I do love a bit of fussy cutting...

Hello there!  Really sorry not to have had chance to catch up sooner, but its been a very busy couple of weeks for me at work.  And its the start of August already, and time for a new theme over

on the Claritystamp challenge blog.  This month we're showcasing a technique which you'll be able to do with either stamps or groovi:  fussy cutting.  

So here goes with my project;  inspired in part by last month's NDC stencil projects. I loved this stencil as soon as I saw it.  I started off by stamping the owls into place using black archival and covering with a mask.

I used the gelli plate with chalk Freso Finish acrylic to pull a print of the trees.  This dries almost immediately, so then I spritzed the paper, replaced the stencil and sprinkled on some Colour Bursts.  I used orange, with a tiny bit of yellow and hot pink.  You have to be a bit careful not to add too much water or the colour will spread too much under the edges of the stencil.

I kept the mask in place over the owls and used gold acrylic to pull another gelli print of the trees.  The mega mount is invaluable for perfect positioning every time when you are layering prints like this.  The gold just adds a very subtle shimmer to the trees.

I still felt that the trees needed more definition, so I set to work with my spectrum noir pencils, mainly in shades of grey.  I did this over a few days, just a bit at a time to make sure I didn't overcook it.

Plenty of shading round the owls brings them to the foreground and gives a real 3d effect.  It adds drama too, I think.

I made some background pieces by smearing distress inks in similar colours onto a blending mat and spritzing with water, before picking up with a sheet of paper.  Personally, I like to layer and dry each colour separately, rather than blending them together on the mat, as I find they're less likely to go muddy.

I then used these pieces to stamp out some oak leaves, then cut them out and started to experiment with where to place them.

I also coloured in the owls with spectrum noir pencils in shades of orange and hot pink.  For me the touch of pink intensifies the warmth and vibrancy of the orange. 

At this point I also decided to add in little snippets of orange and hot pink tulle along with the leaves.  They were all stuck into place using Prima 3d gloss gel.

You can see some details below, and then the finished piece which I mounted in a wooden frame.

I made this for my dear friend Maria Simms' birthday.  I won't see her until the 6th, so I really hope she'll like it.  She's been warned not to peek if she wants it to be a surprise!

I hope you like it too, and that I have given you some inspiration for your own project.  What will you do?  I can't wait to see...  Don't forget you could win a £50 voucher to spend on Clarity goodies.  But you have to be in it to win it, so go on give it a go.  Till next time.  Xxx