"Capture the Moment" by Melissa Struhs

Morning Everyone! How quickly the end of the month approaches and sometimes a quick interpretation of a sketch can help you pull a layout together fast. Here's my take on the challenge and step by step tutorial.

With the January Colour Blast Creative Corner Challenge this month we had an excuse to pull out the black cardstock as a base and make our favourite products really shine. There are still a few days to get your entry in if you are creating up a storm this weekend...take this sketch and make your own adjustment. It can be all mixed media in the place of where patterned paper looks like it goes, arrows can become a stencilled flower, circles could become a cluster of stamped and embossed images. Let creativity take over and see where it leads...

My inspiration began with a 12 x 12 stencil, the long drape of the light bulb drapes were exactly what I envisioned to bridge the gap between the two clusters in the challenge sketch. For intricate stencils, I will grab a small piece of washi tape to secure it to my desk or non stick craft, allowing me to concentrate on achieving the best finish possible. Firstly, I began with Steel Colour Paste to give the illumination look for the lights.

I then inked a chipboard title and vintage looking bulbs, 

added a heavy coat of Singin' the Blues Colour Embossing Powder to them. I always just tip the excess powder off, never tap the chipboard. It gives an all over full and glossy, metallic finish after they have been heat set.

And to add another colour, I repeated the same but this time with Just Blue Colour Embossing Powder over a very wet navy ink.

Sometimes, I find that pressing the inked piece face down in the Colour Embossing powder can also be a great way of achieving the same effect without having to shake or sprinkle it over the embellishments.

I wanted to overlap and layer a lot of these individually coloured pieces to create some real pop against the black cardstock and to compliment the tones of colours in the graffiti style photographs on my layout.

To create a more illuminated feel, I dipped a long bristled brush in Singin' the Blues and Just Blue Colour Shimmer Spray and splattered it around the matching bulb colours.

See if you can grab a few creative hours and take the challenge this month. I love seeing how you all grab an idea and run with it.

Till next time,

Mel.