A Mermaid's Life

This post includes 2 subjects: creative writing and making your own textural/dimensional paste.  Lets start with textural paste first.  

I checked a library book out recently that talked about making your own paste by combining acrylic medium with a thickener such as sand, clay or talc.  I've had both matte and glossy gel medium for quite a while now and as they are both starting to get rather thick I figured why not give it a try.  So I grabbed my matte medium, re-inkers and some talc powder and started to play around with the idea.  It was easy to do and the results are amazing!   I don't know for sure buying pre-made paste may be cheaper in the long run but it is nice to know that I can make a small batch to use on a project anytime I want.

See the wonderful bubble texture on the left of this first picture, the right side looked like that originally but I couldn't leave things alone.  There was one little spot that didn't look right so I decided I neede to "fix" it and flattened it out instead.  I should have remembered the "Un-Rules" of mixed media that we started over at SCS:  it doesn't have to be perfect.  I've added another rule to the list, leave things alone until they are dry.  At least I was able to do something with the mess I'd created by taking a craft stick to create fish scales, sort of any way.

The texture on the bottom of the page in this next picture shows how I used both the positive and negative of a stencil.  I laid the stencil down on the right corner to apply my paste and then flipped it over onto the left corner to use the paste that was now on the top of the stencil.  The stencil I used by the way was actually a Cuttlebug die cut out of card stock.  Looks a lot like a fishing net to me, what do you think?  I saved the die cut and will use it sometime in the future, which makes that one die cut a 3 for 1, yeah!

I created the mermaid freehand and am pretty proud of the way she came out.  I followed another "unrule", don't be afraid, just do it.  If  I can do it so can you, I challenge you to to jump in and draw or create something without a stamp or stencil, nobody needs to see it if you don't like the way it turns out but at least you tried.  I learned me lesson, after the mermaid was completely dry I painted her with some iridescent green Twinkling H2O's so she would sparkle and shimmer in the light.  It also helped her stand out better on the page since I used the same color of paste as I had used at the top and bottom of the page, if you look close you can see the green.  I  hand drew a mouth and eyes and she was done.  Hint when creating eyes, draw a larger white oval or dot first then put a smaller dot of your chosen color in the center of the white dot.

I loved the way all the textures turned out on this piece but was stumped at this point as to what to do next.  What kind of journaling goes with mermaids anyway?!?!  This is where the let go and just do it mantra came in handy again.  I grabbed a piece of paper and started writing down what I though being a mermaid would be like and within no time at all I has some free verse of sorts that I knew I wanted written on my journal page so I started writing and before I knew it the page was full.  Now I want to be a mermaid because it sounds like a wonderful place to live.

Art journaling really does help you free your creative nature, the more I art journal, the more I'm finding that teenage girl who loved to doodle and write silly stuff again because while making this page I could feel her stirring, trying to wake up again.  I will definitely be exploring my creative side more.  

About that "letting go and just do it" thing isn't so bad either, I kinda liked it.  Give it a try, I'm glad I did.

Cards with patterned paper

Recently I saw a pack of paper at Tuesday Morning that I just had to have, it was a 25 sheet pack of all the same image.  I rarely use pattern paper, I'd much rather use stamps, inks, etc... to create my own backgrounds but it was such a bargain and it was just so pretty.  I instantly started thinking of all the quick cards that could be make with it.









 It is 12 x 12 and has 6 different images on the page, all of which are A2-ish in size.  That's 6 cards per sheet and I got somewhere around 25 sheets of paper, all for the amazing price of 99 cents.   The paper is not card stock weight but that was fine with me since I would be using it as a layer not the base for my cards.

I've made 2 card with it so far and am playing with a mini book which I'll share another time.  This first card is unfinished and waiting for the "perfect" occasion to come along.  It is 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 and the base layer was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  I had to run it through my Big Shot twice to emboss the entire front side which left seams.  Most of the seam is covered up but the area's at the top and bottom that do show I decided to play up by adding bead ribbon half way only stopping at those seams.  Sometimes it's better to make the best of something and  "go with it" than to try to hide a flaw.

The book was created using a Spellbinder die set and a script stamp from Rubbernecker.  Thought it was finished when I noticed the purple ribbon scrap in a jar over my desk, it was the perfect size to be a book marker.  I then added a few foil flower stickers over similar flowers on the pattern paper.  The maroon layer was punched on all four corners with a Fiskar punch before I glued everything together.  I hope I don't need a sympathy card anytime soon but this would be perfect so I'm putting the this card unfinished into my stash.

