Watercolor creams with sequin waste

I love sequin waste.  It comes in a Mylar roll in various “sequin” sizes.  The holes are from where the sequins are punched.  They make amazing stencils and are great for backgrounds.

For this fast and easy background I layer a piece of sequin waste on my cardstock.  You can hold in place or tape down with washi tape to avoid any shifting.  I used a red watercolor cream, from Brea Reese and rubbed over the sequin waste, using it as a stencil.  I took a baby wipe and rubbed out some areas.  I repositioned the “stencil” and rubbed over the holes to leave some of the circular patterns showing.

The monochromatic background is just enough tp layer your card elements.  The little whimsical girl is from the Vera Lane Studio set “Give me some sugar”   Keeping this card in the red tones makes for a visually pleasing composition with very little effort!

Design Team 2018

Happy New Year everyone!   Vera Lane Studio has been busy planning ahead for our 2018 collections.  We released 2018 Matilda early and she has found her way into many hearts.  We have two new lines and our "Tiny Veras" that will be released each month, collage sheets and planner props too!  Our new line will lend itself to more art journaling and mixed media to prepare to see some new things emerging from the studio.

As we say goodbye to two design team members we are moving ahead with our very talented ladies; Corrie, Carole, Stephanie, Sharon, and Teresa.  New to Vera Lane Studio Design Team we are bringing aboard Angie Jones. Thanks to Stephanie for locating the perfect fit for our team, Angie has already been creating behind the scenes and you will love her style.  Angie is attracted to the quirkiness of Vera Lane Studio and has been a member of several design teams.  She would like to share a little bit about herself:  

"I live in Queensland, Australia with my hubby, son, daughter and our spoilt adopted Greyhound.

I have always loved colouring in since I can remember....my stamping / card making started around 30 years ago.....I bought some copic markers at a craft show about 3 years ago and sort of yes/ no for a year. Around 18 months ago, I did a few online classes and bam.....whole collection of markers now and I colour everyday!  I still have traditional stamps but I love and prefer Digital images now. I also create art journal pages, atc’s and have just really gotten into decorating my planner/diary."

Welcome Design Team 2018!

Please join us on Face Book and follow on Instagram to see what 2018 will bring!

SDC 212; Use only two stamps

Nellie is our hostess this week challenging us to use just two stamps.  Nellie says she likes to use lots of stamps in her creations.  I tend to use one or two and add collage elements.  We all have unique ways of working with these stamps which makes it all the more fun to join in on these designer challenges.

Even though Toto belongs to Dorothy in the land of OZ I though he'd look awfully cute along side of Nina.  I love finding random sentences in books to work into my cards and this copy, "I don't know what will happen" seems to fit perfectly with Toto's expression. 

My background is stenciled and stitched to cardstock.  Scrap cut into a scallop border and washi tape adds to the composition.   "Just for you" was typed on the computer and printed.

Simple prompt Sunday; 5, 5, 5

from Good to be home set

Welcome to Simple Prompt Sunday.   Need a little art fix but don't have the time?  Join Vera Lane Studio Digi Stamps in a quick little layout.  You never know when it becomes that perfect little card to cheer someone's day.

PROMPT:  5-5-5

Since today is the 5th of July you will create a 5 x 5 card with FIVE elements. ONE must be a VLS digi stamp and FOUR must be random scraps from your stash.  Try not to cut anything.  You may have scraps or even tags that are precut, but the task is to find "as is" and arrange. 

Please post your creation to our FaceBook page and hashtag the set you used.

Have a happy Sunday!

Collage Box

 Last week I had crazy fun with one of my little art students.  I gave her a choice of things to do and she chose to learn the Gelli Plate.  We made so many papers and they are so fun to look at.  I made some more when she left and found myself with yet another pile of fun papers.

 

If you are like me you have boxes of your collage and printed papers that are put away.  You really need to see what you have, right?  When I used to teach elementary art I created collage boxes for the kids.  They were wildly painted and Mod Podged with scraps.  Real random, real fun. So I decided I needed to make one for myself. Then I thought, what a great gift idea for an arty friend!  I immediately knew to grab my Collage Definition and made the hang tag.  I brushed the edges of the tag with a damp brush and Inktense color blocks.  Then I added some tiny scraps, doodled some and added a ribbon.

 

The box was covered quickly with random layers.  I even enhanced some papers with my Random Acts Alphabet.  I stamped individual letters on the printed papers and cut some out for future projects.  I'll know where to look for them in my funky collage box.

