Avocado Bath Time

Hi everyone,

Well, I'm still catching my tail from being away for a few days, but it's a lovely sunshiney day here so I feel full of beans ... and I have a pineapple upside-down cake in the oven, so all is right with the world!

Case File #108 over at CSI this week is full of whimsy, soft colours and mixed media inspiration ...


Debbi Tehrani, CSI mastermind, has found this beautiful Scene for us to investigate - from this image, she's taken inspiration for colours, design elements and journaling prompts.  Follow these clues to solve the case -

  • All five colours in the Scheme
  • At least two items from Evidence
  • At least one item from Testimony

Here's how I solved this case, with a sweet photo of my boys taken in 1985, when we had just moved into a new house ...

Despite about thirty attempts and a lovely bright day, I cannot seem to get a good photograph of this page - the colours just won't come out true, they're actually warmer and greener than this, but hey ho never mind ....

I had a lovely time playing creating my mixed media background, but did I follow all the clues? ...
  • Scheme: the colours are all there (honest!)
  • Evidence: mixed media background; flowers; music element
  • Testimony: my journalling is handwritten on strips of artists' paper tape and reads as follows;

"Richard and Tom. New house 1985. Check out that avocado bathroom! Very stylish at the time :)"

Here are some close-ups so you can check for clues ...


The background started out as a sheet of "Yesterday" from the Prima "Life Time" collection and I used some stickers from the same collection. For the title I used Prima White Canvas Alphas.


The stickers were all matted onto scrap card first, so that it was easier to move them around on the page while I decided where to put them! Underneath the little tag sticker here, you can see a little piece of foam dots waste which I've heat embossed.
The "pop bottle flower" I made ages ago - the shapes were cut from a plastic bottle, heated over a candle to soften them, coaxed into shape and then coloured with alcohol ink before being layered together and fastened with a decorative brad - lots of fun! If you want to try, just search for pop bottle flower tutorials on YouTube.


I used up some small scraps of patterned papers to start building up some texture in the background, just cutting and sticking them pretty randomly in the centre of the page, allowing them to overlap each other. A coat of gesso blended them all together ...


 ... and then I had a lovely messy time with mists and inks, allowing them to pool and dribble down the paper. I applied texture paste through a stencil ...


I brushed over some of the stencilled areas with Distress Inks for more emphasis, and added some foam dots embossed with gold embossing powder.

A handful of tangly threads and ribbons from my scrap drawer were adhered to the photo area with Golden Heavy Gel Medium which is brilliant because it seems to stick anything but allows you some movement for a little while and you can build it up to add dimension. Wonderful stuff, must get more.


So, that's how I solved Case File #108 - why don't you have a go? Pop over to CSI for loads of inspiration.

Thanks for popping in today, see you again soon :o)

Comments

Lizzy Hill said…
Fabulous! I would NEVER have the patience to do one of those bottle flowers..but it looks fantastic....& I LOOOVE your 'dribbling'!!! Great page!!!