My layout for ARTastic's August challenge was created for my Guest Designer Spot and features some gorgeous rainbow lorikeets that I spied in my neighbour's yard feasting on the nectar of flowers in one of her trees. I haven't a clue what kind of tree it is. Maybe someone can enlighten me. I created the flowers using paper string, which I unravelled into single strands, cut to the desired length then tied together with stranded cotton. I then inked the string with yellow chalk ink and when dry pulled them into shape. The leaves were simply cut from cardstock, folded down the centre, inked and distressed round the edges.
My background was created by brushing a piece of white cardstock with water, leaving the outer edges dry. I then dropped yellow and blue watercolour paint into the wet areas and blew the paint with a straw around and out to the edges of the page, allowing some of the colours to mix together. I then splattered the page with a small amount of red. Lastly, I sprinkled salt in some areas, then dried the whole sheet with a heat gun.
It helps to minimise warping if you tape the page to a solid base before you start.
I hope you like my efforts. It was a great thrill to be asked to be a guest designer for ARTastic and I thank Jane for the opportunity to share my work with others. I'd also like to thank my good friend and fellow scrapper, Di for the many hours she spent helping me put my work onto the ARTastic site. I have very limited computer skills but am improving. Maybe one day I'll have my own blog site.
