The Bay of Naples

This is the start of a big week for me - I am setting the UK Scrappers challenge this week, I am a guest designer at Banana Frog for October, and a new challenge goes live at Scrapology this week!  Oh - plus, I have a sketch challenge layout due on 1st October also.  Phew!  No wonder it's been quiet in here lately - not so quiet behind the scenes. 

First things first - the UKS challenge - September Week 4.  With all that activity, I decided it was essential to multi-task.  One of the lovely sets of stamps Bev sent me was Swirls and Butterflies.  What's not to love about this set? 

I used it perhaps differently to the way a lot of people would - a girly layout springs to mind immediately, but instead I used the set to embellish a panoramic view.  Here's my layout!

I really wanted to use some kind of glimmer mist or shimmery wash, but I only own two mists, neither in the colours I wanted.  So I mixed up some pastel Jo Sonja acrylic paint to a watery wash, and used the Ranger mini-mister to squirt onto the background. 

A very difficult layout to photograph, being a double, and full of painty effects.  However, I have done some close-ups: 

I used the largest swirl in the set to emulate the water.  I embossed the swirl with pink translucent embossing powder and painted over the top with a pinky yellowy wash, some Jo Sonja Opal Dust (which are the glittering holographic particles) and a shimmery orangy/pinky wash which glimmers.  It looks a bit of a mess in the close-up, but the effect is beautiful (in my opinion!) from normal viewing distance. 

I used a Rebekka Erickson "Fancy" Box Board alphabet, which I then painted with a wash of Jo Sonja pink and peach acrylic paints, to which I added a dollop of violet iridescent.  I then embossed over the top with pink translucent embossing powder, which gives a lovely lustre.  Straight on, the letters are a pearly pale yellowy/pinky cream, and at an angle, they are quite reddish!  Perfect for a sun setting. 

I couldn't complete the layout without using some of those beautiful butterflies!  I embossed the butterfly straight onto the cardstock for no reason apart from working out my placement, and then I washed over the immediate area with some of those glimmer paints.  I then stamped out the butterflies in a pigment blue ink, heat dried and set, and then washed over the surface with some washed out glimmer pastel colours.  I stamped and embossed the butterfly "trails" onto recycled packaging, and attached everything onto the layout with acid free silicone glue.  I love the dimensionality of that stuff! 

To sum up, this week's challenge on UK Scrappers is to use panoramic photos (no people or pets allowed!) of nature/landscapes etc.  Use stamping, and also to alter an alphabet using techniques, a mix of colours/fonts, etc.  I shall be checking to see what people come up with! 

Back later in the week to share another Banana Frog project.