Online Crop with Shimelle - Challenge 3

Last night I found the energy to scrap and managed to complete TWO more challenges from over at Shimelle's.  It has been an exhausting week but I have been aching to do this challenge ever since it was posted.  Challenge 3 was all about mixing styles.

I knew right away which style I admire and would like to try to incorporate in my own :-)  I just love Amy from Sparkling Gnome Studios.  If you are reading this Amy please don't be embarrassed by what I am about to say :-)  I find Amy's work to be unique and refreshing, where every page carries with it a little piece of her heart.  I know there are others out there who do pages that have similar elements, but in my opinion they often lack soul ... they are designed just for designs sake.  I am inspired when I read Amy's blog.  I have copied a few of her latest layouts so that you can get a feel for what I mean and if I have done it right, clicking on each photo will take you to the full post.

  

Do you see what I am talking about?????  Now I don't presume to say that I can copy or imitate Amy's style but there are elements that I can try to incorporate into my own layout for the challenge. (On a side note if you ever teach a class Amy and I am nearby - I will be there!  With bells on!!!!)  So I grabbed a few supplies that were laying around and got started.

Lets start with this and see how we go ...

I love the layering and the paints and sprays, but my favourite part has to be all the bits and bobs that end up on the page.  That is where I struggled to come up with ideas, but as I was working on my page I reached a point where I looked at it and liked what I saw ... so I stopped!  No sense adding more if I am happy with what it looks like even though it wasn't where I had intended to finish!  So there are bits of Amy and lots of me in the layout below and I love the way it turned out.  I would have loved 'more' but that is not to be.  In real life the page has a bit of sparkle as I sprayed some Mr Huey's 'Shine' in parts (I love that stuff!!!).  I also had a chance to play with my new Tim Holtz markers.  I used them to stamp the starfish onto the canvas and then softened it with some water.  They stamp beautifully! (P.S. the canvas tag was the back of a store tag on a pair of jeans!)

This has been my favourite challenge all the way down to the silly whimsical clouds!  I bought that paper with the intention of cutting out the clouds and I am glad I did :-)

Chipper