Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Inspiration Challenge #38: Orchard Toscana dinnerware


For this week's challenge I chose this lovely Orchard Toscana dinnerware set from Rosanna. The colors are a combination I wouldn't normally go for, so I thought I'd challenge myself today!

I felt like doing some watercoloring, which I really haven't been turning to lately. I used a Hero Arts Italian background stamp and a pear stamp from Artful Stamper - the closest I have to a lemon! For colors I chose whisper white, not quite navy, so saffron, and kiwi kiss, plus Stazon Midnight Blue for the stamping.


I first stamped the background on watercolor paper. Next I stamped the pear twice, masking as needed. I colored the darker areas of the pears with a more mustard watercolor crayon, then filled in the rest with so saffron watercolor crayon and blended the colors with my Aqua Painter. For the stems and leaves I used kiwi kiss reinker. I cut the panel with Nestabilities and mounted on a not quite navy scalloped layer.

The background uses a panel from the Ski Slope designer paper in the mini catalog - I don't think this print looks too Christmasy to use by itself and it's really pretty. I found a scrap of dot saffron paper from an old scrapbook kit - I liked this because it would be plain enough to stamp on for the sentiment. I used the "best wishes" stamp from Short & Sweet.

For mounting I cut another large Nesties scalloped rectangle and then cut one side off to use as the border on the saffron paper. (I saw this trick on one of Roxie's samples for today's sketch challenge.) I adhered the pears with foam tape and then thought it didn't quite look finished. So I added a bit of copper hardware and blue bayou ribbon. I struggled with what ribbon to use with these colors - I think the blue bayou was the best option I had, and it's really a pretty close match!

Come play along this week - the keyword for uploading to SCS is DSIC38, and as always, leave a link here so everyone can see. Thanks for stopping by today!

No comments: