Do you have that in blue?

Hello all,  I'm here today with my entry for the inaugural Indigoblu challenge which, appropriately enough, has the theme Blue.  There's a wonderful prize on offer, so if you've got any Indigoblu stamps it's time to crack'em out...

I don't have many, but one of the sets I do have was one of my earliest stamp purchases.  I just love vintage ephemera like labels, old newspapers and adverts, and the Yorkshire Evening Post set ticks all the boxes (as well as having some splendid ink blots and splatters included!).

There are three main columns in the set (and the newspaper banner), so the immediate thought I had was to create a triptych.  And, I have to say, what with the fashion theme of many of the adverts, and the colour blue to play with - I was irresistibly reminded of this brilliant BT (or Beattie) advert throughout the time I was making this!

First I had a little inky play to create my backgrounds...

I sploshed Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood Distress Stains onto the craft mat and then added several spritzes of the new White Linen Dylusions spray.  I even love how they look on the mat!

Then I swirled a sheet of A4 cardstock through the inkiness creating a fantastic marbled look.

Of course you can use Picket Fence Distress Stain for this, but the Dylusions has a different consistency, and creates a different blending of the colours, I think.

I dried this off with a heat tool before going back in for some dabbing and dotting (drying in between each dabble), Tim-Holtz-wrinkle-free-distress-styleee.










The newspaper columns are stamped in Cobalt Archival on white cardstock, and I've used Distress Markers in Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood to colour in some parts quite roughly.

I cut them out and started to layer them onto my background, trimming quite a broad border so that we wouldn't lose too much of that inky loveliness.

(You'll be glad to know I was using blue glue too!)









Such adorable millinery for children...














Such chic outfits for ladies...











And how manly is his stance?!














There was plenty of my marbled background left over for me to create some flowers.  I ran it through the BigShot with the Tattered Garland decorative strip die.

I also ran through some plain white cardstock so that I could create varied layers to show off the blue properly.  They're fastened with Idea-ology long attachers.










And I used the die-cut waste from cutting the flowers as a stencil to decorate the backs of the panels.  I blended more of the Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and, of course my beloved Vintage Photo - which you'll have noticed plays a big part on the front of the triptych too!












To connect my panels I couldn't quite decide between jump rings and crinkle ribbon but, having tried each, I thought: why not use both?










And I'm really pleased with how it's turned out, because the jump rings are in the corners where there's already plenty of floral action going on, and the ribbons provide extra interest where there's slightly more space.

So there's my blue Indigoblu triptych - I had a ball creating this one!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and have a great week, whatever it is you're up to...

Oh! `darkly, deeply, beautifully blue',
As someone somewhere sings about the sky.
Lord Byron


I'd like to enter this in Indigoblu's inaugural challenge with the theme of Blue.