Lucky day and Gothic Arch #8 Children

Well, wasn't yesterday that my lucky day! I posted a comment on some wonderful card samples featuring the Old Truck stamp by Darkroom Door and my comment was picked to win the stamp! I will now stake out the mailslot to wait for a lovely little Australian envelope.... I will be sure to post some projects with it as soon as I can.

Speaking of projects, Heather has her annual fundraising/anniversary activities raising funds for Victims of Violence. I will be teaching one of the make-and-takes on Tuesday, Aug 17 in the morning. We'll be doing emboss-resist. Classic technique that's guaranteed to wow every time.

Speaking of Heather's support for the Victims of Violence "It shouldn't hurt to be a child" campaign, this Gothic Arch features her stamp, where all proceeds go towards the campaign. I love that image, so evocative of the toddler years.

I did this arch for the Inkurable Stampers Gothic Arch challenge #8, theme "Children".

First I stamped the toddler (Heather's Stamping Haven) and masked it off. I added some sponged clouds with my homemade cloud mask, and then added the teddybear and wagon (Stampin' Up) and the tree and tire swing (SU). I coloured them with Bruynzeel pencil crayons, sponging some white chalk ink on the bear and wagon because I wanted them to look more ephemeral as if they were in the child's imagination. I wanted the whole background to be "in the child's mind", hence the frame of leaves (SU) and the cloud background. (I made the mistake of asking DH if he could detect this nuance unaided. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that he couldn't, and just be grateful that he's the type to have compasses lying around to be used for drawing arches....) I added distress stickles in Rock Candy and Peeled Paint to the background too, so there is the shimmery but not glittery effect as well. I tried to capture this effect in the close up. The word stamp is by A Muse, and it's all one stamp. I like how this came out - and it only took me three tries!