The other card ended up becoming a mother's day card for my mother in law because she loves her flower gardens.  This paper has very faint grey script on it so after die cutting the blue grey elements for this card I once again pulled out that Rubbernecker script stamp and stamped them to match.  It is subtle but really helped draw out the script in the patterned paper.  The doily die cuts are Spellbinder and the scroll and butterfly are Cuttlebug.  The Happy Mother's Day I printed off on my computer after measuring the area inside of the scroll die cut, that's what those rulers you see in your editing software are for by the way.  I'm not into making my own paper flowers so I finished it off with a silk flower that I'd added a gold brad to.

If anyone know who made this paper pattern I'd love to know, unfortunately there wasn't any info on the back side of the paper and no info in or on the packaging either.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

Texas Proud

Just a quick post to show a journal page I did this past weekend.  My son is home from college for the summer and we decided to go to the Fort Worth stockyards and wander around for a while as we were catching up.  The area has plenty of history to go around and it always makes me proud to be a Texan after a visit there.  There is so much to see and do there, what a great afternoon.  Here is a link if you want to know more: fortworthstockyards - history.  I did this page that night after dinner, Texas was definitely still on my mind.

First off I know the flag colors are arranged wrong but the gold star that I had looked better over a white background and there are no rules in journaling anyway, right?!

 The blue and red are a watercolor wash and the boots and hat were done with a stencil in chalk pastels.  Sorry you can't dash out to pick this one up because it is one my son got at a birthday party when he was little.  I have no idea where the paper star came from either but because of the two tone colors it was easy to crease and then add skinny slivers of foam tape underneath so that it has the same up and down texture and shape as a sheriff's badge.  Looks so cool in real life.  The longhorn stamp is from Beeswax and the other 2 are from Stamping Sensations.

The page as a whole, including the writing came together really quickly.  Next time you are stuck for a topic try focusing on your heritage or family history.  I'll bet you will have plenty of ideas all of a sudden or you can click on the link above and journal about the cowboys and cattle drives.

Until next time... Yee Haw Y'all!!

Scenic stamping in journaling

I have a quite a few half page scenes in my stamping room.  Most were experiments and not my best work which is why I still have them.  I decided to gather them all up and put them in with my backgrounds for journaling and I've already used one, all I had to do was journal and it is ready to put in my book.

The stone house is from Stamp Camp, the Hula Bunnies and tree are Stamp La Jolla images, the sun is from Anita's Art Stamps and the flower image is from A Stamp in the Hand.  I used several techniques on this piece including water color markers on stamps and on the images after stamping; a chalk pastel background; and colored inks on stamps instead of just black.

The journaling around the page says: Summer is here and the kids are home.  Now I'm back to cooking, cleaning and running all over town every day.  My stamps are abandoned and lonely.    I'll bet a lot of us mom's will be feeling this way soon if not already.

One quick side note/observation.  I keep forgetting to leave a binding margin on my pages, I may have to go thru and draw a line on all the pages I have waiting to be used because no matter how many times I say I'm going to remember to not write in that space when I sit down to do actual journaling I always forget.

The journey to becoming who you want to be

I have a stamp by Stampland of Chicago that talks about it never being too late... and knew it needed to be included on a page.  I'll give you the full quote later but first lets talk about the background of this page.

It is another mono-print and I decided to use some glycerin as my blending medium this time to see what happens and while the page came out pretty in the end, the colors blended together completely.  I'm not sure if I used too much or it is too liquid to begin with.  I'll have to experiment more.   I wanted to use my color wheel to pick my third color and was skeptical of using the color green but it said it was a good choice so I went with it, the colors I used are: burgundy, gold and a small bit of  a light green, I was still skeptical.  Like was already mentioned the paints were too wet and blended together completely, which resulted in the green disappearing and I was left with a golden pinkish burgundy background.  I liked the blend of the red and gold and over all it was pretty but definitely needed to brought up a notch.  That's when I realized the lighter green I had chosen looked like a patina, so I grabbed a sea sponge and dabbed a little more gold here and there for highlights and then added some green "patina" onto the page.  

Maybe that color wheel thing works after all because now my page really popped.   Once it was dry I took a Distress pad in Tea Stain and ran it across one side of the page to "age" it and make it look like someone really had spilled tea on that edge of the page.

Here are the embellishments I decided to use on my page, all of them were leftovers or things I had done previously but never used.  I  did use some of the same color from the background to color the swirl die and the doily die.  The ribbon was actually purple so I dropped it on top of  the same burgandy ink pad that had been used to stamp that heart and pressed away until it changed color.  You can see the difference it made below.

