Two for the show

Here's what I finished last night :)
Today I am back at work and juggling projects to finish with decluttering the (very large and very messy) study. We are DETERMINED to be tidier when we move. How long will that last I wonder? And suddenly it is after Easter and midway through April and then there are only two months left living in Essex. How come time is running away like this?

Enough already... on with the challenges. Firstly challenge 4

It had to be teal... it had to be teal... I wandered around but finally found a colour that's real (or something)

 This one was quite easy in that I am using an awful lot of yellow. And teal. And some grey at the moment. The papers are Echo Park, MME and Crate Paper - but not necessarily the same collections as before. The Chipboard is MME, ribbons, buttons, tags and fuzzy brads from stash. The letters are American Crafts. I didn't have any grey ones so rubbed an Iced Spruce Distress Ink Pads over some white ones. And yes, I am proud of that bow...

The painting in real life is just awesome. It sums up something about living in the South Wales valleys that you probably have to experience to understand. I have a visceral reaction to it - the style is just perfect. Disclaimer: I did not live in the Rhondda valley (I'm from Port Talbot myself) but visited it a lot when a child on holiday. And my dad did and he feels it too. Just as well as the painting was for him!

So onto challenge 3... Yes I didn't follow the correct order

 I love Laura Kurz 's minimalist style although it is a bit of a stretch for me.

So I gave it a go with a little more of my style. What is my style? A tad more distressed and definately more busy than that. Did I succeed in fulfilling the brief?

Well I like it and that is the most important thing. I love the chicken wire mask (I also have the reverse one. And see how many of those WRMK giant brads I managed to use. I've only got 5 left. Papers are all MME from a 6x6 pad and I also used Dotted Swiss Bazzill. Which is why I had to write the blurb on a piece of tag as you can't write directly on bobbly bits and I wanted a block not strips. It was up on the wall ready to be photographed when I decided I needed to balance it with another tag bit so added the photo corner. (And next time I will measure the holes for sewing as the butterfly was necessary to cover up the slightly bigger gap around the bottom) And look Sue Hyde. I found the butterfly stamps hidden in the punch - you were right!

I'm not sure I will be able to complete any more layouts before the weekend but might do some more challenges anyway as they are great fun. Thanks Shimelle!