Just Magnolia Challenge: Dancing Tilda

There is an Anything Goes with the Option of Faux or Real Stitching special monthly challenge at the Just Magnolia and  hÄnglar & stÄnglar Challenge Blog.  Their sponsor, Simon Says Stamp!, is offering a $25 store voucher to a randomly selected entry.  Find out more about this challenge and sponsor here.

The My Mind's Eye card challenge is to design a Free-style Anything Goes card using a sketch by the wonderful Anam Stubbington.  They're offering a collection of the winner's choice as the prize.  It's not clear to me whether the winner is randomly selected or chosen in another way.  Find out more about the My Mind's Eye challenge here.

I've inked up my Magnolia Stamps Dancing Tilda from the 2010 Fairy Tale Collection, stamped the image onto X-Press It blending card and filled her with Copic colors.  Here's a close up view of the image . . .

I've layered some of My Mind's Eye papers from their 2007 Tres Jolie Mademoiselle "Mother" stripe/light bleu, "Sisters" floral pattern/bleu, "Girl" Tiny Dots/Bleu with Bazzill dark teal cardstock.  This fabulous double-sided cardstock made wonderful Sizzix Tim Holtz Mini Paper Rosettes.  Simple faux stitching added with an 0.8 black marker adds a handmade feel.

This photo shows the complete card front . . .

I like the consistency of the pleats I added to Dancing Tilda's dress being repeated in the rosettes.

Here's a side view of the card . . .

I have tried again to use Copic markers on X-Press It blending card.  I still don't like it - LOL!!!  I become very frustrated with the color splotches and ink puddling.  Using X-Press It wipes the papercrafting joy right out of me.  I prefer to have some control over my color and ink application rather than have the paper behave as though it's in charge.

Just look at the splotches throughout Dancing Tilda's face.  Ugghhh!!! Instead of absorbing the moisture of Copic ink to allow for a smooth blending, X-Press It paper causes the ink to rest on the surface and the lighter colors push the darker colors out of the way resulting in splotches of color.  It saddens me to think that others who try Copic colors on this paper expect Copic ink to work that way.  It shouldn't.  If this is what you find when you're filling your images using Copic colors, I urge you to try other smooth papers like Bazzill Smooth White.

Copics used:
skin - E000, E01, E11, E93
hair - E31, E35, E47
dress, gloves, shoes - RV91, RV93, RV95, RV99
crown - Y13, Y26, Y28