Spring Tim(e) Colours!

Hello all!  It's time for a new challenge on A Vintage Journey, and the amazing Astrid would like to see as many Spring Colours as possible.

Remember we are a Tim Holtz-inspired challenge so although you don't have to use his products, we would like to hear from you how he has inspired your project - whether that's through ideas, techniques or (of course) products too.

As always, my fantastic team-mates have created some inspirational projects - do hop over and check them out, along with the challenge details and our Travelling Instructions - and here's my offering for you this month.

It's another of those ones that started in one direction and ended up somewhere else, but probably all the better for the discarded layers underneath!

It's a 7x5 canvas, and I started out spritzing it with my favourite spring colours - the vivid green of new leaf growth and the fresh blue of the sky.  Over that, I embossed the Papillon text in Seafoam White and added more powder around the edges for a distressed look...

And then I gesso'd over the whole lot and started again.  I don't know - I just wasn't feeling it!











Instead, I applied texture paste through the wonderful Blossom stencil (my other favourite thing about spring is blossom).  You can see colour is seeping through from underneath... no problem, it's not like I dislike those colours!













I spritzed that with various Distress Sprays - Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon Squeezed Lemonade (for some sunshine)... others too, I'm sure.

I sprayed the same colours onto some paper and cut that with the Birds in Flight Decorative Strip Die.

They're stamped with Tim's Tiny Words stamps.  Now they can soar and sing amid the treetops.














There's lots of shading around the birds, done using a combination of Distress Markers, pastel pencils, Inktense pencils and even the odd Copic Marker.









And I also added shadings of Fresco paints to the textured blossoms in the background.  There's some Zesty Zing in there, and probably some South Pacific and Southern Skies.

I was really enjoying the blues and greens, but the whole thing needed some paler highlights and some more of the dappled spring sunlight that I love.










On the way in to work I was looking out of the train window and admiring the glorious tree blossoms in all the gardens.  White is my favourite, so the next time I was at the craft table I decided to add some white accents.












The little wooden hearts have had a coat of white paint and then a couple of coats of UTEE.











That gives them not only a glossy reflective surface, throwing light around, but also a touch of domed dimension.

The WordBand has Distress Paint tinting the lettering, and then a coat of Glossy Accents so that it can catch the sunlight too.













It's attached with a large crinkle ribbon bow - a touch of extravagance to mark the excitement of new spring growth.














Obviously there had to be plenty of spatter...













And all of this also "falls" over the sides of the canvas too, of course.

So there you have my Spring Colours canvas.





Do hop over to A Vintage Journey to see what my lovely team-mates have been creating, and we hope you'll be inspired to play along with us this month.

Remember there's a prize voucher from our generous sponsor Country View Crafts, and you might be one of our Pinworthies at the end of the month.  Can't wait to see your Spring Colours!

The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth to blossom, and to bring forth fruit.
Thomas Malory

This is the last day to add your name to the hat on my GIVEAWAY - hurry, hurry, hurry!  I'll include all comments left before 23.59 1st May UK time (my blog is an hour ahead of that, as it runs on European time, so don't panic if your comment seems to be an hour late - I'll take that into account!).

Being a Boy

Hello all!  So happy you enjoyed yesterday's melancholy musical creation.

I've a tag slightly out of my usual style for you today.  I've been really enjoying the Stampotique Designers Challenge themes lately, and am so honoured by being picked as a favourite too.

But I am slightly ashamed that none of my projects has used a Stampotique stamp (though it's not compulsory)... well, here's one that does!

The theme this week is Masculine.  I suppose this tag probably lies towards the gentle end of the testosterone spectrum, but I really wanted to take this little boy out for a spin.

I was so excited recently to win some fabulous blog candy from the brilliant and lovely Kay Wallace, and this Daniel Torrente stamp, Heart Boy, was part of it - so he needed inking!













For the background I spread some texture paste onto a tag, then laid another tag over the top and pressed them together firmly before peeling them apart to get this lovely textured look.













I inked over the top with various Distress Inks - Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters, I think.











I love the variegated tones you get as the ink takes differently according to whether it's over the paste or direct onto the card.













