Fabscraps Fabscrappin'

I have been so busy off in creative world, oh and baby chickens!  8 of them almost all at the same time and to top it off, it is raining and cold and windy and so they want outside and that just cannot happen for long periods, so I am up and down and in and out.  In between that, I have been cooking alot, as clearly my 17yo is going through a growth spurt - she is perpetually hungry!

Anyway, I got to do some work for Fabscraps as part of the guest design team competing against the main design team.  The paper range is C100 which has lots of 1800s images and cogs and alot would think steampunk, but that is not what I saw, I was inspired by the various images and they made me think of the Era of Invention of the 1800s and so I designed an 8 panelled hot air balloon, complete with basket.   Think Discovery, Invention, Engineering, Industry, Mechanical, Fashion, Theatre and Music, Magic and Illusion.  This is what I saw in this collection and that is how the 8 panels are designed.

To start, meant fussy cutting up a storm and that I did, with my scalpel, until my hands were in so much pain I could not use them for a few days afterwards, my finger was so red and swollen, not nice.  I already suffer from massive hand pain and so it was almost intolerable, but hopefully worth it, I think so.  But I won't be doing anything intense like that for a while now, a long while.

In hindsight, there are many things I would do differently, the main one, put the pearls on first and do only 6 panels.  The pearls are put on individually and that sort of dainty work is just not me.  The way I design, is very much an organic process of evolvement.  There is very little pre-planning and so I just go with what works and how I get inspired.  Usually, that process always works for me and I love it, but a bit more planning would of helped, but now I have experience and so I will know for next time and perhaps can share with you some of the things to watch out for.  Aside from the items supplied as part of the C100 collection, all of the ephemera and other items are sourced from the internet and printed and cut out.  The balloon shape I created myself and the basket comes off Silhouette Design store and I only used a part of a purchased basket.

This is a really lovely collection by Fabscraps and the amazing artist who designed it.  They put in lots of effort and great thought and for those that love to fussy cut, it is a dream come true.  There are the gorgeous papers, 12 and 6inch, stickers, chipboard pieces, an album shaped like a cog with a butterfly in the middle and the rings for assembly.  It is a great set and highly enjoyable to work with. I have also done the album, but will save that for another post as I only just finished it.  I can only give sneak peaks as we cannot release all images at this time.  Hope you like it, how can you not though.  smiles, D