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Wednesday 14 May 2014

Guest Post: Serenity Prayer Card Shaz Brooks

Our guest designer this week is Shaz Brooks who has designed this beautiful card using a variety of our stamps. This is a long and detailed post, but well worth the read. So pull up a chair and take time to enjoy.

(Measurements are in inches, as firstly, I still think that way, and second, my Tim Holtz ruler is in inches!)

One of the wonderful things about Glenda's stamps is how beautifully they mix and match, you are never limited to working just with the stamps in a particular set. For this project, I’ve used stamps from four different Chocolate Baroque sets: Serenity, GothicFragments, Floral Edges and Words of Wisdom

I began by taking a piece of white card roughly 6” x 6”.  I sprayed it with a mix of blue and purple; I mixed Distress Re-inkers (Salty Ocean and Seedless Preserves) with water in mini misters, but any spray inks will do the job. After spraying, I blotted the paper with kitchen towel, which left a lovely muted background.

Now I overstamped this piece with a couple of stamps from the Gothic Fragments, one of the Floral Edges and the Wisteria branch from Serenity. So the overstamping stayed soft to match the background, they were all stamped in Salty Ocean, and each time I stamped the image onto scrap before stamping on my background, giving me a paler second generation image.  I sprayed a second piece, roughly 3” x 6”, in the same way, then overstamped with another of the Gothic Fragments, finally inking up the Old English Prayer from the Words of Wisdom set in Versafine Majestic Blue and stamping that over the top.

Next I took another piece of white card, and stamped the Buddha image from Serenity in Memento Tuxedo Black, as I was going to colour it with Promarkers.  Using the ink left on the stamp, I also stamped a post-it note mask for the image. I trimmed the mask on the lines, so I would not get a ‘halo’ effect around my image. The post it mask was placed over the top, so that I could add colour to the ‘sky’ around the image, using Adirondack inks in Aqua, Stonewashed, Sailboat Blue, and just a touch of Denim at the edges, with a Colorbox Stylus tool. You can do this with sponges, an ink applicator or brushes, whatever your preferred method is. The sky took up roughly 2/3 of the image, so the bottom third was coloured for grass, again with Adirondacks in Willow, Citrus and a little Lettuce.

After this was totally dry, I added colour to the image using markers. The final touch was to add gilding flakes to the shrine the Buddha is sitting inside, and to the adornment on the Buddha's head. The background sheet, Buddha and the Prayer were each matted onto dark blue card.

For my base card, I cut two sheets of dark Grey Metallic card to 9”x 7 1/2”. Measuring in 1 1/2” from one short edge on each sheet, I scored a line down the card. At this point I also cut two sheets of white copy paper to make an insert for the greeting later, always wise when using a dark card base. Sandwiching the two white sheets between the two pieces of card, I punched two holes in the narrow section that had been scored. Now I threaded fibres through these holes, and tied together.  You could use twine/ribbon/string,  whatever you like. My ‘fibres’ are actually ‘eyelash wool’. I added a pale purple and pale blue brad top and bottom of the spine to secure it firmly.

Now the background sheet was stuck to the card front using double sided tape, and the Buddha image mounted on top of that, again with tape.  I added little foam pads to the back of the Prayer, to give a little dimension, and mounted it at an angle partly over the Buddha image.The final little embellishment I spotted lying on my desk- a little punched dragonfly. I had some scraps from a project a few weeks ago, using gilding flakes on black card, and had punched a few dragonflies and butterflies from the last bits. I added him with a little blob of silicone glue.

I hope you enjoy this project, and it encourages you to mix up your CB stamps a little. All the inks and tools I have used can be swapped for what you have with no ill effects, you can use Distress Inks instead of Adirondacks, for instance. You can even mix Distress Inks and Adirondacks if you wish.

I’ve really enjoyed doing this, although I have to admit my nerves were a bit frayed at the edges whilst I was doing it, I was sure something was going to go horribly wrong, especially as I got closer to being finished; I had visions of a dropped inkpad ruining everything!

Thank you so much for this Shaz, we have enjoyed having you as a guest designer. And if this post has inspired you why not leave a comment. To see more of Shaz's designs check her blog out here








14 comments:

  1. Beautiful colours; it all fits so good!

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  2. Thank you for such detailed instructions. I like the touch of gilding which makes the design 'pop'.

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  3. Wow, what a stunning card Shaz. I love everything about it. Thanks too for the wonderful write up on how it was made.

    Sue xx

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  4. This is a beautiful and serene Buddha card Shaz, compliments on the detailed tutorial! Gonna have a look at your blog, Miranda

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  5. stunning card Lesley - love the words xx

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  6. I love the pretty colours used on this card and such lovely detailed instructions too. There is some wonderful background stamping, and the image is beautifully coloured. A great card with lots of detail.

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  7. It's a beautiful card Shaz, love the way you have combined the different stamps, and the colours

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  8. Thank you everyone! I'm pleased you all like it. I felt very pressured doing this, as there is such a wealth of stunning talent displayed on the CB DT blog- it was a great honour to be asked, just happy I did them justice. Hugs, Shaz xxx

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  9. Gorgeous card and detailed instructions!
    Hugs
    Linda xxx

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  10. Stunning card Shaz. Really enjoyed reading how you made it. Fab instructions. One (there are many) of the things I love about CB stamps is how well they work together. The beautiful thing about mixing and matching the stamps is that the projects are always unique. I did giggle when I read about your nerves being frayed. I think we all have moments like that. Congratulations!
    Hugs, Flo xx

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  11. Wow oh wow! That is one truly beautiful creation - it is a piece of art!
    So very happy to know that I am not the only person that gets nervous/uptight/frayed nerves when finishing a project that has lots of work on it - I have lost count of the amount of projects I have screwed up at the end of a couple of days work it is heart breaking!
    This is gorgeous and then some - thank you for sharing it with us Karen x

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  12. Striking seeing how the spire echoes the headdress of the image & the pointed arch of the window/frame. The card format is lovely with the combination of brads & fibres in colours matching the focal image & sentiment panels really set off by the grey/black card base.
    Paula (PEP)

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment - it brings a little ray of sunshine into our day when we know our work is appreciated!