Inspired by a Movie

Hello all!  It's time for my final week in the Designer Spotlight over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, and this week we are "Inspired by a Movie".  It's not often that I spook myself at the craft table (and there are often skulls and skeletons around) but, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, I definitely got the chills as I transformed Tim Holtz's adorable Silhouette Birds into something deeply ominous!

It's been a delight and an honour to work alongside the amazing Simon Says Stamp Design Team for the month of June.

And this new theme, "Inspired by a Movie", has produced another round of their amazing creativity so, when you're done here, do hop over and check out what they've all been up to in order to inspire you to play along.

These tags were really quite simple to make, but I'm very happy with how effective they are.  I would never have believed that the Silhouette Birds - with which I'm completely in love - could become so scary!  Check it out while listening to the title sequence!

The backgrounds were made using my favourite dip-and-dab technique with Distress Inks and Oxides.  I smoosh the chosen ink pads onto the craft mat, spritz the ink with a little water (but not the tags usually), and then swipe, dip and dab the tags into the inky droplets.

I usually start with one or two colours, drying between layers, and then add more colours as the mood takes me, often being quite specific about where I'm dabbing to add the new colours.

In the mix here are Walnut Stain DI, Pumice Stone DI and DOx, Hickory Smoke DI, Vintage Photo DI and DOx, Ground Espresso DI, Crackling Campfire DI, Shaded Violet DI, Villainous Potion DI, Wilted Violet DI, Stormy Sky DI and DOx, with a little white paint spatter at the end.

And I added some subtle stamping using the Faded Type set in Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo.

Next up, selecting the right twigs and branches from my little stockpile on the windowsill.

If I go through them too quickly in the year, I sometimes have to head out into the garden to find some more...

I found the right shapes to create a balanced composition across the two tags.

And I love how much dimension they gave me to play with.

You probably spotted that I had already cut the birds out of Kraft Stock Stack Black Paper - some cut black-side up, some kraft-side-up, so that I could have them facing in both directions - and began to arrange them in my newly-created trees.  They were surprisingly cooperative about perching in position while I was working it out (or perhaps that shouldn't be reassuring).  I was tossing up between five birds per tree...

... and six birds per tree, and decided that six was definitely creepier.  

And it's especially creepy moving between these two photos, because that gradual gathering of more and more birds is exactly what Tippi Hedren's character experiences in the film.  I just love how these two in the middle are hovering three and nearly four centimetres above the surface of the tag (yes, I measured!).

With the branches so crowded, I thought it was probably best to keep everything else nice and simple.  Also, I wanted the birds to have centre stage for full impact.

So it was just a question of seeking out the right phrases from the Idea-ology Clippings Stickers.  These are actually from a seasonal Halloween set, hence their suitability for reflecting the psychological fractures and breakdown the film captures so brilliantly.

It also makes a huge difference sanding back the black paper to reveal some of the kraft colour underneath.  It seems to create more life and movement in the birds somehow.

They're definitely watching you...

Imagine yourself standing at the foot of the tags, just in the middle there... yup, you're surrounded!

So I hope you'll be "Inspired by a Movie" this week, and join in at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  There's absolutely no need to scare yourself in the process... you can pick a nice safe romcom if you like!  The Design Team have created lots more fabulous inspiration for you over at the challenge blog.

As always, the team will be selecting some favourite projects to go in the spotlight, and of course the challenge is generously sponsored by the Simon Says Stamp store...

... so one lucky random winner will receive a $25 voucher to go shopping there and choose some new stash to play with.

Thanks so much to Lorraine and the team for inviting me to guest design with them this month, and thank you to all of you for stopping today.  I hope I haven't started your week off too ominously.  Happy crafting all!

Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.

Suspense is like a woman. The more left to the imagination, the more the excitement. ... 

The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.

Alfred Hitchcock