More Music

Hi, I've had a very lovely but busy weekend with my best friend who came to stay to help make her wedding invites. (I've got some pics and will probably post them Weds as part of WOYWW). It has meant however that I haven't had much time for any other crafting but I did manage to spend a couple of hrs this afternoon after she'd left to have a play with some new bits and pieces I purchased recently from The Artistic Stamper. They have a new challenge blog where the theme is 'Something Old, Something New' and this is also the theme over at Sunday Stampers. I've never really moved away from creating cards and scrapbooks but have loved looking at all the wonderful Altered Art and other creations since I started blogging and fancied a try, though was nervous about tackling it. This is what happened -

This was inspired by a tag I made the other week for the Compendium of Curiosities challenge, Music is the theme over at Alter It Monthly, a challenge I have had my eye on but not been brave enough to attempt so far. As music has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember and I have played an instrument since I could learn to read I figured this was as good a time as any to have a go!

....And despite my wariness I really enjoyed this-  I started off with a paper mache blank, applied a thin layer of Claudine Hellmuths' Studio Gesso with a really cheap rough brush as I wanted to see the strokes. I used an initial layer of Milled Lavender distress ink followed by Frayed Burlap and Dusty concorde over a Tim Holtz's mask, I covered chip board pieces in downloaded sheet music (Catch a falling star - Perry Como, if you're interested!) and added distress inks and smudges of Milled Lavender Distress stickles.

In the top right corner I stuck some more sheet music, coloured with dusty concorde and painted with Rock Candy crackle paint. I wanted to lift the piece a little so tried sprinkling some glitter into the wet Rock candy (went a bit over the top with it though!) and then rubbed more Dusty concorde over the top once it was crackled (wiping off the excess.). It's not very clear in the photo because of the flash but I think it adds a lovely texture, just a bit too much glitter!

The quote inside the frame is from Leonard Bernstein and is just printed from my PC, then I embossed the whole thing with super gloss clear powder. I layed a piece of card which I'd distress inked and then stamped in the recess before adding the quote piece.  Some flowers, buttons - (which I'm quite taken with at the moment), Tim Holtz die cut flourishes and a few crystals finished the whole thing off. I also added some silver metal corners, also from The Artistic Stamper, which I though about colouring but decided I liked them plain.  Looking at the photo I'm not sure if I should of added some more sheet music collage to the frame, but, it's done now, not going to start messing with it. It's my first attempt at a frame and practice makes perfect so they say! 

So- this is going to  -

Alter It Monthly - Music

The Artistic Stamper - Something Old (Leonard Bernstein and Perry Como!)  Something New (most of the products used and a new style for me)

Sunday Stampers - Something Old Something New

Sir Stampalot Challenge - Bring on the Bling (I did over do the Glitter after all!)

The Stamp Man - Take 2 Colours (Purple and er...Frayed Burlap!)