Take some honey and plenty of money...

 

 In my quest to use what I have, recycle, and repurpose, this waste from repeated gelli printing became my inspiration.  The deep dark color and textured layering reminded me of ocean and night.  Immediately the children's verse "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear came to mind.

I combined a portion of my Cat Family and Kira Nichols Birdy Up to be the stars of the evening scene.  I drew the "pea green boat" as well as the honey and plenty of money.  France Papillion's Banner decorates the mast of the boat.  Shreds of fabric are added to add life to the evening sail.  The images were stamped with jet black StazOn , clear embossed, then colored with a combination of Copics and watercolor.
My background was created with layers of Gelli Plate printing using acrylics, stencils, and stamps.  Colored modeling paste enhanced a wave border that I had on hand.  A vintage button serves as a closure to the journal. 

I like to look for opportunities to combine stamps, cut them apart, add to, or reduce.  I encourage you to look at your rubber stamps (Stampotique of course) as puzzle pieces.  Tell a story, event, play, but most of all, have fun!
 

Modeling Paste, Gesso, Stencils

Prior to Stampotique's Designer's Challenge last week I had created a stack of backgrounds utilizing stencils, modeling paste, and gesso. 
I have a heavier gesso that worked well with a stencil, the lighter gesso was preferred to prime my paper surface.  While the heavier gesso works well with stencils, I slightly prefer the modeling paste for this application.

For this background: I scraped some gesso on cardstock with an old credit card.  Shades of green and blue green acrylic paint were also applied with the card. In the area behind the cat family  I masked an section to create a block image with antique border  and allowed to dry.  Modeling paste was applied through a portion of a chevron stencil.  I used  Liqutex modeling paste in a tube with a flip lid.  It's a simple motion to squeeze some paste onto the stencil and scrape.  I can flip the top back without stopping to cap a container to prevent my product from drying out.  This may not sound like a big deal, but when you are working with mixed media and accumulate a mess in the process, it is easy to neglect capping something and ruin your product.

I softened the antique border images with a light scraping of gesso.  A bit of Dylusions was sprayed on the modeling paste and wiped away. 

During this experiment session I used gesso and or modeling paste with either acrylics, spray inks, or a combination of both. My sheets were quite warped, so I used a book press to flatten them before adding them to my stash. This was not one of my favorite backgrounds but I decided to challenge myself to give it some life.

Bird in a cage and the cat family image were stamped with StazOn and embossed. Watercolor pencils were used to color the stamped images.

The rest of the piece is assembled with my usual scraps and scribbles.

I'm more of a dog person, so Carol Fox, this one is for you.

For the birds...

Today I have two bird images to share with you, one is a digi stamp, and one is in rubber! Both images will give you a smile.

Meet Magnolia.

Magnolia is a very versitile digi stamp, she comes with two additional images for you to manipulate in your card and paper crafts.  This image can be stretched for a tall card or pulled to create a shorter and chubby bird.  Magnolia's pusre can be small or stretched to create more of a shopping or oversized bag.

If you enjoy using digi images, please stop by Vera Lane Studio's Etsy shop.

If you prefer stamping in rubber, you may want to check out two sizes offered of "Bird Legs" from Stampotique.  She has lots of character, with a little more serious feel than Magnolia.
Stamp or print - today is for the birds.

 
Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Friday.