Taheerah Atchia

Hey everyone!

Happy Monday! Mondays can be happy too!! Especially with a rainbow of colour and Round 2 of Gallery Idol 2012!!

My head is still in the clouds over the news that I made the Top 20!! Thank you so much to all of those that have wished me luck and congratulated me on FaceBook, in person or on my blog! You have no idea how much it means to me to have you on this journey rooting for me!!

So the theme for this round is ‘You Colour My World’. Simple, right? There’s a ton of inspiration out there, no? Wrong. Well, not on the inspiration part, but definitely on the ‘simple’ part!! I sketched out about a dozen ideas (and I *never* sketch). Then I thought I’d settled on a few potentials, but meh – they were good but not really what I would call ‘unique’. Then I thought I’d hit upon an idea that could work – coloured straws (seriously, what?!). Then on a trip to purchase said straws had a ‘Eureka!’ moment when I saw some rainbow-coloured paintbrushes!

So, the working idea was then to have some paintbrushes adhered to the card front, and have some sentiment of some descript. Then I thought, how about getting some paint to drip from the brushes? So off I went to buy acrylic paint.

Then, finally!! Whilst out buying acrylic paint I saw some tiny little watercolour paint tubes. They were *perfect*!! All cute and small. And expensive. But I sucked it up, bought them (closing my eyes as they rang them up through the till) … and here is the result:

What do you think? I’m actually pretty pleased with how it turned out – though I’ve no idea *at. all.* if it’s good enough for Gallery Idol!

I started with a Stamper’s Select White card base. I got rid of some of the paint from each tube onto a spare acrylic sheet, then I squeezed some of the remaining paint onto the card, creating my rainbow of running colours.

I then rolled up the ends of the tubes and adhered the tubes in place using Pinflair Glue Gel. 

So not only were those paints costly – they were also a one-time use!!

I even added some of the remaining paint to link the tube mouths to the cards, so it literally looks like the paint is coming out of them!

For those of you familiar with watercolour paints, I’m sure you know that they dry with a somewhat matt finish. I wanted a gloss finish on mine. So what did I do Purchase varnish like a sensible girl? No. Use Glossy Accents over the top? No.

I used nail varnish top coat. No, seriously. And it worked like a charm!!

Although the photo doesn’t do it justice – it’s more glossy in real life!!

So I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a trip with me and my crazy creative process! Hopefully I didn’t either bore you or scare you!!

Voting for this round of Gallery Idol is open now! To get yourself to the voting page just follow this link. The other 19 girls that made it through are über talented so I know you’ll have a tough choice picking your favourite! I’m hoping that this little creation will hopefully have done the trick in securing that honour, and if it has it would mean the world to me if you would cast your vote in my favour. Please please please. ;o)

Voting is only open for a few days so don’t delay!!

Thanks so much for stopping by – and I wish you a colourful and inspiring day!!

ETA: this post is also my 150th on this blog – what a way to celebrate!!