"Blinged up Banner" by Melissa Struhs

Morning again Bloggers! 

As I sit to type, the cooler Queensland weather has started and there is nothing more soothing to me that being able to loose myself in my workroom, all rugged up while scrapping. Here's hoping I can find time again this weekend too.

Trying to capture a picture of my elusive teen happily smiling with anyone is harder than I imagined but I did score just this one on Mother's Day. What I love is the images that Messenger will add to your pics now and it had such a pretty floral element to it. That is where I drew my inspiration from for this design.

I began with a beaded garland / String of lights with the hanging mason jars chipboard piece. It was such a special piece that I had been saving it for 2 years in search of just the right photo. To create the ambient lighting look, Bling was certainly going to achieve it.

The Colour Shimmer Spray was spritzed quite heavily over the mason jar elements,

then using a gold metallic ink across the beaded string, the matching Colour Embossing Powder was sprinkled and heat set just once.  

The lovely dimpled texture added some real detail to the chipboard.

I positioned it over some of my patterned paper and transparencies to see how the colours looked and knew it was time to reach for a bold splash of colour to add to the detail on the jars

The layered look of the laser cut chipboard set included bonus heart shapes...

and really needed something special for the detail. The brand new Blush and Punch Colour Embossing Powders are quite close in colour and were ideal for blending together.

Two coats of Blush were embossed over a pink ink

and heat set. While the embossing powder was still hot, a pinch of Punch Colour Embossing Powder was lightly added. Simply apply enough heat for it to melt and

and then drag a toothpick or similar tool through the melted medium to swirl or marble the colours together.  If it starts to harden, just reheat until you achieve the look you are after.

As pretty as it looked, I added another layer to the hearts by inking a script stamp with Black Staz on ink.

Allowing plenty of time for it to dry without smudging it.

Here are the hearts layered with the hanging mason jars, they look really whimsical.

Most Colour Blast fans will admit that you can never use too much Bling on your layouts, so I took the time to go back and splash some droplets around the previous elements for added sparkle.

So why not reach for the paste as well??? You may as well use all of the matching products...

and added some Bling Colour Paste through  tiny star stencil. 

These were added to my background cardstock, over photo's, transparencies and chipboard. It really added a more intense shimmer with a thick layer of the paste.

It's not very often I have girly photo's to work with so when the opportunity presents itself, I like to go all out and  make something just for me. I think this layout might take pride of place in my workspace for quite a while, instead of just adding it to the pile.

Have a crafty weekend,

Mel.