SPOTLIGHT CHALLENGE - SPOTLIGHT TECHNIQUE

Wowwwwwww ladies what fantastic entries for the punches challenge! Thank You all for playing with us and showing varying ways of using your punches, beautiful!

The winner of our candy pack drawn by Mr Froggy is... DARLING HO! Well Done chick, please email me your details to send the prize out.

Onto our new challenge which is Cath's idea - THE SPOTLIGHT TECHNIQUE. The what what? The spotlight technique is really really easy, effective and quick, think of all those last minute xmas cards you'll be doing and remember this one. Firstly you stamp your image in black and white twice. Colour one of them in then choose portions of that and cut out and mount over your black and white image. You can choose to do spotlight or reverse spotlight which is to use the coloured version in full and spotlight the black and white one as Lin and I have done.

To save time cut out your portions (They can be any shape you like) and only colour that bit in rather than the whole image. They make stunning christmas cards so roll your sleeves up and have a bash at it!

As always the challenges run for 2 weeks. You still have another week to enter our Birthday challenge here! The Spotlight challenge will end on 30th August so lots of time to play. Remember though its a maximum of 3 entries per challenge and yes it can be 3 cards.

Lets have a look at the work the fabulous DT have created for this. Some have never tried the technique before either so you can see how easy it is and how effective the designs look.

Josephine

I've taken an image from Dover Books Arts and Crafts collection - a CD ROM of digital images which are permission-free. When I spotted it, it seemed ideal for a digital spotlight technique! I cut a circular section from the image and coloured it using a range of blues and oranges in Photoshop Elements. I then applied a pale wash of the blue over the whole image and printed that, and several copies of the full-colour section. The backing paper uses the same image, this time with a slightly darker blue colour, and tiles a small section of the whole. I assembled the card using three consecutively smaller sections of the coloured area and finished it with a digital sentiment, some orange paper and flowers.

Ei

Like Josephine - I've gone for digi but totally differently as mine is all digi and all the elements are my own creation. My paper-kit ribbon, bow, tag and flowers are all from my 'DitzyDaisies' digi kit and I've made the spotlight with my 'glass bubble' element, romoving the colour from 'behind' it.
I could print it all and manually put it together (..hybrid..) too but I've chosen to go digital this week!

Ei #2

Papers by Creata, flowers Wild Orchid Crafts, fab image by HopeJacare (inspired by a photo taken by yours truly...!) coloured with Copics.

Lin

I decided I preferred a Reverse Spotlight technique as I really wanted more of my dragon coloured than not. He is from an Elusive Images stamp sheet, as is the quirky little sentiment. I coloured him in with prismas and OMS. The bp came as part of the pack when I joined the Graphicus Guild and the background mat is from DCWV. I didn't have a knight stamp, nor could I find a suitable digi, so I downloaded a clip art knight, ready coloured, and shrunk him down, printed him and then added my dragon. It was just luck that he looks like St. George with the English Flag as his shield. He looks a little 'solid' for my liking, buy hey no, needs must. Now I need to find a decent knight stamp from somewhere, as I think this would make quite a good blokey card.

Melly

This was a real challenge this week for me! I had no idea where to start but after the other DT's found some great inspiration I knew i could give it ago! I used my new papermaina papers and layered them on some dark green card and used the papermania stamp that came with the Goody bag a few months back. Stamped the image twice colouring one with my promarkers and leaving the other plain. Then took my nesties and cut out the circles layered with the same dark green and finished with a butterfly and a sentiment.

Cath

This is an easy one to do. Just stamp the image (Stampendous) and the Greeting (SU) in Versafine Onyx black, then clear emboss. Ink up stamp again and place a jigsaw piece (gessoed if patterned) on the inked stamp in the part of the image you want to spotlight. Clear emboss. Colour the parts of the image on the jigsaw piece (I used Distress inks in Spun Sugar, Victorian Rose, Dried Marigold, Barn Door), outline with black marker, then attach to the image where it belongs. Add three toning brads in bottom right hand corner, then mount first onto toning pink card, then onto a folded brown card.

Vix

I too went for the reverse spotlight route and stamped and embossed two images (stampscapes palms with huts large) and watercoloured one with starburst stains in winter jasmine gold, peony scarlet red, red hot poker orange, hydrangea blue and moonshadow ink tawny turquoise on the huts. I cut out 2 circles from the black and white version, added 3d gloss then placed over coloured image, matted and layered, simples!

Jack

I have this great sentiment stamp that says 'You are unique' and it gave me my idea for my Spotlight card this week. I stamped the Penny Black animals in black ink then coloured one of them in and highlighted it with a circle frame. The punch I've used is Scallop Dot from Martha Steward and the DP is from Papermania Veneian Skies.

Kat

I knew straight away that this gorgeous Penny Black image would be perfect for this challenge. I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black and then stamped it again and cut out one flower and a black circle with nesties. I coloured the single flower with Promarkers added some stickles and stuck onto the main image as a "spotlight." The script paper and the image are edged with Black Soot Distress Ink. The papers are DCWV and MME. I finished the card with card candy and a sentiment from Craftwork Cards, some jewels and ribbon.