Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Jazz


It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  Linda is our hostess this time and she is calling it The Sound of Music.  Here is what she has to say about it:

"When this challenge goes live, I will be in Key West for the annual Songwriters' Festival. I thought it would be fun to create something vintage or shabby chic that tells what music means to you and/or to depict a favorite song."

I am not the least bit musical so I can't sing or play an instrument. I do love to listen to music but don't have a favourite song. I do have my likes and dislikes when it comes to the type of music I listen to with jazz being my absolute favourite.

I made this card twice. Why, you ask? Well I knew right away what I wanted to focus on and after I worked on the individual elements I fought with myself about the layout. I finally jumped in and glued things down but instantly disliked it so I pulled off some of the elements I could re-use and the rest of the card was shredded and thrown in the garbage.

I decided I needed a break, which worked because while I walked on my treadmill I came up with a plan and it only took a short time to put the card together.  Now why couldn't this have happened from the beginning so I didn't waste so much time?

Here is how I made this card:

1.  Printed vintage music paper on the computer (I found some images online of a Billie Holiday classic called Body and Soul).  The edges were distressed with scissors or a distressing tool and ink with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.
2.  Cut strips of coordinating papers (I used Graphic 45 Mon Amour) and distressed the edges.
3.  Selected an image and changed it to greyscale before it was printed, cut out and distressed.
4.  Mounted all the paper layers on a card blank made from Recollections card stock.
5.  Using a petal template I found online, cut layers of white card to make my gardenia.  Shaped all the layers and adhered them together to form the finished flower.


6.  Sprayed the flower with Lindy's Frozen Jack Frost and while it was still wet, pounced on some Perfect Pearls using a fluffy makeup brush.


7.  Altered a metal leaf by coating with white embossing powder.
8.  Added the leaf and flower to the card.
9.  Made the text on the computer and fussy cut each letter.

Billie Holiday often is shown in photos with what looked like gardenias in her hair so that is why I went with this colour palette so I could coordinate with the paper gardenia I decided to make.  She had a short and tragic life but she had one fantastic voice so if you get a chance I hope you will listen to her sing.  There are so many instrumental jazz artists that are fabulous - John Coltrane and Charlie Parker are a couple of my favourites.

I hope you will join us for this challenge.  One random winner will receive a gift certificate to Linda's shop and the Design Team will choose their favourites with the top pick receiving an invitation to be a Guest Designer at a future date.

6 comments:

  1. Fabulous take on the "Sound of Music" theme! I loved reading about how this card came about, and the end result is gorgeous! The flower you made is fabulous and the red with the neutrals is the perfect color scheme for this! Hugs!

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  2. Beautiful card honoring Billie Holiday. I love the card and her voice.

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  3. That gardenia is so realistic I can almost smell the scent of it! I'm not a big jazz fan, but I love this piece!

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  4. Beautiful! What a lovely jazz inspired card! The Billy Holiday image is wonderful!

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  5. Love, love, LOVE the way this has come together Cec. You've designed it brilliantly with an air of sophistication and elegance that befits the music and era xx

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Thanks!
Cec