Peacock Carousel - Through the Craftroom Door, Prismacolour pencil, Nuvo Mousse with 3-D embossing

I love vibrant colours. I also love romanticised Victorian fashion and carousels. Thus my choice for this week's inspiration project for Through the Craftroom Door's challenge blog.

This week's sponsor for the Through the Craftroom Door's blog challenge is Lucy Sunshine! The random draw prize is 3 images.

Heather Valentin is a lady who breathed art her entire life. She was drawing as soon as she could hold a crayon. Guided by her father. She found her truest joy in drawing and painting, in a BA in arts. Heather made her way in the world by creating original drawings and installations for various global companies / corporations for advertisement and display purposes.
Heather true love has always been creating her original copyrighted characters and sharing them with her appreciative public. Her beloved characters are recognizable worldwide her signature eyes, and drawing style mostly featuring mismatched clothing and characters from days gone by. Making people smile with her art is Heather's greatest joy.

My project features the Peacock Carousel which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils on Craft with highlights of Gelly Roll pens.

The Kaisercraft wooden frame is covered with paper that's been embellished with Nuvo Mousse and embossed with a Crafter's Companion 3D folder.

Putting It Together

A bit over a week ago I was having printer issues. After I tried a solution to fix it, I ran a test print with this week's digi on a piece of handy but terribly high-quality kraft cardstock. I wasn't sure I wanted to use that for my colouring so I set it on the back of my desk. It sat there, waiting.

I finally decided I was going to practice a bit of colouring with the kraft and, well, it wasn't' just for practice. I liked how it was turning out so I continued

I keep track of the colours I use as I am colouring. This is helpful for later projects. It was this face, her looking out coyly at me that pulled me to continue on.

Purple is one of my favourite colours so I decided to make her dress and hat in purples. I also love the look of purple and aqua which did inform a lot of my colour decisions for this project.

And the list of colour grows... I am starting to really love colouring with Prismacolours on kraft. There is a look about it that's just not there on white. Even with this inexpensive kraft cardstock from Core-dinations, it gets that glow as the colours 'pop'.

I decided to use metallics and white on the peacock carousel mount for all the carousel mounts I've ridden over the years. My favourite carousels are those with all sorts of fantastical creatures. Antique carousels are amazing works of art. It's sad that not many of them have survived intact. I've always wanted to own a carousel mount for myself, preferably one of the old ones preserved from a decommissioned merry-go-round.

I used an amazing number of colours in this piece. It almost felt like I was using every crayon in the box, or rather every pencil in the case.

I fussy cut the image leaving a margin of the kraft.  I also added details with Gelly Roll metallics and a Uniball white for her eye. I'm always amazed at how much life that tiny white gives to the eyes.

I decided to put the image into a frame and looked in my stash for one to fit her roughly 5" x 7" size. This Kaisercrat frame from my stash was a set of 3 intended as a triptych. I already used one of them in another project for which the shape was perfect. I also found a white embossed paper from Stampin' Up fit her perfectly.

I decided I wanted to use an embossing folder to decorate the frame. Since it's wood, I couldn't just run it through the Big Shot with the folder. I decided to use a coated paper to cover the frame instead. I traced the frame on the backside of the paper and drew a margin to my tracing on both the inside and outside.

The lines I drew would be my cut and fold lines.

I used various colours of Nuvo Embellishment Mousse to dab the front of the paper. I layered my dabs and streaks. I used a blender tool to dab the mousse. I used all the mousse colours that I currently have: Cornflower, Pacific Teal, Royal Aubergine, Peony Pink, Spring Green, and my newest acquisition Custard Cream.

Before running the cover through the embossing folder, I scored and folded the margins, trimming the corners and easing the curves with small snips. It's easier to do these adjustments when the paper is completely flat.

Because of its size, I had to run the frame cover through several times while trying to leave as little seaming as possible. I'm glad I have a Big Shot Plus because it has an 8 1/2" wide bed so I could choose the area of the embossing folder to use in a section.

I did a dry fit with the background and image before adhering the cover to the frame.

I used liquid glue, Tombow Mono adhesive, to adhere the frame cover.

I turned the edges with more glue and pressed them in place. If you let the glue go a little tacky before pressing, it stays easier and you can get sharper edges.

After gluing the paper in place, I used a blender tip to add Prima Art Alchemy waxes: Amethyst Magic, Mystic Turquoise, Vintage Gold, and White Gold.

I love the antiquing the waxes gave to the embossing.

I used more liquid glue to put the backing paper in place and to adhere the wooden back, making sure to line up the edges. .

I stacked a (clean) basket of steel rule dies on top of the frame for several minutes to let the glue fully adhere.

And.. the frame all done.

I added foam mounting tape to the back of the image and put it in place. In person it's even more spectacular than the pictures.

Come join us on the Through the Craftroom Door blog challenge for your chance to win 3 images from Lucy Sunshine.

Challenges

More Mixed Media: Pastel/Anything Goes

A Bit More Time to Craft: Anything Goes

Crafting From the Heart: Anything Goes

Always Fun Challenges: Anything Goes

The Sketchy Challenge: Anything Goes

Love to Scrap: Anything Goes