Work Out Wednesday :: Greenwich Park

Really, it's Wednesday already?  Even though I totally lost track of when it was last Wednesday, this one has hit me too soon!  Still, no excuse to stop working out!  I promised the top banana that I would make up for my missed week with something a little extra, so I hope you're ready to run a few extra miles on the treadmill with Greenwich Park and vintage papers.

While we were selling goodies at Alexandra Palace, we were also making ATCs to trade and give away with other crafty girls in attendance.  This card was our most popular, and it could also work on a page or as a gift tag. I'm already cheating in step one, as I used the woodgrain stamp from Backgrounds to make the grass for the scene, but you'll forgive me, won't you?  Then stamp the Greenwich Park tree on a page from an old book and cut him out.  (The banana queen thinks I am slightly odd for giving the things I stamp genders, but I'm still going with it.  Now my plan is to secretly get you to do it too, of course.)

To colour the tree, wrap a baby wipe around your finger and lightly tap on an ink pad, then swirl the colour onto the paper.  I love this with the tree as you can pick up some of the brown from the tree outline and blend it just the slightest bit around the edges.

Quite a few people have asked why there are two birds, two hedgehogs and two deer in this set of stamps (and the real answer is because there is no such thing as too many hedgehogs) and that's really because the solid shape is the colour for the body and the outline goes over the top -- though you can use either separately too.  For this one, I stamped the solid bird in light blue and cut him out.  Cut his feet right off!  But he'll be okay...

Because once he is stuck to the card, you can stamp the outline bird right over the top and he'll have legs again!  I love the combination of solid and outline with clear stamps because it's so much easier than it used to be with wooden blocks and gizmos to make things line up, but also because it's forgiving.  I like it when the outline is ever so slightly out of place. 

And yes, you can add an ATC into a layout!

The vintage papers make everything look lovely in a snap, because the natural fading of the paper is pretty even on its own.  I collect my old books from the discard box at the library and at a second-hand store that discounts anything with a broken spine -- so my favourite finds are the ones that already so broken that I don't feel bad ripping out the pages.  And here's a deer outline all on its own instead of with his shadow.  Try both the outlines and the shadows on patterned papers for a different look if you love a bit of busy detail.

And to finish our workout, we go 12x12!  More book paper, plus Narratives paper mixed with Jenni Bowlin paper and cards.  I quite like the giant butterfly with the tiny tree!  And one of my favourite alphabets, Pharmacy.  And there's something about the old book pages with the butterfly that reminds me of the library at the British Museum, with all the displays of insects and animals.  Hmmm...perhaps there's a whole series of stamps in this London Landmarks idea?!  I'll try to skip the dead bug display when it comes to stamp form though.

Don't forget to let us know when you've been using Banana Frog stamps this week!

Love and glitter,
Shimelle.~*

 

Comments

[Amy Tangerine]

okay, i must have those stamps! they are gorgeous!

[Camilla Floweret]

Beautiful stuff you have created, I also have very guilty feelings when I rip out pages from books...they need to be thrifted and shabby from the begining so I even dare to think about it...

[grungedandy]

love this set but then i'm bias living near greenwich and all I like to use the small buttons from the sewing kit in the tree to make button leaves! LoL I'm so loving this work out wednesday such fun seeya hugya *G*