My First Collage

I've been working tons of hours so I'm sleeping in instead of doing the sketch challenge today. Boo hoo! But I do have this beauty to show you!

I've been wanting to try a collage ever since I saw Michelle Zindorf's tutorial. Why so long? I was chicken to try, didn't think I had the right stamps, blah blah blah..... I've gone back to that tutorial a few times and finally realized what I was missing. I didn't feel like I knew what stamps to put where in order to make this work. I think I finally have the recipe and my new stamps from Artful INKables were perfect!

Here's the recipe:

Color - You need at least 4 variations of the same color. I have: very light (River Rock), medium light (Creamy Caramel), medium dark (Close to Cocoa) and dark brown (Chocolate Chip).

Images - One kinda large mostly white or very light image. Swirls or leafy vines of some sort are a must. Several other images of different sizes.

• First, place the large mostly white image off center. Mask or clear emboss. Surround by the lightest ink (I used River Rock).
• Color the bottom 1/3 with the medium dark ink (I used Close to Cocoa).
• Color the top 2/3's in the medium light ink (I used Creamy Caramel). This is best if done kinda sloppy - leave some lighter and darker areas. Don't completely cover your lightest area with that main image.
• Add some areas all around randomly with the darkest ink (I used Chocolate Chip).
• Then fill in with various images and colors of ink. I started with the largest images first (diamond pattern and swirls). I added the swirls in 2 colors for depth.
• Add one image in black (the wolf print).
• Fill in the rest with smaller images/sentiments in various browns.

This was so fun that I could hardly stop myself from filling up the whole page!

Stamps: Artful INKables Into the Moonlight, Artful INKables Fictionally Inspired
Paper: Whisper White, Black, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Copics, clear detail embossing powder, Virsamark pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.