I should be working, but stamped instead!

I should be folding pamphlets, and cutting door prize forms right now, but instead chose to finish this project! I am making a series of 4 pictures for each of the children's rooms. This one is for my daughter. She saw me working on it and was so excited that I vowed I would finish it tonight! My idea is to have the four seasons portrayed on her wall with a feminine touch. For my son I plan on doing the 4 seasons but with a more boy take on it. All the pictures are to be made with High Hopes Stamps. This company has amazingly talented artists. The pictures are just what I wanted when I came up with this idea. This picture is my summer representation and is 12 x 12. The background and tree are hand made by me with scraps from my basket. I wanted the colors to be bright and rich. The sky is the same kind of gray/blue you get after a rainstorm. You know that color and light level that make every color look alive. I used this little girl with apples ( I'm calling her Clarabelle) I think her original name is Annie and had her walking from a distant orchard. In the foreground is the sheep field where a small flock is munching on apples from the tree in their pasture. I know, I know, I'm always compelled to come up with a storyline for my scenery's. I just love how this turned out although I don't dare say how many hours I spent on it punching, painting, cutting, pasting and popping! I can't wait to start the Autumn scene with more High hope Stamps which I will unfortunately have to order. I'm planning on a Indian girl scene with a surrounding corn field.

Recipe:

Stamps: High Hope Stamps ( girl and sheep), SU lovely as a tree and Watercolor minis, Lockhart apple,

CS : Various greens, browns and blue from Bazzill ( I have no SU 12x12), Olive and Celery DP

Ink : Memories black ink, Garden Green, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Versamagic Tea Leaves & White, Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip, Caramel, Cocoa

Other : Spica Red, Melon and Clear, SU and Tombow markers, Leaf Punch, Crystal effects, Pop up dots in two thicknesses, glue dots.

I started by sponging clouds with a quick template that I cut out. I then added the treeline in the back, sponging greens and browns on the ground line. I used the leafy piece of Watercolor minis to add the shadow of leaves on the trees in the various greens. I then started tearing the green CS in Roley hill form. I adhered them after playing around with the layout. The tree was had sketched and then scored with a blade in a bark pattern. it was then adhered to a darker brown. I then took a sander and my nail and started distressing the cuts to simulate bark. Browns were then sponged on. Leaves were then punched out ( hard on the hand). I used DP in Olive and Celery. I wanted to get a bit of that quilt applique look which is why I used Designer Paper over regular CS. The leaves were then adhered one by one using glue, glue dots and two thicknesses of pop-up dots. I wanted it to have a lot of dimension. The girl and sheep were stamped, painted, spica'd and glazed the apples. The sheep have had heads removed so that I could pop them and tilt them at different angles. They were placed in the field along with Clarabelle. Apples were stamped, painted, spica'd and then scattered on the foreground and in the tree. Little apples out of Spica were also dotted on the distant trees. I added two suckers to the base of the apple tree. At my dad's house where I grew up, The apple trees always get tons of suckers which have to be hand pruned.

I hope you enjoy this posting, i don't normally do two in a day, its just that I'm so happy to have finished my first picture. Have a great evening, and I'll see yal later.