Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year

I would like to wish you all a happy Christmas, and a prosperous, healthy, and creative 2014 !

I was inspired by Jo Myhill's use of tissue paper on the Paperartsy blog. What would I create with this technique? It is nearly Christmas, so why not make a Christmas card? Actually, it is the only Christmas card I made this year...

I stamped some balls and holly from Paperartsy Noel plates 2 and 6 on a piece of tissue paper. Then I coloured the balls with Sky and Ice Blue. I coloured the holly with Toad Hall and London Bus, darkened with Little Black Dress. All this is done on the back of the tissue paper. When that was dry, I painted the back with Ice Blue mixed with Snow Flake to make a lighter shade.

I coloured a card with Sky, and stamped Mini MN39 using ColorBox MicaMagic Regal Red, to add some sparkle.

Using Satin Glaze I glued the tissue paper to the card.

The Happy New Year's wish is stamped with Archival Black. The sheet music is from Stampers Anonymous, stamped in Sepia. I coloured the background with Frayed Burlap and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. I distressed the border and coloured it with Vintage Photo.

Vintage Archivist

Some time ago, I started a new project. The idea was to create a masculine / steampunk collage inside a wooden frame. I bought the frame, and started on the background. And then it just laid there on the desk. I had no idea how to continue.

This week some inspiration came. I cut 3 gothic arches from chipboard, and coloured them with Little Black Dress and Chocolate Pudding Fresco paints. I used Antique Linen Distress embossing powder and a swirl stamp to add some texture. The distress powder nicely matches a colour in the background. The man is an image from Google. The images in the left and right arches are from the Paperartsy HP1108 stamp sheet.

Next, I continued with the background. I applied Grunge Paste through the Mini Harlequins stencil. I also tried some rough texturing around the edges, but the peaks are not as high as I wanted. Not enough GP, or not given enough time to dry... As can be seen on the photo, I coloured the Grunge Paste first, with Old Gold. In an effort to create more peaks I added some more GP straight from the jar.

I coloured the area between harlequins with a Eggplant and Baltic Blue. Although it is quite dark, I like it, because it matches with other parts of the background. The harlequins themselves are coloured with Brown Shed, and then highlighted with Treasure Silver. This really makes them stand out!

This is the final piece. The label is made from a piece of metal. The word 'Archivist´ is from the same Paperartsy HP1108 stamp sheet.

Submitted for: Challenged by Alison Bomber on the Paperartsy blog.