Yesterday, I shared the Beautiful You creations that we made and I demonstrated at Chris’s Stampin’ Up! party. Today, I thought I’d tantalize you a little more by sharing two more creations using the Beautiful You stamp set I created earlier this year to celebrate Australia Day – you may have seen these creations on my old Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram pages. In my previous blog, I mentioned that the Beautiful You set can be mixed and matched with other stamp sets. I may have forget to mention that it is also brilliant for creating stamped scenes and collages.
Are you ready to see what I mean?
Okay here it is…
Those of you who aren’t an Aussie (Australian) or a Kiwi (New Zealander) might be wondering “how is this card relevant to Australia Day?” The bridge looks a lot like the Sydney Harbour Bridge – this Australian icon is affectionately know by locals as the “The Coathanger”. There is so much work in this card: stamping, layering, brayering, masking, colouring, sponging, splattering and more two-step stamping! My Wink of Stella glitter brush got a big workout too. (Never too much sparkle!) It uses no less than five stamp sets: Beautiful You, Hide Tide, Wherever You Go, Timeless Textures and Sheltering Tree. Personally, I think it uses just enough stamp sets.
Ready for the next Beautiful You creation?
This card might be more easily recognisable as Australian themed as it features the Sydney Opera House. I used a lot of artistic license with this card as it is almost impossible to view of the opera house without buildings in the background. Five stamp sets were used in this creation: Beautiful You, Hide Tide, Wherever You Go, Timeless Textures and Chase your dreams (retired). Again, there is a significant amount of technique in this card – masking, two-step stamping, water colouring and sponging.
Take a closer look at the Opera House, can you see that a whisper white craft ink “wash” was used to soften or subdue the Sahara Sand colour on the “sails”? This is a really easy way to completely change the look of a coloured element. To learn more ways to use whisper white craft ink, make sure you check out the Ways with Whisper White blog post.
I love the how the Emerald Envy of the lady’s dress contrasts with the gold of the sunset. It’s reminiscent of the green and gold that our Olympic athletes and international sporting teams wear. Yes, our flag is red, white and blue, but in 1984 green and gold was established as our national colours by the Governor-General. Many people believe that the gold represents our beaches and the green is our forests. However, green and gold symbolizes our national flower, the golden wattle. Regardless, green and gold has been source of national pride since 1899 when the Australian cricket team wore it for their tour of England. Bet you didn’t think you’d get an Aussie History lesson on my blog!
How cool is it to be able to create beautiful scenes with stamps without being a painter?
You should give it a go! I’d love to see what you create!
If you’d like to learn any of the techniques, I mentioned in today’s blog make sure you sign up for my mailing list.
