To Grandma's House...

I finally got my recent order from Stamping Bella this week. I was doing the happy dance because there were lots of goodies from the last release in there I was itching to get my hands on.



First to catch some ink is a Mo Manning image released in rubbah - Prince Edward Island. I loved the free flowing, caught in the moment feeling of this image. It reminded me of carefree childhood visits to Grandma's house or if any of you have visited Macinac Island and stayed at the Grand Hotel this little girl would feel right at home. I imagined this in muted shades not bright ones with a richly colored bag. I had so much fun coloring the bag first and then using the tone from the colors there to guide me on the dress, hat and hair. To color this I used copics of course, for the vibrant shades. Once you start playing with colors and mixing them you too will catch the bug. The more and more I use mine, the more thrilled I am with them.

For anyone stopping by for the first time, you'll find that I like to use Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I'm impatient and like to start coloring right away so that's why the combination works so well for me. I then shaded the image with prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. I first used Slate Grey and then added Blue Lake. This way I got muted blues instead of bright blue which I thought would look nicer with the deeper shades of greens and browns. I shaded the ground with French Grey 50% and 90%.

The bottom tab was cut from a Tim Holtz die first with Bazzil cardstock and then with Basic Grey Capela 6x6 paper. The background design paper is from The Paper Loft which I had never heard of. What caught my eye was not only the colors but the name - Grandmas House, Feather Bed. My family just loves the John Denver song - Grandma's Feather Bed. So now you can understand this posts title.

The tag was hand cut and stamped with a new sentiment I bought from Stamping Bella called Billboardabellas words only. Jodibella used it a few weeks ago and I had never seen it - perhaps because I always look through the images and not the sentiments. But these were neat little phrases that could be added to tags and such. Perfect here. The ribbon was a scrap from my stash. I think I received a gift tied with it and saved it for just this sort of occasion. The string tie came from Lizzies shop and I topped it all with a crystal. I was dying to add some glitter but it just didn't seem to fit the scene. So I pulled out some upholstery tacks and cut the stems off to use as brads. They reminded me of something you would find to adorn the period satchel.

A little stitching with my sewing machine was the finishing touch.

I'll be sharing this with the Mo DT Challenge blog for this weeks entry here. You're task this week is to use the theme "Thank Heaven for Little Girls". Not a hard task with so many wonderful Mo girl images to choose from. Won't you join me and give it a try? You have until Wednesday night before the link closes.

Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by.

Cath