Sunday Stamper week 211 - Weds 27th June

Hi there bloggers!


Wednesdays I don't  (usually) go to work, it's my craft time...all mine....well almost, it usually means catching up with commissions or friends/family cards that I am all behind in making. However, sometimes, you just have to step back and say to yourself, I need some time to create projects that I really want to make...get a bit mucky with the ink..and boy have I got inky today on two projects, the second of which will be on here in the next few days.


Sunday Stampers week 211 You gotta pick a pocket or two


Today's project is a picture that I made for Hel's Sheridan's Sunday Stampers challenge. I love the themes Hels' comes up with because they always push me and make me think out of the box. I will quite happily spend all the time I need to create a card, label, picture...


So where do I start with this week's theme, which is a project with a pocket? Well I can tell you, it didn't start out anything like it finished! It was going to be  a jeans pocket with a red spotted handkerchief in it. I even had the ink ready to create faux denim, so please don't ask me how it ended up being a picture collage of Venice!


It may be because I'm missing the place....I count myself a very lucky girl for marrying into a Venetian family. Tom's dad is from Venice and whilst he and Tom's mum live here, all Tom's unclogs and their families are spread around the Veneto, so I have been visiting this wonderful city more years than I care to remember. We were last there in September and we may not get there this year, so something obviously made me think about it this morning.

 The Picture

Where do I begin? Well I started with some kraft card, which using Cosmic Shimmer clear glue, I stuck to some thick cardboard. I then stamped randomly all over it using the Wendy Vecchi Heart Stamp from Studio 490 and a very useful script stamp from Sam Poole's Vintage stamp set.


On a lighter (buff) piece of card I stamped 'Venice' which is in a Debbi Moore Venetian stamp set; Ciao Bella from an old wooden stamp I had in my stamp box and some little flowers from Majestix Clematis Garden. For all the stamping so far I have been using Vintage Photo distress ink and I also distressed the edges using this.


I then took a piece of oatmeal coloured card, from the card that Sue Wilson brings to us and tore it all around the edge, but I left this clean as I think it needed a layer where there was no distressing. I made the pocket with the kraft card and stamped all over it in Vintage Photo, again using the script stamp and then over that, I faintly stamped a Gondola from the Debbi Moore set.


With this picture I wanted to depict not just a vintage Venice, but more my Venice...I'll explain: yes we still pay homage to the usual tourist places when we visit, but being 'frequent' visitors, we head for the hidden cafes or check out the art..there is always art to seek out! So I wanted to keep the Venetian icons to a minimum, or distort them. Despite the alleys and mystique, during Carnevale and the summer, Venice is a bright, somewhat gaudy place, so I wanted to keep colour to a minimum and make it mean something.


The photos used in the project were all taken by me, just last year, but I 'vintaged' them to make them look old. The photos in sepia tones with writing on are all from one of my very favourite places in Venice, The Peggy Guggenheim Collection. I simply love this Gallery. Two of the photos are neon art and the third says "amore, pace, goia X' (love, peace, happiness), which is the message Tom and I added to  Yoko Ono's Wish Tree in the garden.


The label is a basic luggage label, which I coloured with Vintage Photo and stamped all over with the script stamp. I also distressed  the label string. The only bright colours are a photo of a plaque on the wall next to a multicoloured door on the very colourful island of Burano. The tag can be removed to read the translation, which is:


'Colour is like Music, it uses a shorter way to come to our senses, awake out emotions'


I then added one final splash of colour associated with Venice, Murano Glass beads...pretty, but  sadly no longer guaranteed to have been made on the island of Murano or anywhere else in Venice.

I tied some organza ribbon across the pocket, embellished with some gold coloured beads, just to signify the opulence of 'La Serrenissima' when she was in her prime. Finally I felt I needed a mask. It could have been one of the bright ones we see in the shops, but I wanted to keep it simple. I made this one with some art clay and a mould and coloured it with bronze metallic acrylic paint.

Casa Bepi, Burano..a hidden treasure!

Venetian masks in shop window

Thanks for stopping by...sorry it was such a long blog today!

Carole X

This is my project for Sunday Stampers challenge week 211

http://pinkleart.blogspot.co.uk/

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