The Writing's on the Wall

After last week's cutesy "so kawaii" challenge with Leo, this week the Daring Cardmakers were issued with quite a different challenge by Samm:

'Inspired by Banksy'

If you're not aware of who he is, then pop on by Banksy.co.uk and take a look at some of his amazing street art across the world.
You could also try a Google Image search on "Banksy" to find lots of fabulous ideas for your card.

So now is your chance to dig out those stencils, use that paint, throw in a few ironic sayings and give your card some 'street life' and show us what you've created.

My first feeling about this was "PANIC"

Anyway, a challenge is a challenge so off I went to check the link that Samm suggested - by the time I'd looked at all the artwork there I was feeling more comfortable and wanted to see what else I could find.  A google image search is always a good place to start so I just put "BanksY" in to the box and, well, I found myself spending absolutely ages looking through all the images I found there.  Funny, ironic,clever, witty, meaningful, thought-inspiring, cynical - all of these words and more come to mind when you look through the vast array of artwork and street art you can see.  Don't say "I can't do this challenge" until you've had a look because I reckon there is something there to inspire everyone - either through the pictures themselves or the materials used to create them.

Here are some I nearly used:

But in the end I chose this one:

I used my Craft Robo to make a template for the furniture and then chose a photo of Uluru to put in the "window", the idea of sitting on one of these comfy "old lady" chairs looking out at a view of the Aussie outback icon amused me for some reason.

I started with a Kraft card blank and inked the whole thing with a series of my driest cream, ochre, brown and black Cat's Eye ink pads. I then drew in the lines for the planks and the nails, and embossed the card with the "Distressed Stripes" folder from Cuttlebug - I had to run it through twice as the card is 14cm sq.

Once I'd made the furniture templates and cut then out I used the pieces to work out where to cut the aperture.
I think I'll add a "New Home|" or "Home Sweet Home" message to this - but as I haven't made up my mind yet, I've left it blank for now

I used:

Kraft card blank, lots of Cat's Eye chalk inks, Black pen, Cuttlebug  "Distressed Stripes" embossing folder, Craft Robo template for chairs, curtains and table, White card, Spellbinders doily die for chair-back covers cut in pink, tiny mulberry paper flower Uluru photo (from our visit)

From being really apprehensive at the start of the week, t found myself really enjoying this one, I learnt a lot about Banksy's artwork and I enjoyed thinking about how I could put my own spin on it.  You can see how the other girls have found and used his inspiring artwork by heading over to the DCM BLOG,  We hope you'll like what you see and feel inspired to join in this week.

Thanks for looking