Odile - Dance to Your Own Music

Let's see if I can recall the plot of the lovely ballet, Swan Lake. Odile is the daughter of an evil sorcerer who has cast a spell on a beautiful princess, Odette, and her companions cursing them to be swans by day and women by night. A handsome prince, who likes to hunt swans (of course) gets a new cross bow for his birthday and then, that night while hunting, falls in love with Odette when she is in her woman form. The sorcerer says the curse can be lifted if the play boy Prince falls in love with Odette and only Odette. Odile looks a lot like Odette (of course), and tricks the prince into thinking she is Odette. Odile is the black swan to Oddete's white. Watching the ballet on Youtube while writing this post.. yeah I probably remembered a few things wrong *laugh*

Anyway, the card's initial inspiration was due to my short hand note about the KKS challenge. I wrote down 'black' and not 'use black' so was thinking of a black on black card and then it popped in my head, oh how lovely the ballerina would look in black like Odile.

I love dance and have watched recorded performances of  Swan Lake as well as other ballets. I will admit, it can be hard to follow their plots without reading in in the programme but the dancing can be incredible and the music divine. Also, the athleticism of dancers amazes me. Side note: never look at a professional ballerina's feet if want want to keep the illusion of the eternal effortless beauty of ballet, dancing en pointe is brutal.

Challenges

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps: Use Black
Try It On Tuesday: 2 Colour (black and grey)
Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: Inspired By Music
Addicted to Stamps and More: Make Your Mark
Crafting From the Heart: Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door: Anything Goes

Supplies

InLinkz.com

Putting It Together

I started Odile when I was at a crop socialising with two friends I have met cropping (*waves to Betty and Rose*, shout out to Precious Memories in Langley, BC).  Going to a free crop at a scrapbooking store rarely is.. free *laugh* I was good, I only got a few sheets of paper (but but but it's Graphics 45!) and some glitter and sequins. Only *laugh*

I painted/coloured Odile while I was at the crop. Knowing I was going to fussy cut her, I made notes of the inks I used along the bottom. I used Memento Desert Sand to stamp her so I could do her in the "no lines" technique. I love how some of the Distress Inks interact with the Desert Sand. In the skirt, the line shading is one such interaction.

Back at home and too keyed up to sleep and being able to stay up late since it was a Friday night, I decided to continue on the card. I fussy cut Odile. I coloured the cut edges with the applicable colours. Colouring the cut edges not only finishes them off but can also add an additional shading dimension, especially with no lines technique. I added Wink of Stella to the extended part of her skirt and the roses in her hair to give them sparkle without it being over powering.

I knew I wanted to do a black on back background for her but was still trying to work that out in my head when I found an absolutely gorgeous 12" x 12" filled with deep red roses (yes, of course I bought a sheet to use another day).

I had a thought to do embossed roses and wondered how the Wow White Pearl would look on the black. It's a translucent pearl which shows as almost a silver. I did a test on a scrap of thepaper I wanted to use. The pearl as the whole rose didn't look right. The clear only full rose didn't grab me either. But, oh! the line impression in the pearl on the filled in rose in clear looks so right. And this is how I create extra work for myself while making stuff *laugh* This is also when I thought about doing a double matting and thought about a velvet (or suede) for the matte. 

To make sure Odile would also look good on the paper, I gave her a test, too.

Using the Misti, I stamped the large roses in Versamark and then embossed them in clear powder. I did a few at a time until I filled the sheet (cut as 6"x 6" larger than my intended area). I was originally thinking about just doing the outside with roses and leaving the centre empty but changed my mind mid-way. If I had started centre out it might have been easier to get a more even fill. I used a smaller rose to fill an empty space too small for the big rose.

And then the second embossing. Again, I did a few at a time. I was also trying not to hit any area with too much hit to have the embossing sink to far into the paper or burn. To fill a couple small empty spots in the middle, I used the smallest line rose which doesn't have a fill stamp.

I used a die to cut the squares. I decided on just two matting levels to keep more of the rose detail. 

I affixed the bottom two layers directly to the black card base and then used foam mounting tape to pop up the top two layers which were affixed to be one layer. I'm so glad I got that humougous roll of mounting tape. I probably use more than I should at times but I like things to stay put.

And then, easy peasy, the background was done. 

Time to mount Odile. I added tiny bits of mounting tape to her elegantly extended hands and feet to keep them stable when added to the card.

And then added to the rest like a topper on a cake *chuckle*. For this card I carefully lined her up to be en pointe (standing on the tip of her toe) though she could be positioned toe be in a leap, something I will do on a later day. It was while looking at my picture of the painted image before fussy cutting that I realised that.

I added three frosted enamel dots to the lower left corner where one of the rose's line embossing didn't turn out as well. I thought I had grey pearls but I think my memory of such is from jewelry making stuff, not scrapbooking. Half pearls would work, not rounds.

For the inside, I used the same die set and cut a piece of grey linen texture paper. It can be frightfully difficult to write a personal sentiment on black, so added a more pen friendly matting helps. I stamped the sentiment in black toward the top to give room for a personal sentiment. The inside was missing something, so I fussy cut my test double embossed rose and added it.