Saturday 6 July 2013

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Letter B. . . . . .

As usual, I'm just getting my entry in at the last moment (almost) for the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge!

The letter to be used this time is B and for my word I have chosen: bête noire.

I particularly dislike spiders to the point that I don't even like looking at pictures of them or seeing them on tv so I couldn't choose to use those for my 'bete noire' page! Instead, I have chosen bats. I know they can look so sweet hanging upside down to sleep but if you're out in the dark and they swoop around your head it's not a pleasant experience! I  would never do anything to harm them but neither would I engineer a visit with them!

Here's my take on the definition but beware because it does look as if Halloween has come early!!

My bat drawing isn't quite what it should be so I found an image on google  and decided to give it a makeover. On the left of the print out you can see the original. On the right you can then see where I've used black, grey and white pencils to add shading and definition to improve the print out (I hope!).
The finished pages complete with bats both printed and stamped.
Word definition which was masked off during production to preserve the original text for all to see.

Two printed bats were used and both were altered with pencils as mentioned earlier. The images were glued to card, cut out and applied to the pages.
At the lower edge of the two printed bats, I used the black pencil to add shading for definition.

The letters were die cut, painted with DecoArt Americana acrylic paint. Carbon black DecoArt Traditions paint was used to stamp onto the letters. (I used part of an Andy Skinner ink splat stamp to add the detail).
The pages were first coated with watered down fresco paint. Some script was randomly stamped with chalky black  ink. The bats were stamped / glued into position. The edges of the pages were coloured with black pan pastel. I liked the way this stuck to some of the script stamping which was slightly damp.
Sequin waste was then used with DecoArt Americana acrlyic in red and DecoArt Traditions in carbon black - both were applied with cut and dry foam.

 Not entered this challenge at the Craft Barn yet? There are still a few hours left today and the next letter goes live tomorrow so why not pop over and get all the details for entry by clicking here?



39 comments:

  1. Really like your pages and the shading and colouring is great, I also like bats.

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  2. Absolutely wonderful B pages -- scarey! I have to tell you Julia, I am more frightened of your bats than I am of my bear!!!!!!!
    Sandy

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  3. Gosh, that's one scary looking bat, or two actually - lol

    Great pages though!!

    Sam xxx

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  4. Great B word. A truly gruesome page, I love it :)

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  5. Love the colouring and shading on the bats, fabulous background and stamped bats, great pages.

    Sylv xx

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  6. Oh my goodness, these bats are so scary. Give me spiders any day! Lol xx

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  7. Hi Julia, you have made a vast improvement with your shading. Love your pages although I would not want to meet that bat in real life.... Hugs, Anne x

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  8. Great entry! Love your horrible bats and I admire your courrage.Beautiful!

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  9. There's nothing bête noir about your page Julia :).
    Hope all is well with you
    Von ♥

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  10. So dramatic, Julia! Love the bats emerging out of it towards us, and the script stamp and sequin waste make for a fantastic background.
    Alison x

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  11. Well Mrs S-W what a fantastic page, just up my alley so to speak tee hee. The bat image is stunning and I have to say that I think your additional shading truly does improve the original - much more impact! I have had many a run in with flitting bats at twilight, lol I used to go out on purpose sometimes to see if I could spot them. Ha ha ha ha ha ref your comments on my entry, love them, tee hee my mum and step-dad have just come back from a month in France so the Rose supply is now replenished, phew!! Ha ha ha ha ha again - I was wanting to do Bacchanal but couldn't find any non-risque pictures to use!!!!!!!!
    Huge huggles sweetie x x x x

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  12. Wow great scary bats! Fab page! xx

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  13. Ooh this scary!!! It's fabulous though - so bold and dramatic: I love it! Julie Ann x

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  14. Until now I wasn't afraid of bats! Yours look positively menacing, especially against that fantastic background. Another letter more than successfully completed here Julia. Hugs, Jenny x

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  15. oooo scary page Julia - but fabulous - love it xx

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  16. Wow this is amazing! Love the drama of your very scary creation! Carole Z xx

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  17. Lovely, creepy pages! I like watching the bats swoop around in the evening! Valerie

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  18. What a gorgeous page, love the word choice too, never heard of that word. Hugs Frea

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  19. Creepy AND cool! Love how the wings are popping out off the pages.

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  20. absolutely fabulously ghastly!

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  21. So original Julia, bet no one else chooses that word! Those bats are like something from a horror film, love the splattered letters, all in all a truly amazing page:)
    Val x

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  22. Great page.You have managed to make it seem as if the bats are flying out of the page.Your shading adds much to the original image and I love the extra stamping and paint in the background, work-really fab page.

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  23. Wow, what an amazing make, stunning!

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  24. Fabulous pages and betes noires Arghhhhhhh !!!!! Love it Julia !! Have a lovely day, Coco x

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  25. Wonderful! I hate spiders as well just seeing the word made me shudder.

    A great word to chose

    Love Chrissie x

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  26. This is amazing, love it!

    Liz x

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  27. great background ! liked the way you have used the pic of spider.
    nagaonkarshilpa.blogspot.in

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  28. Gorgeous pages! I like the way using only two main colors! It's great!

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  29. Oh wow, amazing art, just love the colours and images.
    hugs {brenda} x0x

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  30. WOW Julia!!! What can I say...this is amazing work! Personally I love bats and they can fly around me any time but spiders.....noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! xxxx

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  31. Yikes!!! Fabulous, scary page Julia!
    Just been watching Mr Luther though, & this is tame! Lol! He is a bit dishy, I see what you mean now! :)
    Alison xxx

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  32. Wow... how cool... I really love theses pages.

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  33. Fantastic! It has the perfect amount of creepy chills factor to convey the definition!

    btw- I am so with you on the spiders...

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  34. Julia your pages are amazing.
    xxx Hazel.

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  35. Wow Julia - stunning pages, we have quite a few bats flying round our house, think I might not open the windows so wide tonight! Your shading definitely added pizazz to the image, which is quite terrifying and perfect for your chosen word! Love all the layering and stamping too. MMx

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  36. Julia, this is amazing!!! what a fantastic page!!
    Thanks for playing with us at the Craft Barn,
    Izzy

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Juliax