A Place To Start - Mid Month Makes - Anything Goes w/ Optional Twist

Hello, Crafty Peeps!

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A Place To Start!

Our current Challenge is

Anything Goes w/Optional Twist:

Use 3 of these 5 Elements on your project!

Tag

Vellum/Parchment

Die

Flower(s)

Watercolor

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A Very Busy Guy

I chose this image because my son is a systems engineer and this is the view my daughter-in-law has of him most evenings after the kids are in bed.  In all honesty, since she is building her event planning business, they probably have the same view of each other. 

(Watercolor, Vellum, Dies)

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Building My Base Layers

One of the things I am experimenting with this year is using what would be, for me, unexpected paper combinations.  Another challenge is to find creative ways to use some of the ten million dies I own!  The first iteration of this design was my usual rectangular layers.  My base was a cream color and the patterned paper was a cream and brown truly masculine print.  But I really wanted to pull in some of the colors from my water colored background so I decided to use a color that fell in-between the blues and greens.  This grey polka dot was my final design answer!💖

Watercoloring 

I must say I am having a great deal of fun playing around with my Distress Oxide Inks™.  To create the background for the stamped image, I took a piece of white card stock and used  Tea Dye Distress Ink™ to lightly color the entire area.  In random areas, I applied just a tiny bit of  Old Paper Distress Ink.  These inks were applied with my mermaid makeup blending brushes.  To distress the edges, I used regular Vintage Photo Distress Ink™. To color my stencils, I smeared Distress Oxide Inks™ on to my media mat and spritzed them lightly with water.  I used a dry watercolor brush to color in the stencil.  I removed excess water from my brush with a paper towel to achieve graduation in my colors.

Stamping

I was very certain that I did not want to color the image.  So I chose one or two images on the back of the computer and applied spot color.  I first stamped the image using black ink.  I heat set that (not necessary, I'm just a little OCD) and then stamped the image again using VersaMark® embossing ink.  I used clear embossing powder and heat embossed the image.  This process gives the image more definition and allows it to play better against the strong background.  I used a spray acrylic sealant on the finished panel.

To create my vellum strip, I used Distress Oxide Ink™ to color a white strip of vellum.  I combined Broken China and Iced Spruce on the front and Iced Spruce on the back.  It came out beautifully and was almost a perfect match to the stenciled colors.💝

Stuff I Used:
Stamped Image: Loves Store/AE Unbranded DIY Man **

Card Stock Plain: Cards and Pockets "Hot Fudge Matte" 

Printed Paper: Echo Park "Dots and Stripes" (Metropolitan Collection)
Dies: Gina Marie Designs "Wonky Rectangles-Stitched"; Spellbinders "Labels 22"

Stencils:  The Crafter's Workshop Mini "And so on"; Andy Skinner "Code Breaker"
Distress Oxide Inks™: Iced Spruce, Broken China
Distress Inks™: Tea Dye, Old Paper, Vintage Photo
Mermaid Ink Blending Brushes:  DSC Beauty
Twine: Tim Holtz Ideology®: Paper String
** There is an individual name Lara Smith who says that the image on the stamp used in this project was stolen by someone in China.  I purchased the stamp from the store in the link above.  I have no idea who designed the stamp!   Ms. Smith has been posting all over Facebook and on my personal and challenge blogs that I use and promote stolen images.  This is blatantly untrue.  If Ms. Smith has an issue with the company from whom I purchased the stamp she really needs to take that up with them.

I look forward to seeing your project in the Challenge!

HUGZ