Monday, March 7, 2016

My Favorite Season at Aurora Wings


Yes, you read it right.  We have a brand new challenge at the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog with hosted by the new Stella Design Team.  From now on, the Stella team will be inspiring you the first Monday of every month, while the Aurora Team will continue, with a new challenge, on the third Monday as usual.

Our new theme, My Favorite Season, is special to me.  I've lived in California for 36 years now, but still miss the true 4 separate seasons I knew from my years growing up in the Midwest.  Fortunately, here in Livermore wine country, we still have somewhat of an Autumn, with cool crisp air, the changing leaves, especially in the vineyards, and a bountiful harvest season.  I love every sight, every smell, and every feel of this magical time of year.  No surprise I've chosen the gorgeous Harvest Elf for my project today.  I've made a wall hanging using a number of Spellbinders dies and DP from K&Co.



Here is a closeup of the gorgeous Harvest Elf.  She's colored with Copics with a bit of shading and depth added with Prismacolor pencils.  I've loved this image from the start but because if it's intricacy found it a bit intimidating, until I broke it down into doable pieces.  

First I began with the things that I knew, skin and hair.  In some places I wasn't sure where the hair ended, but I started with the obvious and left the unknown uncolored.  From there I went to like leaves and similar foliage and laid down the basic base color for each, adding additional colors and shading as I went along. With each grouping, the intricacies of the image became more apparent, until I was able to fill in the whole design. WooHoo!  Once the entire image was colored, I added additional highlights and shadows for more contrast and depth. Although I went over this image many times, over several days, until I was satisfied, it was not nearly as intimidating or difficult as I had originally imagined and I can't tell you how pleased I am with my accomplishment.  Try it. Stretch yourself.  You'll be amazed what you can do when you take your time. 



This quote is a favorite of mine, as well.  I used a digital post card from Lilac 'n Lavender and added the quote in my printing program, then ran it through my printer on some design paper with this result.  The Autumn leaves were part of the postcard, but the DP had some subtle open details.  Pretty cool how the design of the DP showed through a bit.  Totally unexpected.



Finally, my bouquet is a mixture of velvet leaves and punched ones, all colored, or at least shaded, with Copics to match those I've colored in Mitzi's gorgeous image. The fabulous lace die cut is also Spellbinders and the seam binding and Card Candy is from my stash.  Please be sure to visit the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog, leave some love for the new Stella Team, and come play along.  We can't wait to see what you come up with.  


Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.


I'm entering this in the DL.Art March Linky Challenge, 613 Avenue Create ATG (using sponsor's image), Polkadoodles Crafting Tic Tac Toe using Wings, Nature and SentimentDragonfly Dreams Use a Die Cut, Di's Digi Design Use 2 or More Dies (I've used 4 different ones), the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Use Dies or Punches, Crafting with Friends ATG, Craft your Passion ATG, Creative Fingers ATG, Crafting from the Heart ATG, Our Crafty Corner ATG and Inspiration Destination ATG

13 comments:

  1. wow, this is wonderfull, what a very sweet card. Stunning colouring, love the depth in the colours and the colours you have choosen, I am amazed by your colouring as it is so pretty, very nice project, hugs, Marion

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my word, this is absolutely stunning Donna! I love how you've coloured Mitzi's "Harvest Elf" and I adore your choice of beautiful papers and embellishments, they're just perfect. Huge Hugz Lorraine xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh! So beautiful! Love her blue eyes and the detailed on the project. Love, love, love!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a pleasure to see this image colored by you, Donna! I love your color choices with her blue eyes, gorgeous red hair, accented by a blue butterfly! The rest is a perfectly harmonious autumn glory - simply breathtaking! All the details are perfectly in place for an awesome wall art. Thank you so much for this fabulous inspiration for our latest challenge at Aurora Wings! (Still amazed how you found the time to squeeze this in with all that you had to do. Thank you again!!)
    Mitzi xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gorgeous. Your wall hanging is beautiful and must look amazing handing in your home. Not sure I would be able to go that image justice but I might have to her. Your choice of colors is perfection! I am lucky as I live on the East Coast so I cherish the 4 seasons. Autumn is my favorite and Summer, I hate.

    ReplyDelete
  6. So beautiful. The colouring is fabulous:) Thank you for joining us at Dragonfly Dreams it is very much appreciated. Hugs, Traci xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, Donna! This is beautifully done! Such gorgeous colors and shading, and then the wonderful vintage design elements to complement this beauty! Very woodsy and fore-lore like! Fabulous design in every way! Thanks for joining us in the {Our Crafty Corner Challenge}! Hope to see more of your pretty projects again soon!
    crafty hugs,
    de
    {Creative Smiles}

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sweet card. Thanks for joining us at CWF

    Hugs
    Claudia
    DT Crafting With Friends

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a lovely make and perfect for our challenge of Tic Tac Toe.
    Thanks for sharing it with us over at Polkadoodles

    Jenny x
    Polkadoodles DT

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gorgeous image, FAB colouring and lovely embellies... love it all :-) Thanks for sharing your lovely card in Di's Digis "Two or More Dies" Challenge Hope you can join in the new challenge starting soon too Donna ☺

    ReplyDelete
  11. Absolutely stunning card and awesome colouring, totally love it. Thank you for joining us at Our Crafty Corner. Helen DT

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lovely work. Thank you for joining the challenge at Creative Fingers. Hope to see you again next time.
    Granmargaret
    DT for Creative Fingers Link Up!
    Granmargaret’s cards ‘n’ stuff – My personal Blog!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow Donna your coloring is absolutely AMAZING, this card is a piece of art, if I ever receive a card like this I would frame it for sure :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for making my day!