{heart} 2 Travel With You

I loved the colors for this CSI case! The clouds, transportation, architectural and travel themes were perfect for these photos from the Golden Gate Bridge.

I cut the bridge mask out, of plastic, on my Silhouette and added red paint with my brayer, then stamped it onto my background that I made with watercolors and stamped waves. I inked some birds through a stencil and added die cut clouds. I used a couple of word cut files from The Cut Shoppe, breaking up the phrases to just get the ones I wanted. All that was left was to add some fun gears and stamp the "with" on my photo.

Evidence used: transportation, architectural accents, clouds, cogs, wet medium, and stripes.

Testimony documenting getting around on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Fairy Forest

Let's be honest, when I saw the color scheme and the inspiration photo for this collaboration case at CSI, I had NO idea what to do with it! Looking at the photo, I thought of fairytales which reminded me of this photo I took whilst hiking in the Redwoods. I remember editing photos when we got home and my husband telling me that it didn't look real. It really didn't, and that was the unedited photo! I added an action that accentuated the fairytale look even more and it made it into a really cool photo, so I decided to go with it. You would just expect to run into fairies here!

One of the evidence prompts was to use flowers and I had recently obtained this flower cut from The Cut Shoppe and thought cutting them out really big would just add to the unreal look. I cut them in white and used watercolor to fill them in. I then cut some large clouds and painted them too. Some watercolor splatters just finished off the background. I had picked up a bunch of metal charms at a gem fair and hung 3 of them from this little clip. I love the fancy leaves. All that was left was to cut a title and add the painted wooden butterfly. Turned out to be a really simple layout, but fills the page.

Evidence used: flowers, clouds, paint, metal, wood

Testimony is about a fairytale place.

Your Eyes

A new month of CSI cases! I really loved how this one turned out. The photo is from a recent trip to the coast. I looked over at my husband and the reflection in his glasses was just really cool. It took a bit to get the photo just right, but I got it. Made me think of how he thinks of things so differently from me, especially about me.

I flipped the sketch so the photos were at top and replaced the sheets of paper with grungy crackle paste. I'm told it looks like Africa, but I didn't have a shape in mind when I did it. The crackle paste is really cool and I love the way the ink makes the cracks even more dramatic. The rest of the background was made by spraying ink and spritzing with water to give that watery look. I then stamped some random background stamps in the background. I used my new nautical stamps, from Tim Holtz to make some embellishments. I love how the metal boat wheel and prop fit in so nicely. I used burlap for my matte to create texture and because it's a bit manly. Gears and coins hint to buried treasure. A little washi tape and some twine finished the piece off.

Evidence used: fabric, washi tape, bottle, watercolor

Testimony is a poem I wrote, framed in the bottle

You look at me
I see the sea
You see the world
Me, as a pearl
Look in your eyes
My spirit rise