Heart Boy was stamped on a separate piece of card, then stamped again and cut out as a mask.  I inked around him with the same colours, and used my (very few) Copic Markers to colour him in.












I stamped the "recipe", adapted from the nursery rhyme (it's down below, with some extra verses I never knew existed), on some more leftover card.











I inked the words, sky and grass, top and bottom, and mounted both them and Heart Boy on padded tape.













I used one of Darcy's new PaperArtsy border stamps around the edges - it seemed just right for this tag.













(Oh, and those tiny red spatters you can see... an oversight on my part.  He was lying too near something else that was going on!)












It's all topped off with some dyed seam binding and curled paper string - keeping things simple, for once.











As it's Tuesday, you'll find me over at Artistic Outpost today too... with my tag using real life fir fronds - so if you missed it last time around, do check it out.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you soon either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.











What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails and puppy dogs' tails,
And that are little boys made of.

What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice,
And that are little girls made of.

What are young men made of?
What are young men made of?
Sighs and leers, and crocodile tears,
And that are young men made of.

What are young women made of?
What are young women made of?
Ribbons and laces, and sweet pretty faces,
And that are young women made of.
Traditional

Originally by Robert Southey, but with many alternative versions down the years, including some with even more verses!

I'm entering this highly Masculine tag (!) over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge

Brotherly Love

Hello all, lovely to see you!

A quick tag today (has to be quick - so much going on at the moment) with two Artistic Outpost characters who live a rich and complicated life in my imagination.  They're from the fabulous Generation Redux plate.

This was also one of my first times playing with Pan Pastels (yes, I finally succumbed - and oh, I'm in love!).  

So these two brothers (a.k.a. - to me at least - the Coffee Guys)...  

The older one is sober-suited and slightly grim about about the mouth and eyes.  

You can feel the weight of responsibility heavy upon his shoulders, having been left in charge of the family firm (coffee trading, clearly) after their father's death.  But you also get the sense that he's probably unnecessarily tight-lipped about things.  If he could just soften a little, he'd enjoy life so much more.









However, he can't afford to because his younger brother, Mr Flash (I think he's almost certainly called Harry) - with that twinkle in his eye and the natty blue suit - is reckless and constantly falling into scrapes... financial sometimes, but mainly with unsuitable women, and it's earnest Ernest who has to pick up the pieces.












I absolutely love the look of the Pan Pastels blended over the glorious print block letters from the Secretary Pool set.

You just stamp in Versamark and then work the PPs over the top - it's like magic!












Apart from the Pan Pastels background, I've taken the bubble theme that's built into the main stamp and run with it.  













There's a matching bubble texture stamp on the same plate, so I used that around the edges of the tag, stamped in Potting Soil like the main image.













Then I added some UmWow circle confetti to echo the stamped bubbles, and on some of those I added the same bubbles in Vanilla White embossing powder.














A topping that is full of contrasts, like the brothers themselves: some twine, some silk ribbon (coloured brown, though I see it's gone a little pink by this morning - hidden secrets, anyone?!), and some linen ribbon fraying at the edges - as you feel Ernest must be by now... see how he's barely keeping it together with that gripped lower lip.












Okay, so not that quick a post... but as I say, the brothers have quite a grip on my imagination, and I guess they didn't want to be brushed off quite so lightly!  

It wasn't until I was writing the post that I realised there are no words on this tag - gasp! - apart from COFFEE, and all those alphabet letters.  I think the brothers must speak for themselves.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll be able to drop in on Friday evening when there's a really exciting new PaperArtsy release to share!  Hope to see you then...

What strange creatures brothers are!
Jane Austen

Since I return to these Artistic Outpost stamps again and again (and it's not just because I'm on the DT - they inspire me endlessly, especially this Generation Redux set and the Think and Wonder set), I'd like to enter this in the lovely Brenda's Five Year Celebration Candy - with the Generation Redux stamps as one of my favourite craft materials.  I can also see that Pan Pastels are going to become a new favourite!!  You'll find all the details of Brenda's candy challenge here.