Hold on, be strong

Hello all!  I'm thrilled to have been invited back into the Designer Spotlight at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this month.

It's such a pleasure to be invited to create alongside the incredible Design Team there, and we've got a wonderful challenge theme for this week.

The theme is Ombré... the gradual blending of one colour hue to another, often moving tints and shades from light to dark.  The team are also playing with Dina Wakley products (though that's not compulsory to join in with the challenge) and here's the journalling page spread I've created for your inspiration.

I was inspired by both the artistic definition of Ombré and also the underlying meaning in French - shadow or shaded.

So the young Scribbly Girls have the shadows of their future selves hovering over them, offering advice.

Or maybe it is the older women who are looking back at the shadows of their former selves, and wishing they could share their accumulated wisdom with them as they face life's challenges.

I started with my main ombre effect.  I added stripes of Distress Ink to the craft mat - from the bottom up it goes Pumice Stone, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire - and spritzed with water.

I placed my open journal down on top of the inks and pressed it down.  This is the effect after that first "print" was dried with a heat tool.

This particular journal has quite a sheeny coating on the pages, so the inky effects are really pretty.

I then did several more dippings and dryings until I had a wrinkle-free distress look that I liked.

I stamped Dina's Scribbly Girlies in Pumice Stone on a separate piece of watercolour paper and clear embossed the images before tinting them with Distress Inks and a water brush.

I added some Design Tape to the page to give the girls something to stand on.  I was aiming for an Ombré effect with the tapes to echo the main one in the background.

It was at this point that I had the idea of using Dina's Words in Faces stamps in the sky.  My instinct was to have them in white, so they'd hover like wispy white clouds in the blue.

But I wasn't quite sure about it, so I stamped them onto some acetate in white paint so that I could get an idea of how they would look.

That's a yes!  But before adding the faces in a more permanent form, I decided on a bit more background stamping.  Again, I've echoed the Ombré idea.

So the leafy stems are stamped in Frayed Burlap Oxide ink, and the hearts (also from the Scribbly Girlies set) graduate from Stormy Sky via Faded Jeans to Chipped Sapphire.  (And I think later on I also added some Pumice Stone ones near the bottom of the pages.)

The pages also needed something more solid in the background to create depth, so I grabbed Tim Holtz's On the Edge Townscape die.

Once I'd decided they would work, the houses also got the Ombré treatment.  (The cloud faces are still on acetate at this point.)

Time to take the leap and stamp the faces in the sky directly onto the page.

I stamped in Versamark and embossed with Wow white embossing powder.  I love how they look.

The scribbled words in their hair are echoed by the main sentiment panels.

These individual words are also part of the Words in Faces stamp set.

I thought about adding them direct to the page, but decided I wanted them to have a more substantial presence...

... so they're stamped on watercolour paper in Ground Espresso Archival ink.

And, at the risk of Ombré overload, they've also had a touch of shaded inking at top and bottom to echo the colours of the rest of the page.

As I was gluing things in place, I felt the girls needed a little more definition, so I used my fine-tipped Sharpie to enhance their facial features as well as to give them a darker edging to make them pop.

Since the Sharpie is a permanent marker, it will work even over the glossy embossing.

And I used a black watercolour pencil to add shadows beneath their feet.  It beds them into the page and makes them more solid.

Oh yes, look - there are the Pumice Stone hearts.  I knew I'd added them at some point!

I didn't have a particularly clear idea of where I was going at the start of this, but I do like where I've ended up.

The shadowy ideas underlying the pages are reflected in the slightly sombre colour tones, but I don't think that overall it's a melancholy spread.

The words being shared between the younger and older women are full of hope and strength.

And it does warm up when you catch it in the sunlight, so I'm sure the message is getting through!  What do you think?

The amazing team of designers have created some spectacular Ombré inspiration for you over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, so do hop over and check it out.

As always, there's a $50 gift voucher on offer for the randomly chosen winner, as well as the chance of being selected by the team as one of their top picks. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you've found some shaded and shadowy inspiration to encourage you to join in with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week.  Happy Crafting all!

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Find these products at Simon Says Stamp:

Dina Wakley Scribbly Girlies
Distress Inks - Pumice Stone, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire
Wow White embossing powder
Tim Holtz Design Tape 
Archival Ink - Ground Espresso
Custom Archival Ink Pad (to use with the Ground Espresso re-inker)