orange cardstock and popped it slightly from the surface of the front card panel. As a finishing touch for my card I affixed three amber rhinestones below the image panel.

Angle Views of My Handmade Southwest Desert Card

Angle Left - Handmade Southwest Desert Card

Angle Right - Handmade Southwest Desert Card

These angled views of my card give you an idea as to its dimensional elements.

Inside Panel of My Handmade Southwest Desert Card

Inside Panel - Handmade Southwest Desert Card

For the inside panel of my card I matted cream cardstock with tangerine orange cardstock and decorated it with a strip of the patterned paper. I decided to leave the remainder of the panel blank.

I also constructed a handmade envelope from heavy cover stock. So that the envelope coordinated with my card, I printed the same saguaro cactus I used on my card along the lower left edge. I used gamsol and colored pencils to color it and also added a bird nesting hole. To protect the image on the envelope should it travel through the mail I sprayed it with matte sealer.

Final Handmade Southwest Desert Card and Handmade Envelope Set

My Handmade Southwest Desert Card and Coordinating Handmade Envelope

Here's my final set. The three rhinestones look like small gold brads in the picture, but they're really small amber rhinestones. I think my set has a Southwest feel to it and the imagery does take me back to my treks through the botanical gardens in Arizona.

This card set is available in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Handmade Southwest Desert Card.

Card Recipe Specifics for Handmade Southwest Desert Card

• Cardstock: The Paper Company, Wausau
• Cover Stock: Staples
• Scrapbook Paper: Recollections
• Rhinestones: Studio G
• Digital Stamps: all cacti from Bombshell Stamps, cloud from Bombshell Stamps, woman from Phindy's Place.
• Ink: all inks from Colorbox
• Prismacolor Pencils: yellow chartreuse, chocolate, terracotta, pale sage, limepeel, kelp green, kelly green, spanish orange, chestnut, pink rose, light peach, seashell pink, dark umber, burnt ochre, crimson lake, true blue, non photo blue, greyed lavender
• Tools: scoring board, paper cutter, scissors, ruler, blending stumps, sponge pieces, computer, non stick craft mat
• Misc Materials: artists tape, adhesives, spray sealer, gamsol, post-it notes.
• Techniques Used: gamsol, sponging, masking, digital stamping, making a scene
  

So ends another jaunt along my handcrafting card journey with the completion of my handmade Southwest Desert card. Thank you for visiting my blog and allowing me to share my handmade card and photography with you. I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back soon!

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