Colouring fun with Hero Arts Digi Download

Presenting my latest layout as a design team member for a2z scrapbooking using digital stamps from Hero Arts.  This is my 2nd foray into the use of digital stamps on a hybrid layout and I must say, I do love them using a bit.  While using them in this way requires extra work, colouring and cutting out, I like it as it just makes another dimension of work to add to the layout.

So, the challenge at a2z scrapbooking this month is Bright and Beautiful, gorgeous theme when you think about it, so many options.  I turned to Hero Arts Instant Download Poetic Petals Digital Stamps PT004 as the flowers are the perfect theme.  I had lots of painful hand fun colouring them in using my chameleon markers and pencils.  

I started with a blank canvas and did some stencilling with embossing paste, which I really can hardly be seen now, but I did have a different layout in mind initially.  I intended to use an array of Lindy's Magical Shakers anyway to create a colourful background, so having some texture on the page works well as the shakers seem to like to have something to mix into.  I also clear gessoed the page, not just to stop the paper from bending, but also to help the magicals stay on the page without running too easily.  As you will see below, it worked perfectly.  I do love the way they go from zero to hero in a matter of a few water sprays.  Way cool.

The background looked so amazing it was a bit of a shame to cover it up, but I had all the amazing coloured flowers to use and use them I most certainly did.  I laid them around the photo area so they looked like a bouquet with the picture coming out of it.  The picture may well need to be black and white so that it stands out amongst all the colour.  Most of the flowers sit flat, but some are raised up slightly off the page, the photo area is raised on about 3 pieces of cardboard as I like height in my designs and at this stage it was pretty flat.  Earlier in the week some dies I had purchased on ebay for all of $3 arrived and so of course, they had to be used.  The half doily type one I like very much and so I cut these out of thin chipboard, I then coloured them in using wax pastes, gave them a little snip in the middle so that I could bring it together to curl it and give the layout some much needed height.

On goes some ephemera and flowers, I silver embossed the frame around the photo area and used another die to make some seed stems to go in with the photos, also painted with wax pastes.  A little bit of bling went on and all finished.  Just such a bright and beautiful layout and totally on theme.