 The above panel was an experiment in double embossing and I love how it came out.  The embossing folders are Sizzix and Cuttlebug and the stamps are Lost Coast and Beeswax.  The flowers are also Cuttlebug, the swirl is Sizzix again and the gold flower centers and leaves are left overs from a Cuttlebug label die.  The flower center at the bottom left is a faux opal, here is a link to the post for making them: http://stampinstacystyle.blogspot.com/2011/12/im-still-in-learning-mode-but-found.html#links


Here is my finished page including the stamp from Stampland of Chicago which says: "It is never too late to become what we might have been" by g eliot.  Words to live by don't you think?  Have a wonderful weekend!

Discovering the story of Me

This is page 2 of my journal and was created using a half sheet of Kromecoat white glossy that I found in my stash, apparently I has streaked blue ink across an entire sheet and then never used it .  I felt glossy was perfect because this is a "snapshot" of who I have thought I was as an artist for years, a rubberstamper.  

The page is mostly stamping with some words glued onto it and the stamps are from many different companies, none of them new:   Stamp Francisco, Lost Coast, Beeswax, Innovative Stamp Creations, Rubber Stamp Tapestry, Lasting Impressions with Panache and lastly the rose bud is from PSX.  There is a small bit of stenciling as well.

 I first glued the photo stamp image and rose onto my blue base page.  They had already been stamped and cut out and were ready to use.  I used something from my stash again, hurrah.  Of course I still have tons but maybe eventually I won't have several shoe boxes full of  bits and pieces, just a small manageable pile, yeah right!!

Then I just started stamping and having fun. I had gone through some ad magazines and cut out a few words and phrases that I thought I could use before tossing them into recycle so next I glued some of those onto my page.  The last thing I did was add a bit of distress ink in Tea Stain around the edges and called it done.

I've already started the next page and hope to have it posted soon.  

I've decided to try Art Journaling and get back into Mixed Media

I have just started getting into mixed media, actually getting back into it.  I did mixed media 10-15 years ago but got distracted by the card making craze.  I have to say I don't know why I ever stopped, I am having so much fun.  Best part is my muse who has been missing for way too long is back and my passion to create has returned.  It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning and the reason I jumped up out of bed.   I needed to check on something I started late last night, what a great feeling!

So far I've not done much with art journaling, only created one page and a few mono-print background but it's a start.  I also pulled background papers I'd previously created with inks directly on paper and never used.  I am putting all my backgrounds together in a folder then when I'm ready to create something my backgrounds are together and ready for the next layer, all I have to do is pick one.  My plan is to make individual journal pages and then when I have enough I will bind them all together, time to dust off that BIA that I've hardly used.  This way I can use a variety of surfaces and tailor their use to the medium I'm in the mood for that day.  I hope you follow along with me on this newest creative adventure.

Here are a few of pictures of what I've done so far, like I said I'm a beginner so not much to show yet.

This is an ink and stencil background, if you look closely you
will see larger yellow squares as well as the little ones.

These mono-prints I did with acrylics on a Plexiglas surface.  I used cheap
craft paint that I already had on hand and I think they came out great
considering the paints were not only cheap but ancient old.

Here is the first page of my journal and except for the background page and a few stamps
was created entirely from things already out on my desk.

The above started with a background from my stash that I had added inks and acrylics in splashes directly to the paper.  I decided to glue bits of tissue paper that had been painted with H2O's here and there then I stamped a large script stamp to cover the whole page.  Next I stamped a corner stamp in opposing corners and my Live, Love, Laugh stamps randomly all over then just started gluing stuff onto the page.  The smile image is a left over from a swap several years ago that I almost used on a card recently but didn't.  The glitter was at the bottom of the dish I had my tissue pieces in, as well as some tiny die cut leftovers.  You know those bit you get when you cut a larger die and think, I should save those I might be able to use them on something.  Can't believe I finally used some of them.

There isn't any actual journaling on this page but it will be the introductory page anyway so that was okay with me.  I'm hoping the "live, love, laugh" stamps I picked will inspire me to do just that when I'm creating pages and remind again to do so once it's been bound into a book so I did sort of have a journal thought on the page.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my first steps into art journaling and come back often to see what I'm creating.  In case you are wondering, there will still be plenty of stamping; the "thing" I jumped out of bed to look at this morning was a stamped image I watercolored very late last night.  Wonder if it will end up on a card or journal page, hmmmm.