Sunday, November 10, 2013

Aurora Borealis

Have you ever seen the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)?  For the first part of my life, I had always wanted to see them but was never lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.  After we moved to the Okanagan Valley,  we have occasionally been witnesses to this eerily beautiful natural light display.



It's as spectacular as these photos make it out to be.  I can imagine that the ancients had some interesting tales and  myths surrounding this phenomena.






When we were at the Creative Escape Retreat three weeks ago, I learned how to do the Northern Lights Technique from my up-line, Desiree Spenst, and I immediately had to try it out.


  • Although not really authentically Northern Lights shapes, it still give a beautiful effect.
  • You begin by sponging a random assortment of colours on Whisper White cardstock, die cut with the second-largest Deco Label Framelit.  You cover up the paper, starting with the lightest colours (here I used Daffodil Delight) and ending with a darker colour such as Rich Razzleberry.  I used Pear Pizzazz and Tempting Turquoise as well.  
  • Then you take a really dark colour like Midnight Muse and begin to cover up the other colours, leaving little bits of them showing, trying to achieve that curtain effect.  
  • You continue the process with Basic Black and sponge the bottom in more darkly for the ground.  To be honest, it didn't look like much at this point.
  • Using the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set, I inked up the images in StazOn Jet Black and stamped them as silhouettes on the background.  I varied the level where the images started to create depth.
  • It still was kind of ho-hum, but what really brought it alive was using the White Stampin' Chalk Marker to create little pin points of light that could be stars or falling snow.  It's important to keep the dots randomly spaced, not an even array.  If you have the dots in the foreground, it looks like snowflakes.  If you keep them in the background, between the images, they look more like stars.
  • Add a matte cut from Basic Black cardstock with the largest Deco Label Framelit and mount it on Rich Razzleberry for a "rich" contrast.  
  • I used a little strip of Modern Medley DSP and a bit of Soft Sky 1/2" Seam Binding ribbon to give a backing for the sentiment, which is from More Merry Messages stamp set.
  • The shape for the sentiment was created using an Oval Framelit and trimming the top and the bottom to give straight lines.

You'll have to give this a try yourself.  Let me know if you'd like a video tutorial.

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree (w128655; c127793); More Merry Messages (w126400; c126402)
Paper:  Modern Medley DSP (126926); Whisper White (100730), Rich Razzleberry (115316) and Basic Black (121045) cardstock
Ink:  StazOn Jet Black (101406); White Stampin' Chalk Marker (132133); Classic Stampin' Pads in Daffodil Delight (126944), Pear Pizzazz (131180), Tempting Turquoise (126952), Rich Razzleberry (126950), Midnight Muse (126860) and Basic Black (126980) 
Accessories:  1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon in Soft Sky (131210)
Tools:  Deco Labels Framelits (130102); Ovals Collection Framelits (129381); Stamping Sponges (101610)
Deco Label Framelits

Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set

More Merry Messages

Ovals Collection Framelits

Stamping Sponges

StazOn Jet Black

Chalk Marker

Modern Medley DSP

2 comments :

  1. What a beautiful card. The northern lights are so amazing, moving and dancing over the night sky. I have never heard the music they make, have you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, I haven't Eunice, but it's on the bucket list!

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your comments and get to know you better! Thanks for adding one!