Monday, November 21, 2016

It's Christmas at Aurora Wings


Our brand new challenge starts today at Aurora Wings with the theme of Christmas.  EEEk!!! so many fabulous AW Christmas digis from which to choose. I finally narrowed it down to something that had to do with the Nutcracker ballet, certainly a beloved Christmas tradition, and then on to the adorable Nutcracker and Chipmunk Ballerina, furthering the fantasy.  So here I am with a gift bag again.  OOps, I did one for the last challenge as well, but that's how it turned out.  What can I say?  All the Dp came from The Ballet stack from Recollections, a pad I've had for at least as few years.



Here's a closeup of Nutcracker and Chipmunk Ballerina taken under my Ott light on my desk before attempting the fussy cutting.  (Trust me, I was sweatin' it!) I've colored with Copics and added some shading and fur detail with Prismacolor pencils.  I really had no plan when I started this project, except that I wanted to use the Ballet papers, so I colored accordingly, but printed much smaller than I usually do (since I had no idea what I was doing.  A card maybe?..NOT!).  This is about 3 1/2 by 4 1/2" so it was not only a bit of a challenge to color with detail, but also to fussy cut.  I'm happy that this photo picked up the sparkle of the gel pens I used in silver and gold.  Not so much of the Stickles on the tutu, but I'm still quite pleased.



Speaking of fussy cutting, the term really refers to cutting details from printed paper or ephemera, I'm sure before digital stamps were even invented. Everything you see here was cut from the pages of The Ballet Stack.  In this case I've cut around a portion of the holly at left to insert the sentiment, which I've also fussy cut from a square tag.



And here's some more fussy cutting for the entire area on which I've place the Nutcracker and Chipmunk Ballerina.  Fortunately this was a 12 x 12" pack so it was easy to fussy cut additional elements, like the two holly sprays on the right and left to balance the design and the strips at the top and bottom of the bag to finish it off.  Wow, not necessarily my usual style but the project came together nicely and I have one less present to wrap.  LOL  Be sure to visit the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog to be inspired by the rest of the Aurora Team's gorgeous projects.

And don't forget to enter our current FB Contest, Nature's Bounty, now through November 30th.


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10 comments:

  1. Oh such a beautiful gift bag! The image and colouring are beautiful and your papers coordinate so well. This is a real work of art, Donna. x

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  2. Wow, Donna! This gift bag IS the gift in and by itself! What gorgeous elements in beautiful color palette! Your coloring on the Nutcracker and the Chipmunk Ballerina is absolutely gorgeous. I can really appreciate all the fussy cutting you've done to create this stunning project. Love the depth the layered elements bring out. Thank you so much for this stunning inspiration for our Christmas challenge at Aurora Wings!! Mitzi xxx

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  3. Donna, this was so beautiful over at TT, I had to come take a closer look at your blog! I love gift bags and this is just so gorgeous!

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  4. Aaaaaaw, this chipmunk ballerina is absolutely precious! She's really fallen for the nutcracker. Your bag is beautiful - love all the elements and details you added. I would like to make some more gift bags!

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  5. WOW! Wonderful card. Gorgeous colouring and love the chipmunk. Great layers. WOW! Love it. Thanks for playing along Simon Says Stamp Christmas Critters Challenge. Gayatri xx

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  6. lovely card thanks for sharing with Creatalicious Rachel dt

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  7. Love this festive nutcracker gift bag and the green and purple is perfect! Thanks so much for joining us this time at the Craftyhazelnut's Patterned paper Challenge, Elizabeth (DT)

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  8. Gorgeous gift bag Donna. Your coloring is gorgeous, I love how you colored the fur. The fussy cutting must have taken a while. I love the Stickles on the tutu Thank you for joining the DL.ART Thankful Thursday November Linky Challenge

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  9. Fab Donna, I do love your colour scheme x

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Thanks for making my day!