I’ve always been enthralled by nature, and even more so since moving to Nova Scotia. We’re very fortunate to have a large piece of land that attracts all sorts of wildlife. Just recently we’ve been treated to daily visits from a number of white tailed deer and today was no exception. Although I counted 10 deer eating at various spots, what caught my attention was something just off to the side, two small fawns hidden in the long grass. At that moment I couldn’t help but simply stand and watch. All thoughts of today’s project, half-finished on my desk went out of my mind. Eventually the deer moved on and so did I to bring you today’s blog. It’s late, but I had a good excuse!
WATERCOLOURED BACKGROUND
I have to say that the arrival of the deer was not the first moment of distraction I experienced today. My original plan was for a vintage design with a sort of verdigris/rusty look. Totally unlike what I eventually ended up with…
I began with a 2″ x 5″ piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. Using the widest of the Water Painters I wet the paper with clean water. Then I watered down a drop of Coastal Cabana ink and brushed it across the strip from side-to-side. After letting it dry I then went over the strip again, this time brushing across some watered down Bermuda Bay ink. With that done I set the paper aside to dry thoroughly.
While I was waiting I began to look for a stamp set or two and noticed In The Moment. It was so not what I was looking for, but I simply couldn’t help myself. I realised that the background I’d created was perfect for the wine glass scene and everything just snowballed from there.
With the watercoloured piece ready to use I pulled out an Early Espresso ink pad. The Fluid 100 has a textured surface and there was a danger that my In The Moment image would not stamp cleanly. For this reason I mounted it onto my Stamparatus stamp positioning platform so I could stamp it multiple times in exactly the same spot. That way I could check the image and fill in any gaps. As it turned out I only needed to stamp twice and I was ready to move on.
CAPTURING THE MOMENT
Of course the image was filled with the background colour which wouldn’t do at all. So in that moment I decided to stray totally away from my vintage plan and do some paper-piecing instead. For this I found an abstract Pale Papaya design in the New Horizons 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. Then, still using Early Espresso ink, I stamped the image onto the DSP and cut around the dress, hair and hat using Paper Snips.
Flipping the rest of the sheet over I found a small area in that design that was much lighter than the rest, almost white. So I stamped the bottom part of the image onto that and cut out the railings either side of the lady.
Finally I stamped the hat twice onto a scrap of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. Using my Paper Snips I cut out one complete hat, and from the other one I cut off the brim leaving just the centre part.
And that was the moment disaster stuck! As I was tidying things away I touched the stamp and without knowing it got ink on my fingers, and then transferred it onto the bottom of the watercoloured strip. So now I was faced with the prospect of starting over or making the most of the situation. In the end I decided to simply ‘paint’ between the railings using more Bermuda Bay ink. The rest of the damage would be hidden by the paper piecing process.
Before I could begin gluing the pieces in place I first needed to do a little colouring with Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. On the watercoloured paper I used Ivory to colour her arms and went over them a couple of times. Then for her wine I used dark Cherry Cobbler. Turning to the fussy cut pieces I used Bronze to colour the belt on the DSP dress. Then on the two pieces of the hat I used Ivory followed by the Bronze.
To assemble the scene I used small amounts of Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to add the individual pieces on top of the image stamped onto the watercoloured strip.
Finally I punched a hole at the top using the Detailed Trio Punch. Then I cut three 6″ pieces of Very Vanilla twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials pack. After folding them in half, I threaded the loops through the hole, passed the cut ends through the loops and pulled gently to secure it in place. It may have taken much longer than expected but I’m very happy with the finished project.
For more projects using the In The Moment Stamp Set see these earlier blog posts:
PRODUCT LIST
PRICE INCREASES ON THE HORIZON
I want to let you know about a change to Stampin’ Up!’s shipping and handling pricing that will come into effect in a couple of weeks. Starting April 1, in Canada, the minimum shipping charge will increase by $1.00, from $9.95 to $10.95; or by one percentage point, from 10% to 11% of the total order amount – whichever is greater.
I wanted to make sure you’re aware of this change, as it impacts both you and me. Stampin’ Up! is only one of many companies that have had to increase their shipping and handling costs in response to the global supply chain crisis. They have worked to keep the increase as low as possible so they can continue bringing us the unique, high-quality, and coordinated papercrafting products we love. To be honest I’m surprised this hadn’t happened sooner.
In addition we have been advised that the new 2022/2023 Annual Catalogue which goes live to customers on May 3rd will reflect price increases caused by increases in raw materials etc. As yet I don’t know how significant these will be but I will let you know as soon as I have more information.
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