Les Miserables Papercrafting Project

When I think of France, the famous French novel “Les Misérables” by author Victor Hugo instantly comes to mind. I saw the musical at the Music Hall in Kansas City and truly loved it and of course shed tears throughout, but I am a softy.  Here's my stage and sign for the musical.

The novel is considered to be one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century and follows the lives and interactions of many characters. The character in the novel and musical I am focusing on is Cosette, whose story is quite moving.

I printed a portrait of "Cosette" by Emile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862) on an ink jet printer. Cosette is a fictional character in the novel whose mother, Fantine,  places her under the guardianship of the Thénardiers, where she is severely mistreated.

You may want to read the novel or see the musical to follow the life of Cosette.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ebcosette.jpg

I added some stains to the image for contrast, on the wooden door I used Vintage Photo, on the stones - Pumice Stone; on Colette - a little Barn Door on her hair; and on the water - a little Glossy Accent was added for shine on the water highlights.

I wanted to make a stage and a Honey Maid Graham Cracker box was the beginning of my stage.

I cut the front panel of the box to open it up like a stage and began staining it with Black Soot. It took several coats of the Black Soot.

For stage curtains, I started with white lace ribbons stained then thought I wanted red curtains so stained the lace with Barn Door Distress Stain. 

My first assembly came together pretty well but I wanted a Broadway type sign on top so wanted to add some lighting on the sign. 

I made a a sign for the top of the stage to resemble a Broardway sign and used dew drops for the lighting effect.

Now it was time to create a small sign to sit in front of the stage promoting Les Miserables. I used a Sizzix Nestabilities die to cut the small sign and stamped with a Hero Arts stamp repeatedly, added a fleur de lis, a ticket, some script, Tattered Banner. distress ink and a picture of Cosette from the musical.

There you have it, my stage and signs are complete - Judy.

Challenge:
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Inspiration Francaise

Remembering Family Scrapbook Layout

Today's post is all about family, pearls, flowers, and pastels. So expect to see a lot of each. This page will become part of an album honoring my parents and grandparents. The paper is by K&Company and seems so perfect for a bit of nostalgia. 

 I toned down the white streaming ribbons with a few swipes of Old Paper Distress Ink then tied the ribbon in a bow and trimmed the streamers to fit the space.
The flowers were white and I wanted to make them a shade of pastel pink by first inking them with a tiny bit with Old Paper for a little shading then inking again with Angel Pink Memento Ink.

I also sprayed the flowers with Perfect Pearls - Pearl for some added shine and glimmer.

As I was inking the flowers I remembered some pink ribbon roses  that I used over twenty years ago and thought they were in my sewing chest. I had stitched the three roses together and added the green ribbon stems for a project years ago. 

There was only one issue, the roses were a much brighter shade of pink, too bright for this pastel project. 

To solve the issue, I first dabbed on Picket Fence Distress Stain. Wow, it worked and my roses were a much softer pink! I followed by adding a little Pearl Paint using an Adirondack Paint Dabber and was pleased with my results.

While digging in my sewing chest, I saw some straight pins that had white heads and knew I wanted to add a few to the roses and stems.

Three pins were added to keep it an odd number.

The pearls for the flower centers is White Opal Liquid Pearls by Ranger. I could have used stick on pearls but I enjoy squeezing the bottle and making my own.

I used the same technique for the pearls on the ribbons. Now my project needed to dry for a while since the Liquid Pearls can be smudged very quickly with the slightest touch of a finger.

The K& Company paper had a small vine running around the border which gave me an idea to add pearls along the vine. Here I decided to used stick on pearls so I would not have to worry about smudging the pearls as I was working.

There you have it, this page is complete and ready for the album. Thanks for stopping by - Judy.

Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Just Add Pearl
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge: Pearls and Flowers

Christmas Pearls Card

Working with pearls, how elegant is that? The Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Just Add Pearl gave me the chance to work with Perfect Pearls Mist, TH - The Snowflake Rosette, a Nestabilities Label and lots of stick on pearls. This week's challenge at Joan's Garden is "A Winter Card" so great, I can enter both challenges with this card. 

I want to make use of the cutout piece from the Spellbinders Nestabilities Label so I made a second card. I wish you could see the Shimmer on the white paper and the blue paper. They add so much sparkle to the paper.

Supplies:
Tim Holtz Alterations: Tattered Banners and Snowflake Rosette
Ranger - Perfect Pearls Mists: Perfect Pearl and Heirloom Gold

Paper:
White Shimmer by TPC Studio
Ice Blue Metallic by The Paper Company

Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels 18

Crystal Stickers - Pearls Perles

Silver Elastic Cord