Lovely Layers!

Dylusions inks: Bubblegum Pink, Cherry Pie, Pure Sunshine

Dylusions stamps: Pin Up Queen, Day of the Heads, Birds on a Wire, Basic Backgrounds, Say it how it is.

A little while ago I was asked to join in with a challenge for Country View Challenges, which is a challenge site open to all crafters whether you like vintage or cute, shabby chic or elegance. In other words you can do whatever you like, which suits me just fine ;-)

This month the theme is 'layers' which is, of course, right up my alley! It was a great excuse to have a play with some of my *new* Dylusions stash, and I took a few photos along the way to show you how I built up my layers.

I began by spraying a large tag with Dylusions inks, and then smooshing it on my craft mat, to both blend the colours AND to create extra inky pools on the mat:

I then blotted the tag, and repeatedly pressed it onto the mat to pick up all of the ink, creating pools of ink and a textured background:

I placed a stencil on the tag and sprayed through with the lightest colour of ink - Pure Sunshine - which removed some of the darker ink to create another subtle layer:

Flicking with water and then blotting, created the final layer of texture with the inks:

I love to add a bit of gesso at this stage as it just lifts it a bit, especially if the colour is getting a little bit dense:

Stencils: Dotted Flowers by Dylusions, Honeycomb by Tim Holtz 

And then I couldn't resist adding just a bit more by stamping a number stamp using Ranger Archival Ink in Vermillion:

The spider web stamp from the Dylusions Day of the Heads set makes a great border:

And who can resist a few splats with acrylic paint?!:

I stamped the bootiliscious body from the Pin Up Queen set and coloured it with Distress Inks (my favourite way to colour an image). I then stamped it again onto a scrap of paper to mask the image, so that I could stamp the letters from Basic Backgrounds onto the body:

By this stage I felt it needed a different colour, so I coloured some vintage text with Calypso Teal by Dylusions, and tore some strips to add to the tag. I also added a few crows:

Touches of teal acrylic paint with an old credit card and a bottle lid helped to tie it all together:

Then it was time to add some quotes. I found this quote in  - wait for it - a vintage building maintenance book haha!! I though it was perfect to add to the skull (although it was probably referring to dry rot in houses or something like that!) :

And then I added one of my favourite quotes. This never fails to make me laugh! Oh yes, just what would we all do if we thought no-one was looking?! 

I mounted the tag onto a super-large black Ranger tag, added a bit of stitching, a bit of random doodling, and a few more bottle lid stamps, and a rusty wire hanging:

And finally a bit of Ranger Stickles glitter to highlight the teeth, and that very bootiliscious you-know-what!

So, if you want to join in with this wonderful challenge of layers, in whatever style suits you, then head over to the Country View Challenge blog. See you there!