December at CSI

Hello lovely scrappers!

I'm still here and have been diligently creating... although not much that I'm able to show just yet unfortunately!  I'll be able to announce some big news soon ... well, big for me anyway!  :)

It's December over at CSI:Colour, Stories and Inspiration too and I've been lucky to have been invited to act as a Special Deputy for the December challenges... thanks to this entry for a special case file challenge back in October.

Brilliant challenges and fantastic Case Files, CSI is a really fun site, and this month is no exception.

This is my first monthly challenge layout:

|one day|

I just ADORE this Case File, the prompt pic and colour scheme in particular:

... and here are some close-ups:

Like any good detective would know, solving a case is all about the background work, so here's a quick little step-by-step on how I put mine together:

 Firstly, I adhered some Tim Holtz 'Melange' Tissue Wrap across the top of a piece of white cardstock with modge podge.  Let dry before coating with gesso.

Tear the top section off a second piece of white cardstock that has been liberally coated with gesso.  Layer on top of the first piece of cardstock.  Randomly stamp partial images with a script stamp in black ink.

Take a chunk of seasponge and dab texture paste onto the top page in your desired pattern and allow to dry.  Apply colour mists or watercolours over the texture paste and when dry, swipe with gesso to highlight the textured pattern.

OK, so here is my casework...

The Scene:

LOVED.  IT.  This colour scheme is just so striking that I immediately fell in love with it.  I would not have used the olive green if not prompted to do so and I’m so glad it was included in this palette.  What a gorgeous non-traditional Christmas scene.

The Evidence:

Numbers - I used numbers with the Prima Mecahnicals Vintage Trinkets.  Something about numbers just resonates with me and I love using them on layouts.

Silver Accents – Silver galore on this page!  The graphite Glimmermist has the silver mica fleck and I have used that extensively in a watercolour application to shade the upper section and border.  I also dabbed the ‘christmas baubles’  (gems) with silver acrylic paint, in addition to swiping it across several other accents and around the border just as a highlight.  There’s also silver in the metal chains, the metal number 2 and sprays of gems on each side of the photo.

Something Dangling – My baubles of course.  J

Something Shiny – All my metals accents and swipes of silver paint.

Circles – Everpresent on my layouts, I’ve included circles in the Vintage Trinket number 1 and gears.

Christmas Holiday Accents – baubles!

Twigs – I really loved the twigs in the inspo pic, so used a snow scene in the picture with lots of bare twigs in it.  I also enjoyed playing with the patterns in the texture paste and highlighting them with gesso to bring them forward.  I think the effect is a bit twig-like too.

Something Transparent -  Vintage Trinkets ‘Us’ Lightbulb

Ovals – I think my baubles (which are really just glass pebbles) are somewhere between circles and ovals, so I must have both bases covered there! 

Testimony:

I journaled about the holidays in a sense as it documents a kind of holiday dream I have, to experience a white Christmas again... but this time with my hubby and kids.  It’s been a long time since I lived in the UK with my family for 3 years as a child.  I also used cursive text in the title and in the script background stamp and used the word ‘family’ in my journaling.  

Do pop over and have a look at what the full team of designers and guest designers have prepared for you this week.  It's AMAZING!

Thanks for dropping by, and stay tuned for more December challenges.  :)

Cheers,

Jules
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