Gothic Arch #3 - Crowns

This arch is for the Inkurable Stampers Gothic Arch Challenge #3 - Crowns. This arch started the background, where I began with some watercolour paper and the crown (Stampin' Up) stamped in white paint. I sprayed on some water and colour (Eggplant, Cranberry, Butterscotch Adirondack Colour Wash) and heat set. I had to rub the colour off the crowns a bit - the paint doesn't do the same level of resist as clear embossing. Then I stamped on the flourish (Stampers Anonymous) in Dusty Concord and the crown in Encore Gold. This background was so colourful that it needed something bold to go on top, and I remembered this frog princess stamp, which seemed to suit the occasion well. She's stamped on Heather's 180 lb paper in Graphite Black Brilliance ink (heat set) and coloured with Copics. The crown is adorned with tiny crystals and she is embellished with some stickles as well (Magenta on the lips, possibly a bit tarty for a real princess, but this one's in a mood for celebrating). I also added some clear glaze to her eyes to make them nice and glassy, which I guess is the froggy equivalent to false eyelashes. She needed a "ground" and velvet seemed a regal choice, so I embossed a piece of green velvet paper for her to sit on. The words say "celebrate your inner princess" (A Muse) and they are embossed in white gold embossing powder, for a very disco glitzy effect. (Not so much for this effect exactly, but because my gold powder, located only days ago in a big tidy, is currently hiding.) The brads at the top (Stampin' Up) started out silver, but I coloured it with my gold leaf pen (Ranger) to match the gold elsewhere. [I have been less than thrilled with this pen. Has anyone else had trouble with it? The paint just blobs out the side and won't flow into the nib. Any tips/suggestions?]

Well, better go make lunch for the kidlets. They are getting grumpy and squabbling upstairs. They were really good in church this morning, so I suppose I should feed them before things escalate.

Thanks for stopping by!