Saturday 1 February 2014

Just Three Colours - Our Creative Corner's February Challenge

Servus and welcome back, dear crafting friends and followers old and especially anew!

Time to introduce to you Jenny's (aka Button) challenge over at Our Creative Corner! This month we want you to go for:


"Just Three Colours - use only shades of blue, brown and plum/purple on your project; no black lines accepted!"


This means that not even black lines from stamped or digital stamped images are allowed with your makes. 
I really loved her idea of banning black lines - it makes us look differently at the use of our stamps and ink pads and opens new ways for new designs. Which always is a good thing! 


Actually the brown paper I stamped on changed the stamped on colours ("gathered twigs", "rich cocoa" and "dusty concord") into a darker tone than I had expected - so some of them look rather dark brown- or purpl-ish...which looks a lot "richer in tone" than a black line ever could. So honestly I really like this happy accident ;)

I tried two tags on which I only used Distress inks "broken china", "dusty concord", "chipped sapphire", "vintage photo" (for blending the portraits) and "gathered twigs". 

Using four of these for the wrinkle free distress technique on a piece of white card for creating the background, some of the lighter blues and browns mixed into a shade of turquoise...which I had not thought about but was obvious to happen - and which I really liked... ;)

As most of it was going to be covered up by a lot of layers I decided to use my tag anyway even though turquoise definitely is not just a shade of blue... ;)



 



I finally was able to get the awesome "Dr. Coffin's Apothecary" stamp sheet from Oxford Impressions with a German stamps shop last autumn and the browns reminded me of old labels...so I decided to make apothecary themed tags. 


 On the first tag I accidentally found that the Ranger embossing powder "brown puffs" is exactly the same colour as the kraft paper I used it on - which makes it look even more like real embossing...wow!








  I played around with the gorgeous sewing stamps from Prima and heat embossing with Ranger "rust" and "brown puffs" embossing powders. 

 

Most of the edges of the stamped and cut out images were distressed. Some of the papers I stamped on were first blended with some blue or purple shades of Distress ink and sprinkled with some droplets of water, to give a more aged look to them. 



 

Making two tags at the same time gave me the opportunity to try (and compare) variations of the same technique or colour effect. I guess I will be doing this more often from now on! 


For the two portraits of imaginative "Arthur Coffin" or "Monsieur Routen" I made a copy of two photographs of some of my ancestors. They fit perfectly, don't you think? 



At least they could be doctors as they look very earnest, don't they? 
But most people in old photographs do...maybe because they had to sit still for a couple of minutes to get sharp images....maybe because having a photograph done was a much more important and honouralbe matter in those days than it is now... I often wonder why my ancestors - even the children - looked so dignified when they had their photographs taken...and how it might have been living in their times... with a lot of technical things working much more slowly (or not even invented then). 













 Have you already heard that there's a prize to win each month now at Our Creative Corner?














 All you have to do is enter our challenge with a make that follows all the challenge criteria and our general rules... maybe you will make our winner, Top3 or even the prize win?! Join in and use blues, browns and purple/plum only!




 




 


This month our generous prize sponsor is Nicecrane Designs! 

http://nicecranedesigns.com/






See you there!




Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia xx

10 comments:

  1. Wow das ist ja fantastisch!!!! Ein absolut genial gestalteter Tag - die Aufgabe reizt mich. Mal sehen ob ich die Zeit finde und meine Muse mitmacht ;-) LG Dagmar

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  2. unglaublich schön sind Deine Tags Claudia!

    Himmlisch!
    schönes Wochenend!!!

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  3. Stunning tags, both of them! The backgrounds themselves look so beautiful already and I absolutely adore how you have layered up the other elements. Both look fantastic!!

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  4. These tags truly typify the art of creating vintage pieces. You've got them looking like they've been hidden away in a Victorian botanists draw for 100 years! Love the layering, the textures from the embossing and the fact that you have even gone to the trouble of colouring the staples. Wonderful Claudia! Jenny x

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  5. Wirklich total schöne Tags, die sehen fantastisch aus...KLASSE!

    LG Marion

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  6. Such brilliant layers of colour and stamping - these are exquisite, Claudia. I love the images used, and those fabulous OI stamps. The embossing on the kraft looks amazing, as you say - and I love that you've worked with a pair of tags - the eye travels back and forth so happily, comparing and contrasting. I love pairs of tags!! Simply beautiful work.
    Alison xx

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  7. Soooo viele Details! Man kann sich gar nicht sattsehen an Deinen Werken! Vielen Dank für die genaue Beschreibung.
    Ich denke die Ernsthaftigkeit auf früheren Fotos kommt sicher daher, weil es etwas Besonderes und Kostbares war ein Foto anfertigen zu lassen. Ich mag Deine Gedanken zu Deinen Projekten.
    Die Challenge werde ich mir jetzt mal anschauen...
    Alles Liebe, Manuela

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  8. Wonderful job on the color challenge, Claudia! I love vintage labels and the way you have stamped and layered yours is sensational. And how cool that you used copies of your ancestors' photos which brings such an authentic touch to the project! The special embossing is a great feature too.

    Hope you have a wonderful skiing holiday!

    Hugs,
    Linda

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  9. Well I think it has all been said! Just a word from me - STUNNING! Hugs, Anne x

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  10. Wow!!! I love your work Claudia and these two are no exception! The stamping and layering is just beautiful and I love your discovery with the embossing powder.
    I hope your skiing has gone really well - lucky thing!
    Hugs, Julia xxx

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