Day one: Decided to just play with the new Speckled Egg Distress Ink. I smushed the ink pad on my glass mat and first pressed my white card stock into it, but then just used my watercolor brush to add more color in certain spots. Next, I pulled out "A Faithful Letter" background stamp and inked up parts of it and pressed the blotted card stock on there. This allowed the script to be in spots and give it a more distressed look.
Day two: Let's add layers. At this point, I wanted to give it a little more of a grunge look. Using the Tim Holtz Bubble Layering stencil, I added Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide on two of the corners. I liked it, but wanted more dimension. Using the same stencil over the same spots, I added Gina K Iridescent Glitter Glitz over the oxide ink and let it dry overnight.
Day 3: Back to basics with Copic coloring. I just wanted to color on this day so I stamped out the beautiful girl from the February 2021 Kit of the Month: A Beautiful Mindset. I wanted to color her dress with a similar color to Speckled Egg. I was hoping to get more of a grungy orange for the umbrella, but it got a little dark, but hey... it's art. It's all good. Once I was done coloring, I fussy cut her out.
Day 4: Time to finish up. Now that the Glitter Glitz is dry, I brought in some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and smushed it onto parts of the background. Once that was dry, I stamped a sentiment that happened to be in this same KOM, but hit home (and I'll explain in a bit). I trimmed a brown piece of card stock and layered it under the mixed media background using foam tape. I adhered the background and then added this pretty lady, again, using foam tape. Last, I adhered it all to the card base and it's done.
As I stamped this sentiment, I heard back from my best friend who's father is struggling with Covid in the hospital. I grew up with there family and her family always welcomed me like one of their own. So her heartache became mine and I just broke down. I was heartbroken that I couldn't hug her and hold her hand while she navigates through this. We can't visit her father to help him through this. All we can do is pray. All we can do is listen. And this story is just one of so many. So this sentiment, it was a welcomed reminder to...
Never stop believing in HOPE because MIRACLES happen every day.
Let's hope for many miracles around this world.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you too can find inspiration and peace in crafting.
Jules