Art Adventure

Hello all... busier and busier here at Words and Pictures - it's been daily this week so far, and even then I've held this post over for two days!

When I saw Tim's cool November tag I felt a little stymied again as I have very few Blueprint stamps, and the pumpkin is not amongst them.

So I let my subconscious go to work and it woke me up in the middle of the night on Saturday with the answer.

Unfortunately I was away from home at the time.  Well, it wan't so unfortunate... I was having a lovely crafty time on the Mixology workshops in Coventry - more of that another time - but it meant I had to wait until Monday to put the plan into action.













And here you see it... No pumpkin, but a vertical equivalent - almost the same shape and it ended up (unintentionally) almost the same colours.

Well you never know where one of Tim's Art Adventures is going to take you.













So yes, the balloon was the solution my mind came up with - perfect to get the debossing effect which looks so great with the pumpkin.  I even have the same segments to play with.










And it was also a bright idea because there are parts of the image which had to be stamped direct to the tag - no way I could fussy cut all those ropes.











I started with the background though, and oh my word I love this look!  I don't have the simple crosshatch stamp Tim used, but I do love this fabulously grungy cracked alternative.

Over the Picket Fence stamping I added spritzes of Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood and Pumice Stone and then inked with Blueprint Sketch, Frayed Burlap and a little edging of Walnut Stain.










The gilding was enormous fun.  I've had some gilding sheets sitting around almost since I started crafting.  I picked up some cheap ones in The Range or somewhere, thinking they looked useful, and of course I haven't even opened them until now.  So thank you, Tim, for making me explore my stash!

And given my love of things catching the light, once I started gilding I couldn't stop.












So as well as the gilding around the edges...














... I also used it to create my word panel.  I applied quite a lot of foil to a tag and then inked over and in between the die-cut letters, which gave quite a leathery look to the background.










It's a bit like a worn, gilded book cover.

And I loved that effect so much that I couldn't resist using some of the leftover letters too... 











I started with True Adventure as my wording, but then decided that I should reflect the inspirational journeys Tim's tags always take me on, so I changed it to Art Adventure.

I even added some weathered gilding to the Game Spinner pointing the way forward.

I gave the balloon itself a gilded touch too.

(And although there's no Blueprint stamp, I did use the Blueprint Sketch Distress Marker to add deeper shadows and colour the webbing.)













The Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey colouring was golden (a colour choice inspired by the gilding - I'd originally planned a green balloon... well, of course I had!), but not quite golden enough.












I cut the basket, sandbags and flag from the watercoloured image and glued those on.

And the banner needed some gilding - it's flashing gold in the sunlight (sunlight, what sunlight? - there's none around here at the moment).










I added a bit of background stamping using the Correspondence set, to take the place of the text surrounding the blueprints images.














And the piece of blue-dyed crinkle ribbon which had been floating around the craft table for a couple of weeks finally found a home, wrapped around with some rusty wire to echo the tarnished gilding on the rest of the tag.






I had a grand time on this little adventure.  Thanks go to Tim Holtz yet again for triggering another brainstorm and a great crafty journey.  Thanks to all of you too for your lovely comments and feedback.  It's a joy to be on the journey with you, and I hope my balloon will carry me around Craftyblogland for some visiting in the very near future.




Suddenly the wind ceased.  The air seemed motionless around us.  We were off, going at the speed of the air current in which we now lived and moved.  Indeed, for us there was no more wind; and this is the first great fact of spherical ballooning.  Infinitely gentle is this unfelt motion forward and upward.  The illusion is complete: it seems not to be the balloon that moves, but the earth that sinks down and away...
From My Air-Ships, 1904, by Alberto Santos-Dumont

I have known today a magnificent intoxication.  I have learnt how it feels to be a bird.  I have flown.  Yes, I have flown.  I am still astonished at it, still deeply moved.
From Le Figaro, 1908


I'd like to enter this as my November tag in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015





Answers to questions in the comments: both stamps are by Tim... the balloon is from the Remnants set, and the scratches are from the fabulously grungy set called Slight Alterations.