Winter Blues

We have certainly having the winter blues!  The weather dumped about 8 inches of snow and then dropped to negative degrees temperature and now we are getting warmer! 

The extremely talented Kathy is hosting the challenge at the Frilly and Funkie this time around.  She challenges us with the "Winter Blues".   Here is how she describes the challenge:

"January is the longest winter month and lots of us get the "winter blues." Let's take the winter blues in a positive direction by creating a mostly monochromatic vintage or shabby chic project done up in shades of blue. You may use a bit of white, beige or grey for contrast, but I would like to see the blues to be front and center in this project."

I love a good monochromatic color scheme and blues are beautiful especially in the winter time!  I decided to create a vintage valentine montage with shades of blue.

 I was playing with my Distress Stain Sprays and salt.  I love how it pulls the ink into an intense color where the salt absorbs the color. 

I thought it would be interesting to create a shape with the salt and then add the color.  And this is where I ended up:

 How did I get there? 

1. Draw a heart.  Cut it out.  (Use a heavier piece of paper)
2. Place the heart onto a sheet of mixed media paper. 
3. Sprinkle table salt around the edges of the heart and onto the mixed media paper. (I made sure there was a pile of salt all around the edges.)
4. Arrange the salt to the outside edges of the heart onto the mixed media paper.  Smooth the salt to allow it to flare out towards the edges of the paper. 
5. After the salt is arranged to your liking.  Spray with your desired distress stain spray color.
6. At this point I realized the salt was absorbing the ink completely. (Which make sense. :) So I pushed it around and added some more salt.  
7. Let dry and then scrap off the salt. 

I think I would have only done a few things differently. I would have either:

• Sprayed the heart mask around the edges first with a pool of ink.  Added the salt while it was wet and let it dry. 

or

• Sprayed another sheet of paper and sprinkled the salt into it.  After it dries used that around the edges of the heart.  Re-activated the ink with spraying water or more distress ink. 

Things to try in the future. :)

Other pieces to this project included:

• Painting the metal gate
• Adding a touch of feather with the heart on her hat
• Sponging blue distress ink over the paper doll
• Painting the chain with white paint and sponging on some blue die ink and accenting my numbers with bits of chain

Come share your shades of blue with the team!  The winner will earn the chance of a guest spot at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. In addition, the Design Team will select three further outstanding entries and those creators will receive a Top Pick badge to display on their blogs!

 Thanks for hanging out with me!

Suzz

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