CSI case file #60: Winter walk

Happy Saturday morning! And of course a new CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration case file, and a gorgeous one it is:

My layout:

From the evidence items I used: hearts, birds, white background, something glossy, icing (snow on the berries), and from the testimony, I was inspired by 'sweet' and several words on the Valentine's Day word list that Debbi linked to the case file. I had a different layout in mind first, using one of my parents' wedding photos, but when I looked for it, I came upon this photo of them, me and our dog out on a winter walk. It worked so well with the colours and I was immediately inspired to use it instead.

I used a 12x12 sheet of Specialty Stamping paper for the layout and built up a scene with stamps and ink, extending the landscape in the photo. I used mainly Stampscapes stamps, as well as the wonderful Snow Bird stamp from Stampendous, that arrived the same day in a parcel from my stamping friend Jan. First, the branches, fences and little birds were clear embossed. I stamped the winter trees and the Snow Bird with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. After the ink dried, I sponged dye inks on the scene, starting with the lightest yellow (Adirondack Lemonade) and gradually adding a darker yellow (Scattered Straw) and browns (Gathered Twigs and Vintage Photo). I left much of the paper white, but sponged some brown ink behind the fence, to make it stand out more.

The bird was coloured with the same inks, using craft nibs and a Colorbox Stylus tool. The red ink is Barn Door.

Close-up of the clear embossed branches and birds. The embossing resists the ink.

Before stamping the winter trees, I wiped off the bottom of the trunks with a tissue, to make it look like they are standing in the snow. I also die cut four snowflakes from a scrap of Specialty Stamping Paper. One of the snowflakes cover up an ink smear.

Three hearts were die cut from shrink plastic using the new Heart Bag die from Sizzix (Eileen Hull). I love the shape of the heart, but needed it to be smaller. A hole was punched in each heart and the hearts were stamped with three different bird stamps and coloured with alcohol inks at the back (Red Pepper and Currant). The middle one got a bit too dark, the colour intensifies when you shrink the pieces. After shrinking them, I gave them a coat of Glossy Accents.

The Snow Bird again, but in a much smaller version. The Glossy Accents gives a really nice finishing touch to shrink plastic pieces.

The title was die cut with the Inside Out die, from red Core'dinations paper and the second word was stamped with Gathered Twigs. The journaling is on the back of the layout and I just wrote about how much I like this sweet photo and about my parents, their first year with me, the dog, the pram, etc.

Thank you for the visit! Have a fun weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampscapes: Prickly Branches 272G, Three Bare Trees 269G, Old Barn Fence (right) 336D, Old Barn Fence (left) 337D, Eagle Sm. 339A, Eagle Soaring Sm. 340A, Hanging Branch 355G, Snowy Rocks Sm. 365A; Stampendous Snow Bird, Bluebird Branch; Hero Arts Wise Bird H5719, Printer's Lowercase
Dies: Sizzix: Heart Bag, Inside Out Sizzlits, Mini Snowflakes
Ink: Distress Ink: Scattered Straw, Gathered Twigs, Vintage Photo, Barn Door; Adirondack Lemonade; Stazon Jet Black
Alcohol ink: Adirondack Red Pepper, Currant
Embossing powder: Ranger clear
Surfaces: Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper, Shrink Plastic; Core'dinations Color-Core cardstock
Adhesive: Glossy Accents