Oz's Scarecrow

Last Sunday, we were travelling home from a trip to Yorkshire Lavender in Terrington, near York, (and I can highly recommend a visit, if you haven't already been!) and came across a Scarecrow Festival in the village of Gate Helmsley.  It was lovely - all sorts of creative scarecrows were visible from the road: one dressed as a builder, climbing a ladder; a super one of the vicar, in the church yard; a farmer in the local farm shop car park ... it was delightful!  For some reason, scarecrows always remind me of the autumn, perhaps because I associate them with Harvest Festival (it's probably the straw that does that!)... and it's true to say that we are having some particularly early autumnal weather at the moment, too! 

Today's card is my DT card for Mo's Dream Team and I shall also be entering it into the following challenges:

Inspirational Card Sketches

Simon Says Stamp - 'Paper piecing'

And here it is:

Image: Mo's Digital Pencil, 'Scarecrow'

Papers: 'Harvest Spice' digital papers by Shabby Princess

As you will see, I've rotated the sketch by 90 degrees as this fitted better with what I had in mind.  These papers were the perfect choice for Mr Scarecrow, I think.  Even the name conjoured up the right colours and feeling.  There's not much separation between the layers, only chalked edges, but I think it works ... maybe I could have introduced some burnt orange matting or something but, hey, 'tis done now!

I wanted to get a real 'scarecrow' feeling: sacking head, bits and bobs of old clothing for his garb, etc., so I chose to paper piece him.  His gloves, legs and feet were coloured with my Copics and, of course, the grass and the background were added with Prismacolors but the rest is paper pieced, even down to using different 'patches' on his raggy trousers. I then went in with my Prismas and added some extra shading to give a bit more depth to the paper piecing, which is what I usually do, so that the image isn't too 'flat'. 

My OH is really taken with Mr Scarecrow, for some reason, and thinks it's one of the best images Mo has produced.  I must say, he was a joy to put together and I'm loving the whole 'Wizard of Oz' range that Mo has produced recently. 

Well, we're having a weekend of getting Daughter ready to return to university and today has been spent buying new bedding and kitchen 'stuff'.  It's exciting because she'll be in a shared house off campus this year, with a nice large room and her friends around her.  I'm a little sad, though, because I shall miss her all over again, as she has been home for around 7 weeks now.  Still, it's good to know that she has a happy life of her own that she is excited to return to. 

Hope your weekend is a good one.

Happy crafting.
xx