Well it seems like the last half of 2011 has been sent to test me and my close group of friends. Since a colleagues sudden passing in early August, we lost another 2 lovely souls. This past 3 weeks has seen my friends and I lose another 3 kindred spirits. Two of the people that have passed I didn't know, but they were very special to two of my very dear friends, and at this time my heart is with you as you re-piece your world.
The third person to pass was another work colleague and friend of mine. Tony was with us only 4 months after his diagnosis of skin cancer, the end came around all to quickly. Tony in the time that I knew you thank you for your kindness, your smile, and your assistance with my studies. Hopefully in 50 years or so we will be able to share a beer again one day.
I guess we had better get back to what this blog is all about - the scrapbooking of course!!
So in this first post tonight I will show you some of the items I have been working on lately ready to make cards with. First up is one that I finished a few weeks ago now and has been sitting in my stash ready to be used. This is the Magnolia Bird Background from the Sweet Rainbow Collection. I am not so happy with the sun, as I realised once I had inked it up it was a little more orange than I wanted, but it really is a beautiful stamp.
All it needs now is the perfect Tilda ready to be made into a lovely card. I have some birthdays coming up in January and I think this is perfect for one of them... I guess more on that later :o)
Next up is a stamp my Ma ordered from the Bildmalarna range, this little cutie is called Mimosa Christmas Flower. I have two photos to show you the progress through the colouring stage. She has been stamped initially with the Timber Brown Staz-On. I am liking the brown a lot more these days as it seems to soften the images just that little.
This image has been coloured with Distress Ink Re-Inkers, lets have a look at the colour recipe so far -
Skin - Antique Linen and Tattered rose for her cheeks
Hair - Scattered Straw, Wild Honey and a small amount of Frayed Burlap
Flowers - Barn Door
Foliage - Crushed Olive to start with, then some Peeled Paint and Forest Moss
Leaves - Shabby Shutters with Peeled Paint
Stems - Bundled Sage, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo at the top for shading, and then Forest Moss along the stems for shading to give the 3D effect.
And the finished picture, minus a final 'deep shadow' shading - I was going to do that today, but got too busy with the new Big Shot and dies and embossing folders that were bought :o)
So additions to the colours shown above.
Flowers - Fired Brick to add Shadow and scattered straw and mustard seed for the centres.
Dress, Bow and Hair Tie - Barn Door with Fired Brick for shading
Apron - Antique Linen with Frayed Burlap for shading
Shoes - Walnut Stain
Next we will move on to another version of one of my Favourite Stamps at the moment, Hannah Lynn's Genevieve. The recent technique I used on my Rose of Fire Stamp inspired to me to try and colour Genevieve the same way. So the base colour is as bold and strong as I can make it, and then shadowed in using the Black Soot Ink.
So this photo shows stage 1.
Skin - Antique Linen
Cheeks - Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany
Hair and Lips - Barn Door
Then I started using Black Soot to shadow in the hair. The effect is quite remarkable, and it looks even better in person
The other colours used were -
Eyes - Weathered Wood with Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain for eyeshadow
Gloves - Fired Brick, also shadowed with the Black Soot, Victorian Velvet for the dots.
Next we move on to what I was working on this afternoon. My friend Miss Nicky came over to Ma's this afternoon to sit with us to get a few pointers on painting with the Distress Inks. So to show her how I do it (let me say I am definitely no expert, but I have a lot of failed colouring attempts that have taught me a lot!!) I got out a Butterfly Tilda from the Butterfly Wishes Collection to ink in. I decided to paint her in very different colours to see how this would work, it may have something to do with that I have always wanted to dye my hair purple..??!?!?! and I keep telling Ma that I am going to do it one day...she doesn't believe me though. Anyway I am digressing, lets have a look at Butterfly Tilda -
The Colour recipe
Skin - Antique Linen
Cheeks - Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany
Hair - Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord
Wings - Spun Sugar, Bundled Sage and Victorian Velvet
Dress - Worn Lipstick with Tattered Rose covered in Stickles for the frill
Butterfly - Tumbled Glass
She looks very different with purple hair, and has made me think about what I can do with my other stamps I have now to make them really different by not sticking to the "normal" colours.
Finally lets finish with a card for a very Happy Occasion. One of my work mates Shaun and his Wife Rosie had a beautiful baby girl two weeks ago, and the lads at work all put in to send them a present - a giant baby cake, made with nappies and rugs and clothes and more. If you are in South Australia - check out The Gift Specialist I have used them a few times now, and they have been fantastic each and every time!!!
I have had this card in my stash for quite awhile, and knew it would be perfect. I did have to add some sparkle and pearls and a flower though just to Girly it up a bit more for the gorgeous little Eloise.
The base of the card is coloured using a very easy technique. You will need a mister or spray bottle filled with plain water. A sheet of Acetate or any type of plastic really, and a distress ink pad, I used two - Spun Sugar and Stormy Sky.
Swipe the Distress Ink pad directly across the acetate to cover the area required, if you are using two colours be careful not to mix them. Then spritz some water over (you could also use a glimmer mist spray or similar to add some sparkle to your background) then once the water is added drop your card on top, peel off and lay flat to dry. This gives a really unique almost "tie dye" effect and lovely subtle background.
The teddy is actually paper pieced and 3D. I downloaded an image from the web, and traced him on to card, then I selected the areas I wanted to raise... and you have the finished Teddy. This next photo shows the layering of the Teddy
I think for now that is all. I will be back in just a little while with a card I made today for the Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 122. My first challenge I will enter so fingers crossed for me :o)
Thanks for looking
xx Milly
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