Courageous Women

Hello all - it's quiet around here again at the moment... lots going on behind the scenes, but very little spare time for pleasures like non-deadline-crafting and blogging.  I realise I haven't even fully caught up with the samples from the release of my three stamp sets from the beginning of this year... and PaperArtsy have done a whole new round of releases since then!  So here's a quick how-to of my pair of courageous Lynne Perrella women, coupled with quotes from PaperArtsy EAB08 Strength & Courage.

It also gives us a shot at a little touch of colour after all the neutrals I've been dallying with lately.  The palette was chosen by Leandra for the release, and it includes pink - most unusual for me.





These couldn't have been done nearly as easily if it hadn't been for the Tim Holtz stamping platform.  The backgrounds were done very simply with some PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze and soft sponging of the paler paint colours (two coats of sponging for a really soft subtle crackle).

I then used the magnetic buttons to hold the postcard in place while I stamped the first of the women.  (You can see one in the corner here.)  Crucially, I then left both the postcard and the stamp in place while I did some delightfully carefree painting to colour in the image.  No need to stay completely within the lines of this intricately detailed image...










... because once the paint was dry, I inked up the stamp again and re-stamped over the top.  The stamping platform means the stamp goes down in the exact same position and, voilà, beautifully detailed image lines all coloured in.











Here's the magic trick again with the second woman (maybe my all-time favourite Lynne Perrella stamp) - all blurry with paint - straight over the top of some of her features and all that detailed landscaping on her decolletage...















... and re-stamped to perfection.  I always enjoy painting these images, and find it very soothing when I have lots of time.  But if you're in more of a hurry this is a perfect solution to getting a lovely finish without being quite so painstaking about your colouring.














All the stamping is done in Watering Can Archival, and when I got to the quotes I also clear-embossed them - a favourite way to make them pop just a little more.












I think this Anne Frank quote may be one of my favourites, so it gets to go with my favourite woman!  You also get that lovely touch of light from the gloss of the embossing.













There are little scraps of tissue tape for added interest.  Oh, and the postcard and postmark stamps are from a couple of older Sara Naumann sets (ESN05 and ESN17)...













... and I layered my postcards onto some white card so that they would pop a little more up on the PaperArtsy sample boards at shows.














Thanks so much for stopping by today for this little refresher, and I'll be back with a new creation pretty soon.  Happy Sunday all!







Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of.
Bethany Hamilton (who, aged 13, lost her arm to a shark attack while surfing, but returned to the sport, later competing as a professional surfer)