May Leading Lady Anita in France | Take Five

With the end of May comes a sad time for us as this is the last Saturday with our remarkable May Leading Lady, Anita in France.  Our five fabulous weeks with Anita have been too short and we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to you Anita for bringing an incredible energy and level of excellence to each of your performances.  It has been a joy to have you as our leading lady.  

If you missed Anita's smashing debut you must see it...CLICK HERE or second performance showing her softer, floral side CLICK HERE or third performance showing her range and versatility with one product CLICK HERE or her fourth performance in which she multiplied her talent times 3 CLICK HERE.

Lucky for us all we have her final shimmering performance today.  

My excitement at appearing on the Winnie & Walter stage today is tinged with just a touch of sadness that this is my last performance as Leading Lady.  It’s been a wonderful experience working with Shay and Julie, who are just the loveliest people … thanks so much, ladies, for the opportunity to showcase your awesome product range … it’s been an honour and a privilege!  Thanks also to all of you … readers, visitors, commenters and friends … your support and encouragement has been truly fantastic … you’ve touched my heart!  So … on with the finale … a little feature I’ve called ‘Accentuating The Negative … With Shimmer’!

Scene 1 … Starry Starry Night (such a good song to be going round your head for the day!) …

Here I used emboss resist to create this shimmery look.  I sponged Versamark through the Scenery: Big Bang Classic Star Creative Screenings (stencil) onto a white card panel and embossed the panel in silver.  It was sponged over with Distress Inks (Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire), blended to create a starry ombré night sky and Perfect Pearl mixture was used to create some gentle splattering.  The panel was split (to create the negative space) and trimmed to size, I embossed the sentiment (from My Precious) onto the base card and popped the two portions of the panel up on foam tape over it.     

Here’s a closer look of all that sparkle and shine …

The emboss resist technique isn’t limited to using stencils … it works beautifully with so many of the Winnie & Walter stamps … I’m thinking backgrounds made up with Scenery: Big Bang Bling,  Confetti, Flurries … and a whole bunch of the graphic stamps!

Scene 2 … ‘Stella’ sparkly Hugs and Kisses …

Don’t you just love all those little hugs and kisses?  They were cut repeatedly into a white panel with a single line border from Essentials: Audrey Cutaways (dies) … and the sentiment (from You’ve Got Love Mail) was stamped in Versafine Black.  I used the panel as a guide for marking stripes on the base card, masked and sponged Distress Inks (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn) on each line and covered all the colours in a hefty coat of Wink of Stella.  I adhered the panel flat onto the card base … a test run using foam tape didn’t show the colours as clearly, so I went flat!  Would you like to see the shimmer under those negative space hugs and kisses … yummy huh?

It’s very sparkly IRL!  This was a really quick, CAS card … another of those ‘that’d be good in a set’ ones as it’s so easy to replicate … it’d be even quicker if washi tape was used instead of Distress Ink!

Scene 3 … Brilliant Birthday Balloons …

There are two sets of shimmery negative space here … the ‘happy’ … and two of the four sides.  I cut the In A Word: Happy into a white card panel and used the ombré stamping technique and masking for the balloons (from The Party).  Each colour was stamped three times … first in full, next with about half the ink wiped off the stamp and the third with about three quarters wiped off … the ombré colour creates a real sense of dimension, even though the balloons are flat.    If I had a MISTI, I’d have used it to get easy precision placement … I haven’t (yet!), so used my trusty stamp positioner to make sure each impression landed in just the right spot.  I stamped over all three balloons with Versamark, embossed them with clear holographic EP and trimmed the panel to size, cutting round the balloons off the edge of the panel.  To get the matching shimmer on the grey base, I tapped Versamark over it and embossed it in the same clear holographic EP as I used for the balloons.  The white panel was popped up on foam tape over the grey, I added the letter pieces inside the word and scattered a star sequin or three and some gems across it.  Here’s a much better view of all that shiny shimmer … 

Using the same embossing powder (in any finish or colour) is a great way to get matching elements in a card!

Scene 4 … Shake That Shimmer …

What a brilliant Cutaway this In A Word:Hi is … it takes up a full card … and is just perfect for a shimmery shaker!  The front panel was easy … I just cut the ‘hi’ into it, added a panel of acetate to the back, adhered just a smidge (!) of foam tape and poured in a ton of sequins for shakeablility!  The card base was sponged and blended with Distress Inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass) so they would show through the word … and I spritzed it all with a light dusting of shimmer spray.   Then it was just a matter of taking the backing paper off the foam tape and adhering the base onto the back of the front panel.  A cascade of sequins and gems later (to match the Distress Inks) and I was done!  Here it is in all it’s negative spaced, shimmery, shakery glory …

There are so many ways to play with this Cutaway … stacked, camoflaged, partially die cut, popped up, with or without DP and/or layers … you’ll have your own favourite!

This last scene brings me to the end of my Leading Lady performances … and I’ve loved it!  Again, thanks so much to Shay and Julie … and to all of you for cheering me on through each one!  It’s now time for me to bow out and to bring the curtain down for the final time.   I do hope you’ve enjoyed these Saturday matinées … I’ve certainly had a ball playing with fantastic goodies, stretching my creative muscles and reading your always welcome reviews!

Don’t forget that Julie and Shay have generously given me a $30 gift card to Winnie & Walter to give away this month … if you’d like to be in with a chance of winning it (you could make that wish list into a happy package!), leave a comment on each of my Leading Lady posts over on my blog (My Papercraft World) every week … five posts during May, five chances to win!  I’ll do a random draw from all the comments and will announce the winner on Sunday 7 June!

For the final time, thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita :)

My Precious	The Party	You've Got Love Mail	Essentials: Audrey Cutaways	In a Word: Happy Cutaway	In a Word: Hi Cutaway
Scenery: Big Bang Classic Star Creative Screenings

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