Handmade by Natty

Hi everyone!

I’m posting the prompt for April a little early. 🙂

Here’s the image:

{Pinterest pin}

It may not be obvious from the image, but the focus colour for April is: Green

It doesn’t have to be the main colour scheme of your card, it can simply be a pop of contrasting colour (like a button or enamel dot) or an accent colour that brings a colour scheme (like lines of dots above) together. It pairs really well with blues from aqua tones to navy, and can be interpreted with lighter or more sage like shades for spring.

Here are a few ideas to get you started with the images in the prompt:

• Bold (geometric/floral) prints – let patterned paper do the work for you, especially the more eye-catching large prints you might have shied away from in the past. They can be the perfect backdrop to a very simple sentiment strip.
• Heat embossing – heat emboss in clear/white/metallic shades on white for a resist technique where you then go over the embossed image with blended ink, a colour wash, or even detailed water colouring. The ombré effect of the cushion in the prompt could also be incorporated with this technique.
• April showers – feature anything weather-related (even snow at this rate!) that is seasonal – umbrellas, clouds, sun, rainbow, raindrops, wellies.
• Just a note – the row of pens speaks to my love of stationery, you could make a set of notelets to gift to someone for them to use, create a card with the sentiment “Just a note to say…”, or even feature anything to do with writing on your card including images of stationery (like an envelope containing happy mail), a desk, a typewriter, even a book.
• All lined up – the pens also make me think of candles on a cake or a collection of items in rainbow colours lined up on your card, such as Easter eggs stamped in different shades.
• Stripes – use strips of cardstock, a stencil, a line stamp, or anything else that comes to mind to create a striped background. Failing that, dig into your patterned paper stash and see what fits the bill. You can’t go wrong with diagonal or horizontal stripes!
• Jar – feature a jar as the vessel for design elements such as flowers, branches, sweets, even lemonade.
• Polka dot party – if dots are more your thing, you can keep it small with a petite dot style in white on a contrasting colour, or go large with big spots of different colours. You probably have some pretty dotted ribbon in your stash that would be a perfect finishing touch.

Happy crafting!