 

After my box was dry, I added a decorative draw pull to the front of the box.  What a fun gift!  I'm so glad I made it.  I'm gonna make more.  And I think the little hang tag just tops it!

 

What does the fox say?

Ylvis's hit "What does the fox say" motivated me to make these animal sound ATC's.  I began with repurposing my over spray papers that I cut into 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" cards. I looked through my Stampotique images for animal images, stamped, colored, added scraps, some washi tape, and scribbled.

Unfortunately I was multitasking at the time and I'm not so pleased with the set. But I think it is still a super cute idea and I offer it to you to give a try.

My Stampotique images used in this ATC collection are all cropped. They are from the following stamps:

Barnyard cube 9106
Chicks cube 9098
Crow line 9210
Cat family  9251

Look through your Stampotique stamps with the kid's and have them identify animal sounds. Make your own set of animal sound cards for a fun activity with your littles!

Thanks for taking a look!

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.

Count your rainbows

I received my shipment of Stampotique Wizard of Oz characters this week. After stumbling across the quote, "Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms,” I respond to this week’s designer's challenge no. SD91 Sketch featuring the Dorothy image.
 

The colors from the background papers were motivation to pull additional scraps that directed the color palette of the piece.  Dorothy is colored with Copics and a little glitter for her ruby shoes.

Note: The background painted paper is made with tempera in my children’s workshops.  We set up trays of diverse colors at each station and apply watered down tempera to make solid sheets.  After the sheets are colored, children will move about to different stations where there are a variety of gadgets to print with.  Repeat patterns added. When the papers are dry they are flattened and cut in quarters.  I use these papers for a wide variety of projects.

Let's Chat -- Les Chats

As good as I am about multi-tasking; blogging has slipped the “to-do” list.  My mother’s health rapidly declined since my last post and we lost her at the end of March.  I think my Dad was tired of waiting for her as she passed the day before his birthday.  So I hope they are now guiding me and encouraging me to do the things I love to do.

I never liked to color coloring books as a child, but I did enjoy LOOKING at them. I always loved the contrast of the black line – how clean it was against the light cream page.  I liked whales, Chilly Willy, so the whole black and white thing is a childhood issue for me.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  Maybe that is why I prefer to draw with an inked line rather than color and embellish.

Do I own color? Yes, I am obsessed with collecting color.  From Copics to Lyra pencils, from Caran D’ Ache Neoart to Crayolas, paints, and pastels, chalks, and inks – I have them all.  Paper?  Another obsession, but give me a handful of Pitt pens in jet black and I am a happy one.

My recent black line play has led to the “Les Chats” collection.  Meet Luce, Luc, Marcel and Francoise.  I’m sure there are wonderful things that can be created with this quarto of kitties with colorful imaginations.  For now, I’m going to keep doodling and see what pours out of my pen.

Stampotique New Image Blog Hop

Queen of Hearts  (small trees are from mini-city cube)

Welcome to our blog hop introducing a new artist as well as many new stamps from myself and other artists.  You should have hopped here from Joanne Wardle.

  If you did not come from Joanne Wardle blog, you will want to start at the Stampotique Designer's Blog.

Join us along the blog hop for a chance to win some new stamps as a random winner will be chosen from one of the designer blogs as well as one from our Stampotique blog, so make sure to jump through the hop and leave a comment here when you are finished.  Let us know what your favorite new stamps are.  We will announce the random winners on our next challenge on 2/22/12 so you have a week to hop around.

Wunderland ATCs, Rabbit, Alice, Mad Hatter, Mushroom Forest, and Catepillar

Alice, Mushroom Forest, and Catepillar

From my blog you will hop on over to see what fabulous new stamps

Kira Nichols  came up with. 

Roc Nicholas

Kaz Boughton

Jane Wetzel

Gez Butterworth

Valerie Wilson

Willy Anderson

Maria Sabina Raita

Kim Howard

Nellie van Leeuwen

Vicki Garrett

Kate Crane

Joanne Wardle

Janet Klein
Kira Nichols
Stampotique Designer's Blog

La Petit Boulanger

"La Petit Boulanger" has arrived in my Etsy shop!  She's been on the drawing table for some time, but I have finally managed to make a sample.  She's really pretty cute in a funky sort of way.

The little cake slice plant is a fun image in itself.  I've have made birthday gift tags with that little image alone and it works quite nicely! 

The background is a watercolor wet on wet technique, when dried it was then embossed.  The text image and other decorative elements will arrive in my shop soon.

Thanks for looking!