Eyes are an ocean

Hello and welcome on this very hot sunny day.  I do hope you all had a fabulous weekend enjoying the weather. I wasn't sure where I was going when I started this piece other than the fact I wanted to use the fantastic GiganTag from That's Crafty and PaperArtsy stamp by Emma Godfrey. This has been in my collection since it's release but I never use it. I rummaged through my stamps and found the fabulous eyes by Inkylicious and  here is where it began...

Here's what I used...

PaperArtsy smooth white card stock.
PaperArtsy Stamp Set...EEG15.
Inkylicous stamp...Eyes are an ocean.
That's Crafty stamp...Lynn's Affirmations Set 1.
That's Crafty GiganTag...White/Greyboard.
PaperArtsy Stencil...PS036.
ColourBox Stencil...Mesmerized.
Sheena Douglas Stencil...Groovy Flower Power.
Distress Inks...Barn Door, Abandoned Coral, Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Shabby Shutters, Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint and Black Soot
Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint...Evergreen and White.
Imagination Craft Sparkle Medium...Gold Shine..
Versafine Ink pad...Black.
Posca Pen...Black and White.
Tim Holtz Stamp platform.

Here's what I did...

I began with giving my GiganTag a coat of white paint which I pounced on with a sponge to add a little texture, a little extravagant I know but I love it. I cut some squares of card which I would be stamping my images on to. I wanted the images to be really black so decided to colour my pieces of card prior to stamping. I decided on my colour theme and began blending on the inks until I was happy with each piece. I then took the largest circle from the stamp set and stamped it on to four of the card pieces and the smaller circle I stamped on to three pieces. I cut each piece out and did some doodling with the white and black posca pens. Having decided on my placement I needed some background...This took a little pondering. Having chosen my desired stencils, I began with the PaperArtsy lines and inked through with Barn Door, taking it from top to bottom. My original choice for this piece were acrylic paints but as I wanted the eyes to pop I needed the softer look on the background which is why I went for the distress inks. They are softer when blended onto a painted surface.I did the same with the ColorBox stencil using the Spiced Marmalade. I placed my stamped pieces onto the tag to get a rough idea on the placement of the leaves from the Sheena Douglas stencil. Once decided I used the green acrylic paint and pounced it through using blending foam. I wanted a little sparkle on my piece but not too blingy, so used some blending foam and sparkle medium. I replaced the leaf stencil back over each piece and used the foam to burnish the sparkle medium through the stencil. This defines the edges of the leaves with sparkle and a little on the actual leaves giving just a soft bling. Now happy with my background I glued all my pieces onto the tag. I took the wording which is on the stamp plate and stamped it a few times with black ink, masking pieces each time to allow me to cut the wording up. I inked the edges of each piece of wording with black soot and glued them into place. I needed them to pop a little more so used the black posca pen to roughly line round the words. My piece is now complete and this is where I found myself saying leave it there. It was hard not to do something around the edges which is where my wonderful son comes in...smiles. He is great for advice with all my makes. His decision was to leave as is, so I had to force myself not to add some texture or stamping around the edge. I am still not sure but hey ho. I hope you like it and maybe get some inspiration for a project of your own. Thank you for stopping by. I do hope you will pop back on Wednesday, where I will have a sneaky peak of my DT make for my usual slot over on the That's Crafty blog. Have a great week. Bye for now.

Much love, Bev. xxx