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!
 

New Years resolutions

Happy New Year everyone.

Is the New Year another day or a fresh start?  We all know changes have to be gradual if we are going to stick to anything.  In my studio I  have made a conscious effort to recycle more and use what I have on hand, and just create. This year, I will allow myself to make mistakes, let it be O.K. to not like what I do, and just focus on the process rather than the product.  We sometimes get stuck in planning.  When I reflect on my young art students I see them tearing through my hand painted boxes of scraps and ephemera creating magnificent works with an explosion of random beauty.  The older they got, the magic and whimsy decreased for most but a token few.  I need to remember this. 

 

"Eat more veggies" began with an old postcard that had this wonderful artichoke.  I fussy cut it out and set it on top of a page in my scrap watercolor journal.  I had prepared random pages in a handmade watercolor journal with gesso, stencils, inks so when the mood strikes, I'd have a springboard to create with.

Stampotique's Artichoke Monster  by Kira Nichols absolutely needed to jump on the page.  I had thrown away a spiral notepad in the recycle --- it peered up and begged to be incorporated in the composition. 

A vintage children's book is my source of "vitamin A", added sequins, washi tape, scraps, doodles, and a watching birdie snipped from Kira's Stack of Birds.

 

Preparing backgrounds in advance and setting them aside can be a great way to get your art engine going.  It is especially helpful if you have to budget your creativity time. 

 

Janet

 

A simple tag for Sunday

 

Fast and fun, here's a simple tag for grins.

You normally would not use a Halloween stamp for a Christmas tag but I find these little Stampotique tykes very versatile, rising to any occasion.

Add any hat to Corie and Voila, she is no longer a witch.

There is really nothing to disguising the images.  Stamp on scrap paper to create patterns for new outfits.  Cut and piece.   Add Ranger Liquid Pearls in white opal for hat fluff.

 

Free Christmas Tags

Happy Holidays from Vera Lane Studio!
Enjoy this colorful Christmas tag. Right click to save. 
Copy, paste, and adjust size in a Word Document.  Print and cut!


Janet

2014 Stampotique Designer's Blog

You have arrived on Vera Lane!

I’m excited to join the  2014 Stampotique Designer’sBlog team.  I will be posting on the Stampotique Designer's Blog Thursdays, come rain or shine. 

I have been designing images for Stampotique for about thirteen years and now I get to be on the other side, blogging my head off about these great stamps.

Our Design Team is absolutely inspiring, and often times genius!  If  you are new to stamping, a casual stamper, or hobby hooked, no doubt you will find inspiration from the weekly Designer's Challenges.

Not all rubber stamps are created equal.  Stampotique art stamps are not computer rendered.  You are getting the precise image directly from the artist's pen.  This is why art created with Stampotique art stamps looks so different from many mass produced stamps. 

So if you are not already a fan of Stampotique, please bookmark the above links.  Don't wait until 2014 -- join us now!

Janet

New nine image digi set for the holidays

 There is a new 9 image holiday digi set  available in my Etsy shop.  This set is a variation of images I created for Creative Publishing's  recent issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft.

 Images and sentiments are combined to create endless combinations of holiday cards and tags.  The designs are perfect for paper piecing.

When paper piecing your digital images, it is wise to scale down your paper size. Trim your scrapbook paper, and adjust in your printer's paper size settings.  For the tree, I printed on blank cardstock as well as a variety of scrapbook papers.  Once I cut out all my scrapbook sections I arranged the various patterns and glued them in place.  The tree was cut again and mounted on color coordinated papers.  Metal snowflake brads and Ranger Liquid Pearls were added accents.

Glue dots were used to make the images dimensional.  A little Distress Ink was applied to the paper sides after lightly sanding the edges.

Coordinate your papers for a monochrome look or use color opposites for some contrast.  I think the tree in combinations of pinks and cream would make a lovely and different holiday card.

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.