shades of gray

Hello my fabulous friends!

Today's project was more of an experiment than anything else...

I generally work with colors, but I wanted to try something a little different and color an image in shades of gray...

I was pleasantly surprised with the end results. 

Note: I was not overly impressed with the Clean Color  Real Brush markers at first... I tried them on water color paper and was under impressed... Then I heard that Bristol paper is the way to go. I tried it, and now LOVE my Real Brush markers! If you are struggling with them, try different papers... even different brand papers will react differently. 

I stamped several of the images from Altenew's Peony Bouquet onto Bristol paper using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers in Dark Gray (095), Gray Brown (094), and Light Gray (091) along with a water brush to color in the image

I wanted to add a subtle shimmer to it, with out altering the coloring, so I pulled out Tim Holtz Frosted Film. This is an adhesive backed transparent film that you can put over things and it kinda gives it the shimmery look of frost on a window pane... it's hard to photograph but beautiful in real life.

Just cut off a piece big enough to cover the image, and peel a corner off the backing.

Adhere it over your colored image, peeling it off the backing as you go.

Burnish it down gently with your fingers, and make sure there are no trapped air bubbles. 

Like I said, it's really hard to photograph the subtle shimmer, but it's there!

I then fussy cut the image. The other great thing about having the frosted film over the image is that because it is plastic, it gives a lot of stability to the paper, so as you are bending it and trying to get your scissors in the various ins and outs, and wherever you have very thin cuts (like stems), your paper won't tear. I love that!

I added a little bit of color with a matt, but stuck to the gray scale for the rest of the card. The sentiment is from Altenew's Oriental Orchid.

Is there something you have been wanting to try? Maybe a color scheme that is outside your comfort zone?  Or a style that you admire but have been unsure about trying?  Go ahead and try! January is a great month to push beyond your past comfort zones. You may not love your results, but you will learn something along the way. :)

Enjoy!

~Kassi