Wednesday 27 February 2013

Luck

Hi and welcome! Today has been mixed, weatherwise, with only a brief respite from the rain, but we are counting ourselves lucky in regards to the most recent 'low' that came our way Friday. This is what ended up as a temporary resident in the front yard,.... a large leopard tree from the verge across the street.  The resident had been wanting it removed for some time and he was lucky, that it didn't topple in the other direction, as his house would have been decimated.


Often, we have a car parked where the tree landed, but not Friday! It did take out a row of lillypillies, but with some judicious pruning ( almost to ground level with a couple) they may regrow,
The tree roots have entangled with the phone cable, but it didn't break. They're still sitting, waiting to be removed.


The rest of the tree was lopped, chopped and mulched on Saturday, re-opening the street to traffic. The damage in other towns in the region has been quite horrendous, with roofs lost, buildings damaged, flooding and on the coast, erosion caused by the rough seas.

So, back to LUCK!.
Today I'm showing my take on Challenge 13 at ABAC. Take a look at at what everyone else has done at  http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/

I started my layout with a cut-out photo of self, taken about 40 years ago! This was put onto a background of silver mirror board.




 Acetate, left over from craft packaging, was embossed with T.H's 'Crack" embossing folder, cut down to fit an oval frame, inked lightly with StazOn Metallic Silver and Midnight Blue and then placed over the photo to form.... my cracked mirror.
The frame is a chipboard piece from 'Dusty Attic', a company specialising in fine chipboard embellishments. This has been treated with Opals enamels in Banksia and Nut, to give an antique look. It was also smooched with a touch of metallic silver stazon for some extra patina.The frame was then glued to the acetate.





Various ' Good and Bad Luck ' superstitions were written on the layout. I used gel pens for this.
The titles were written using a T.H. embossing pen and heat embossed with white. When cool, I coloured over the embossing with watercolour pencils (Black magic technique, tho' a departure from the normal one, done with white ink,  coloured and outlined with white).





 I like the extra depth of texture, and the more vibrant colours this particular method gives (thank you Julie, timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au for the tip).
Some of the drawn symbols were coated with glossy accents. On the number 13 I used the crackle glossy accents. This gave an unexpected result, changing the colour of the gel pen underneath, from gold to black.... interesting!


 
 
 
 



Random dotting for a framework completed the layout. This was done with Lumiere acrylics.

Thank you for visiting. Thank you also for your positive comments and feedback. They are most welcome and I enjoy reading them and visiting your blogs to see what you have  been doing. Cheers, Di










7 comments:

  1. Gosh that cracked mirror is inspired Diane! Sorry to hear you guys are suffering so much with the weather. Hope you stay safe. Hugs, Jenny x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well it seems there was more luck for you then bad luck regarding that big tree falling down! Everybody seems to be having extreme weather! We had a load of snow! I love your LO - the cracked mirror is really amazing! I also have some Lumiere acrylics - they are amazing aren't they?
    Lots of hugs,
    Cardarian
    I have become your follower too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My goodness... what a lucky escape. So pleased to hear that you escaped any terrible consequences... and I can so see why you wanted to commemorate it with your great piece about luck. Love your cracked mirror - and what a cute photo - and all the journalled superstitions - great! Thanks so much for your visit and lovely comment... I really appreciate it.
    Alison x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for joining us at Anything but a Card for superstitious week! This layout is fabulous and I am just drooling over your techniques that you used on the cameo in the mirror...loving it all!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is so fun with the superstitions for good and bad luck, although in my case the 13 would be on the good side! The crackle technique on the cameo is fabulous and I am so glad you joined us at Anything But a Card!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Diane, you really have had a bad time of it! So glad you came through relatively unscathed. Love what you did with the photo, the cracked mirror looks amazing and love the superstitions - my DH always says that I should never point at a rainbow as that is bad luck - your piece reminded me of that! Hope all improves soon for you over there. Thanks for your visit and lovely comment too! Hugs, Anne x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Di, luck was definitely on your side in regards to where the tree fell during this storm. Wasn't it horrendous. We actually traveled up to Pottsville for a few days away and just missed the main storm by about an hour as it crossed the coast, there were trees down everywhere along the way. I really love your layout, your cracked mirror effect is fabulous and I love how you have added such wonderful variation to all your journaling around it! xx

    ReplyDelete