Lose sight of the shore

Hello all!  I hope you're all thriving and that there is some spring sunshine finally wending its way in your direction.  I'm aware that I've been neglecting both this blog and all of you... I haven't even managed to share most of the samples from my latest stamp release with PaperArtsy, and that was back at the end of January. 

So there are several short but hopefully sweet posts coming your way with some of the making-of details of those samples.   There's been just the one catch up so far - No Small Dreams - sharing a pair of tags made with EAB07 Dreaming & Doing.  And today I have another pair for you, this time using a quote from EAB08 Strength & Courage.

For these, I was also lucky enough to use some of the fabulous new Scrapcosy designs (also by PaperArtsy) - a serendipitous combination of one of my all-time favourite quotes with some of Raquel's wonderful vintage nautical images.






I had a colour palette including some of Seth Apter's beautiful new paint colours with, for me, the unusual inclusion of the pinkish Spanish Mulberry.  But once I found it could be used to create dawn and dusk sky colours, I was a happy bunny!











These are very simple tags really.  I gave the tags a coat of Chalk Fresco paint, and then stamped my images in Watering Can Archival Ink.  I love the softened vintage look of the grey ink.

Then I used water brushes to apply my Fresco paints, building up from light watery washes to deeper shades where needed.












The quote itself is also stamped in Watering Can, but got a touch of Clear embossing powder to make it pop a little more.












It fits very precisely across a standard size 8 tag when it's upright, or with some more space if you turn the tag to landscape.














And of course you get the lovely glisten of light on the clear embossing, like the sparkle of sunlight on the waves.














The main ship images are magical, but I also love the compass and wonderful vintage script included on the Scrapcosy 11 plate.  They make for delicious extra detailing in corners and edges.













Simple white twine (a bit like ship's ropes in miniature) and a white matted layer finishes them off for display on the PaperArtsy show boards.







So that's today's sample catch-up... I hope to be back fairly soon with some more.  The new stamp sets are widely available online (details at the foot of the launch post) but by all means ask your local retailer about them if you can't find them.

There are various experiments going on at the craft table, but I seem to be doing a lot of starting and not much finishing of things at the moment.  I need to get back in the swing of things!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you all have a great weekend.

It is not that life ashore is distasteful to me.  It is that life at sea is better.
Sir Francis Drake