Rhapsodies and The Blues

I know I've already put a couple of entries into the Heart 2 Heart Rhapsody in Blue, but this is what happens when a challenge runs for a month!  ; )  Whenever there is a musical or equine related challenge, my creative side goes into hyper-drive, the OC kicks in and I simply can't stop!

Almost everyone in my family plays and many of us are musicians by trade.  Now here is the kicker, the majority of us play oboe or trumpet and to top that off we marry into the same instruments!  It's true!  Now for any of you who are musicians, you know this really is sort of an unlikely pair.  There is a lot of ego when you mix principal trumpet players with principal oboists......but, somehow we make it work!

As for my immediate family, I, an oboist, married a HS trumpet player/vocalist who is now in computers.  Neither of my kids played in band, but my daughter was in show choir and musicals.  As for my son, well, the only thing he can carry in a bucket is water for his horses!  hahaha

Going back in time, my maternal grandfather played trumpet.  Both of his kids played trumpet.  The next generation was 1 trumpet and 3 oboists; 2 of the oboists married trumpet players.  The next generation was 3 trumpets and 1 oboist.  We'll have to wait a while to see where it goes next.

This is a picture of my nephew who was principal in his band as a Freshman!  He has already won the Louie Armstrong Jazz Award and the Director's Choice Award; he is only through his Sophomore year!  What a guy!

Alright, enough about my dysfunctional, yet talented family with all their strange quirks!  Onto the layout!

Stenciled bricks and staff lines sprayed over with mist.

I started with CTMH Indian Corn Blue CS.  I  stamped in the music in Indian Corn Blue using the Universal Background stamp.

To achieve the staff lines under the picture, I created a stencil in CCR using lines from Art Philosophy.  I simply changed the shapes of squares and welded them into a staff.  I cut it from Dur-Lar Acetone Alternative.  I placed it on the CS and rubbed my Colonial White Pigment ink over the stencil.  I then stenciled in my bricks in the same manner using a stencil I had made for a prior project.  That's the nice thing about cutting stencils from Dura-Lar, you can wash them and use them over and over!  CTMH Artbooking has so many overlay cuts perfect for stencil work!

Once the pigment ink was dry, I again stamped in the music in Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim, and Archival Black using the Universal Background stamp.  Stamping before and after the stenciling gave it a layered/textured look.  I sprayed over the background with homemade CTMH Glimmer Mist.  I make this out of CTMH Create A Shade Pearl Paint, Re-inker, and water.  For this project I used a few drops of Blush and twice as many drops of Chocolate.  I stamped a couple of film squares from CTMH Take Note under the keyboard banner.

The bottom sheet of music was embossed with an M-Bossabilities folder EL-011.  I rubbed over it with Archival Black and smudged it with Indian Corn Blue.  The next layer is Outdoor Denim embossed with the CTMH striped folder.  I then sanded over that to bring out the white core.

Keyboard banner

Now for the keyboard banner.  This was put together by taking a banner from Art Philosophy and welding in lines for the white keys.  Then I welded thicker lines over the lines to make the black keys.

The trumpet was cut from the Cricut cartridge Quarter Note.  I had to borrow this cartridge from Mom.  I suppose I could have created a trumpet somehow from my cartridges, but I couldn't figure it out!  Sometimes it's not worth re-creating the wheel!  haha  I heat embossed it with Colonial White Pigment Ink and silver embossing powder from my stash.

The little banner was hand cut, stamped with the music stamp, and embellished with a CTMH Marquee Enamel Shape.  The treble clef is from CTMH Sparkles Flourishes (Small); I cut away some sparkles I didn't need.  I can save them for later!  I sparkled it a little further using the silver glitter trim, and placing the CTMH Blue Epoxy Bubbles around.

Again, I had so much fun creating this layout!  I'm putting together a book for my nephew, so you'll be seeing more of him in the future!

All of the CTMH comes from ScrappyHorses.ctmh.com.  There are some great promotions going on at CTMH this month!  Be sure to check them out!  My understanding is there are some exciting changes coming over there; I don't have the info, but my daughter is bursting with excitement over what's coming!  Be sure to keep an eye over there!

Ok, this layout is going to the following fun and creative challenges!

Heart 2 Heart ~ Rhapsody in Blue
Simon Says Stamp ~ Stencil It
Craft Hoarders Anonymous ~ Ink it, Spray it, Paint it, Get Messy

Thanks for checking out my blog today!