Sunset Choir - Glendas' Stampbord Challenge

" Sunset Choir " - AKA Labour of Love !


Ok so Glenda Waterworth aka Graphicus aka Artylicious has set us another challenge competition - this time using Stampbord, so here's my entry and once again I have chosen "Other Item" - this time this is a large 10" square panel picture. The panel picture is based upon a summer evening ( sorry we haven't had too many of those lately ! ) when the birds are giving their last song of the day. Once again everything used is from Graphicus - except my cardstock.

As this is a large panel picture it will sit on an easel frame near my landing window so every time I pass it, the word Inspire will do just that !

How I made it etc all details below . . . . . . . . . . . . . Click the pictures to open them in new window and then click again to see them in their full glory !

All the various Stampbord pieces - 21 in total - were placed in the arrangement I wanted prior to being sprayed, as I wanted the background colours to flow into each other. The main center panel is 6 pieces of 2" square tiles. I used a combination of Glimmer Mists and also Tim Holtz spray inks ( all available at Graphicus ) to create the shaded background working from the green through to the deep russet. The centre panel was rubbed off slightly as I wanted a more highlighted effect for this panel.

The panels in general needed some fore-thought as I didn't want to over stamp each one and the effect I wanted was for the stamped panels to flow on from each other, IE: the vines on the bottom centre panel then flow outwards to the side panels, which in turn the stamping then flows on to the next panel. The same with the centre panel, the foliage from the tree flows down to the top centre panel to match and again on the bottom panel.

The 4" x 6" centre panel was stamped with the Graphicus Guild Members stamp from the June newsletter. The left & right edges were then stamped using the Leaf flourish from the Lily Themeplate . All detailing was made with the scraper tool and various scratches were then rubbed over with colour to highlight them - ( see the birds chests ) this gives a great effect as the colour deepens within the scratches and gives the birds some dimension. Spots of gold were added to the leaves. Before anyone asks I didn't leave gaps between the stampbord pieces as it made the birds look like they were caged - not my kind of thing.

I didn't want to overdo the scratching on the outer panels as these were meant just as highlights to the stamped flourishes. The lettering down the side was stamped with the Sketchy Alphabet as this could really then be highlighted with the scratch tool.

Each stampbord piece was mounted on to black card, then onto a gold pearlescent card - then again on to another black card. Each Matted & Layered panel was then glued to the main gold pearlescent backing card which was then matted to yet another piece of black card.

All in all this has taken over a week to make as I had to do bits in between my other work - hence the labour of love x