Hello my friends! The holiday season is sadly at an end and its time to think about the new year ahead. Time for a fresh start having reflected upon 2019 with all its ups and downs.

In October one of my best friends, Aidan was tragically killed by a car when he was out cycling with his local cycling club. This left our friendship group devastated by such a sudden and shocking loss. He was taken from us far too early but one thing was for sure -he lived life well. He had a passion for life and he packed a lot into those 58 years. Life really is short. So all the more reason that we should make every day count.Too often my thoughts are in the future and of course that means that I very often I miss the present. We should ‘Live life now’- So this is my inspiration for this Visible Image post of 2020.

For today’s project I’ve made a duo of cards using both stencils and stamps from Visible Image including some of my personal favourites. I’ve also had a little fun using one of the new large rectangle gel press shapes from Ranger.

I used the following stamps and stencils:

live life now

Butterfly ink

Count me in

Entwined butterflies

The ‘ripple effect’ background stamp set was also used but I’ve since learned that it may be retired. It’s never too late to bring it back Mark! Hopefully many of you will already have this old favourite but if not any of the other background sets would work. Here

The steps:

To create the background I began by brayering lilac pigment ink on to the Gel press plate. On top of this I lightly sprinkled different colours of brusho powders pre mixed with water using a fan brush. I then pulled a print on to white card.

To enhance this a little further I used the entwined butterflies and count me in stencils along with iridescent gold acrylic paint to create subtle interest on top. The effects of this can be seen on the final project depending on the angle of the light.

I then used the large butterfly stencil, the background stamp set, ‘Live life now’ set and coloured ink to build up the layers.

I divided the print into two before adding the final stamped layer using black ink. I also added gold splatters and the sentiment.

Don’t forget the customer Visible Image group page on Facebook. This friendly Group is here check it out for inspiration and support.

The main Visible Image Facebook page is here; there are regular giveaways…open world wide.

And the shop web site is here; where you will find gorgeous stamps and stencils.

Bye for now and I hope your year is a good one!…

Lisa. Xx