PaperArtsy Christmas Cracker #1 - Sanded Foundations

Apologies for the awful photograph but this was the best of 20! The light was so bad today that the camera just wouldn't focus properly but the flash just washed everything out - really must build myself some sort of photographing box!

I made this card for the challenge over at PaperArtsy to use tinted grunge paste and then sand it back. Well I don't have any grunge paste so I had to use acrylic modelling paste but I think it did the same job. I used some paper from the First Editions New Blooms paper pad and distressed the edges with tea dye, vintage photo and a little bit of dusty concord. Then I stamped the tall flower from JOFY 12 in brown memento ink. I then mixed up my paste using pansy and claret frescos and some green and brown acrylics. I also added some sparkle paste from imagination crafts to see what would happen. I used an imagination crafts stencil and a paintbrush to add the paste and left it to dry.

When it was dry I sanded back the paste which revealed all the sparkle but I really wasn't happy with the rest of the image so I decided to add more stamping. All the stamps are from JOFY 12 except for the sentiment which is a Lin Brown stamp. I painted the flowers with frescos pansy and claret (I thought claret was supposed to be translucent but it didn't stay very translucent here!) and coloured the leaves with a promarker. However, I still wasn't happy with it as the stencilled part just didn't work with the stamps. Finally, I decided to doodle over the top of the paste with a brown promarker in a similar style to the stamps to make it look more cohesive. I'm still not entirely sure about it but I'm a lot happier than I was. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!