Dragonflies and ink blending

There was only one thing to play with for today's post - Distress Oxides!  I've had the first two sets since they came out and used them so much that I decided we really needed to stock them in store as all the DT love them too.  For me they make the tricky art of ink blending a breeze - they really do go on so well that I have dreams of finally achieving something like the Laura Bassen backgrounds I always drool over!

For today I just went with something bold and beautiful using the stunning Hero Arts Dragonfly Fancy Die.



I blended the background directly onto my 6x4 card front (masking the back off to avoid getting it inky) starting with the darker shade blueprint sketch in the middle and blending that into mermaid lagoon at the edges.  I used the splatter brush just with water to get the oxide splatters.  I do think you can get more control with the brush than a spray and you can get bigger splatters with this than a normal paint brush as well as tiny dots.  I was trying to make it look like the dragonfly was skimming the top of the water as they do when laying their eggs.

For the dragonfly itself I used squeezed lemonade, fossilised amber and twisted citron and loosely blended them on the paper in the area where I wanted the colour to end up before die cutting.  A green strip for the body, lemonade for the wings and a little amber to blend where the two join.


Once it was die cut I used the waste as a template on a sheet of acetate and filled the area with glossy accents before sticking in the die cut and then sprinkling over Prisma Glitter from Lawn Fawn to get that transparent look to the wings.


I finished with a simple Happy Birthday sentiment from Occasional Labels by Mama Elephant.  I stamped it in black over a scrap of card with the lemonade distress oxide on it to tie it into the dragonfly.  Both of which were popped up on foam pads (just under the body on the dragonfly to show off the wings)







NEWS FROM THE STORE

We are expecting the following in store this week, but they may be delayed by the bank holiday:

AlteNew March stamp and die release
MFT release
Waffle Flower Crafts release

Our customer VIP group on Facebook has proved really popular and people are already making lots of connections.  Do come on over and join us, but please note it is for customers only so you have to have ordered from Seven Hills Crafts to be allowed in (MTDS orders are not valid).

Enjoy the rest of your Easter weekend and hats off to those of you who are working through it.

Tara
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