Retirement Fly Past

This week’s card is another commission I received from a friend for a retirement card.  The intended recipient had been involved in organising air shows but also loves gardening, so that was my brief.

To begin, I started with the air show element.  The background was made by blending some Distress Oxide Salty Ocean over my cloud stencils to create the sky.  The fly past, made with red jets to represent the Red Arrows display team, smoke trails and sentiment were cut from vinyl using my Cricut Maker.

Now for the gardening element.  I cut a cardboard stencil using the Lawn Fawn Grassy Border die and blended some green ink over in layers to create the ground.

Next, I die cut a fence using the WPlus9 Fence Border dies, running the parts through a wood grain embossing folder for some added texture.  I left the gate section unstuck so it looked like the gate was ajar.

The plants and tools were die cut using the MFT Spring Garden set.   I also die cut a wheelbarrow, made by Charlie & Paulchen.  For the tools, watering can and wheelbarrow, I cut several layers, including one from silver card, and then cut different bits out and layered them together to give metallic sections. 

The flowers were assembled and glued to the back of the flower pots.  For the flower centres, I added a blob of Nuvo Drops.  Then, I set about arranging the various elements on the scene.  I used my bone folder to curve the watering can and the plant pots to give them more dimension, adding foam to the central part and glue to the edges.

Once I had got to this stage, I’d thought I was finished.  However, I went back to it the next day and didn’t like the way the wheelbarrow leg seemed to be floating in mid-air, so added a grassy section below it.  That then made the plant pots look like they were floating, so I added grass to them too. 

I was then concerned that I’d messed it all up by putting too much on as it looked really busy.  My final plan, before I started all over again, was to add a slim grass verge all the way across the bottom.  Fortunately, that unified the whole scene and I didn’t have to start over.  Phew!!

My friend who commissioned the card said that it was more than he could have hoped for, which made me very happy 😊