01 February 2015

Kraft+ February Challenge ~ Mango Breeze

Welcome to the New Kid on the Block, Kraft+ (also known as K+).  K+ is a new challenge blog devoted to all things Kraft!  They have launched their first challenge today, the February Challenge: Mango Breeze, and it is spectacular!
K+ has an awesome lineup of talented ladies in their DT, and I was pleased (and a little bit relieved) to see all different styles of inspiration for this first challenge.  There are beautiful layouts full of embellishment, lots of inks and paints and assorted ephemera; but then there were equally beautiful, clean and simple designs.  I perused the whole lineup of DT inspiration, but I kept coming back to the first one, by Linda Eggleton, and in a snap I knew the layout I wanted to make.

I travelled to the USA in June of 2014 with my bestie, and we spent three glorious days in New Orleans.  The Mango Breeze colours screamed "Bourbon Street" to me.
I started with flicking drops of ink on my Kraft base and smearing them in streaks with the nozzle of the bottle to spread them out.  This indicates to me the excitement and diversity that is Bourbon Street, New Orleans.  I also coloured some texture paste into an orange/pink hue (the photo does not do it justice, unfortunately) and slapped that on the bottom left corner.  Whilst the paste was still wet, I used the Kaisercraft 'Rocks' stamp to give the paste some texture to look like cobblestones.  Once the paste was almost dry, I used Distress Ink in Pumice Stone and my ink blending tool to go over the stamped area to add depth and detail to the texture of the cobblestones.

There is a streak of white heat embossing across the top that I wanted to use to balance out the page and to provide a lighter backdrop for the letters in the word "COLOURS".  I have cut out the word "COLOURS" using Stampin' Up!'s "Little Letters Thinlits Dies".  I used the Mango Breeze inspiration palette in reverse order for the letters in the word.

The letters for NO, LA (which stands for New Orleans, LA [Louisiana]) are from an old Heidi Swapp plastic alphabet set I've had for positively eons.  The colour wasn't right, so I ran an emery board over the tops of the letters to roughen them up and added ink to the top.  I then used a Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight pen to add some additional detail.

I have used the negative space created by cutting out the words "BOURBON ST" from black craft foam to add a bit of extra interest to the page.

I'm thrilled with how this page came together, and I think that this Kraft+ challenge site has inspired me to perhaps create all of my New Orleans pages on Kraft (and maybe even my entire trip, but I'm not too sure about that yet...)

I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Deb.
xx

9 comments:

  1. Well done you! Isn't it fabulous when you get some inspiration & it all comes together really easily? LOOOOVE how you've used the colours in the title like that.....& the stamping into the paste at the bottom...clever!!! Thanks for joining us at K+ this month....you certainly are the 1st linky & I think that makes me the 1st commenter!!!! xo

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  2. I am just tickled pink that I have inspired you, Deb! I too love the stamping into the paste...I've never done this before, so you have now inspired me to give it a go! :)) I always love seeing travel pages...gives you ideas on places to add to "the list" and also makes you feel that you're right there already. Fantastic take on our first challenge...thanks a bunch for playing along at K+ :))

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  3. Wow, so bright and fun. It is fabulous that you are the FIRST ever entrant to our challenge and that you have been so inspired to do it so quickly. Thanks for playing along and your page is wonderful.

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  4. So vibrant and bustling with life, LOVE where the inspiration took you. So many cool ideas and techniques that you have implemented. Thanks so much for playing along with us at Kraft +

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  5. Hi Deb!
    What an awesome take on the K+ colour challenge!
    and love how it all came together for you and, like the other girls, love all the techniques you have used.
    Thank you for your kind words about K+ and yes, the DT girls are an amazing bunch of talented lovely girls.
    thanks for playing along!!

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  6. Wasn't Linda's page gorgeous, her work is so inspirational! I'm glad you enjoyed your creative process for your layout, it's brilliant. I look forward to seeing more of your krafty New Orleans layouts :) Thanks for playing along with Kraft+ this month!

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  7. Lovely Deb - what great memories of a fabulous trip. Thanks for taking part in the first K+ challenge.

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  8. Hello Deb, WOW!!! you have created a beautiful layout of your New Orleans trip. Perfect photos and colours for this challenge. You have used lots of fabulous techniques ...thanks for sharing.
    I love the cute card you created and shared on the K+ Facebook group too.
    Thank you for stopping by my blog and for leaving me such a lovely comment I really do appreciate it.
    I look forward to seeing your next K+ layout. x

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  9. Awesome layout Deb!! Thanks so much for playing along with our very first challenge. :-)

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I would love to hear any comments you may have about my work! Thanks for stopping by!