Summertime Ode

Summer means scattered projects everywhere...some long and some shorter.  I have a lot of gifts to make in the summer, so I like pieces that look like they took longer to make than they really do!  That's the crux of today's project. That, and clean lines.

My studio is so cluttered right now that I want a project that isn't.  So I  spent the day in solitude, listening to music from days gone by, and knocked out several gifts to stockpile. 

You can't tell from the beauty shot, but the final card is actually dimensional and mounted on a 4" x 4" birch cradle.  I buy birch cradle by the pack of six at Dick Blick or the like.  They are great to have around when you want a piece to stand or they can be wired for hanging.

This project involves a  little bit of cutting and a few supplies, but really comes together quickly. 

The first thing I did after the above "materials picture" was to use gel medium to affix the black glossy paper to the 4" x 4" birch cradle panel. 

Then I cut some satin white cardstock into three pieces so it would nest well during construction. 

The outer piece is a  3-3/8" square, then a 3" square, and finally a 2-¼ square.  I also cut a 1/2" wide narrow strip.


I did all my stamping with black Ranger Archival Ink.  The music square and statement were stamped first on the smallest paper. I then followed with a repeated clef motif (Nancy Curry Art) on the strip, and finished with the flowers (along the perimeter as a frame of sorts).

Then I layered them all onto the black glossy paper using ScorTape.  I used cushion to raise the center square up from the other layers.  The final touch was to add a brass treble clef which I attached with matte medium. 

Put them all together and you have your finished gift.  It took me about 30 minutes to complete my part and then it was ready after just a couple of hours drying time.

Simple.  Uncluttered.  Classic.  Now, if my studio could be described in the same way.


Check out RubberMoon Art Stamps for other stamps that go well together and look for me, here.

A R T

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

 

Sometimes the simplest idea really hits the mark.  In late March,  I was scheduled to demo some of my favorite techniques.  I picked out a few but needed one more to finish up.  A few days before I was in a craft store and saw these black letters that were nominal in cost and had curly qs!  I was excited.  I love working with interference powders, paints, etc. 

I chose Perfect Pearls to work with but there are several other kinds readily available (Confession:  I also own all the Pearl Ex powders by Jacquard). Pearl Ex does not have a binder but Perfect Pearls does.  Either work well for this project because I chose to use a liquid binder, Future Floor Finish (also known as Pledge Floor Finish.  I worked mainly with four types and liked three out of four:  interference green, interference gold, interference blue, and turquoise ( a non-interference color). 

(FIRST PICTURE):  I put some Future in a cup and spot applied it to the letter.  Then I put my brush into the interference gold powder and applied it to the areas marked with Future.  I chose Future as my binder because I wanted a mix of translucent and opaque coverage.  (SECOND PICTURE): I used all of the colors mentioned above.  NOTE:  I did decide that the gold didn't give me the coverage I wanted so I took care of that problem in the next photo. 

  

I went to my tried and true bronze Golden fluid acrylic and reworked the gold areas.  The opacity of the acrylic really worked well with the shimmery nature of the rest of the powders. 

I let this sit about 10 minutes to dry and gathered supplies to collage the letters further.  I wanted a mix of fine line and bolder stamps to add interest to the letters, and, of course, a few special words.

These were the RubberMoon stamps I chose:  joy, spiral star, three rings, mod marks, seven daisies, and xoxo (not pictured). I also threw in my own be stamp. I grabbed a black StazOn pad as well.  It covers fine on top of the dried Future.

 

The designs stand out perfectly on the interference areas. 

Here are some detail photos:

 

I used Scor Tape on the back and placed the letters on my studio door before taking the beauty shot.  NOTE:  These letters are on sale every few weeks.  This is a quick project that looks far more complicated than it is.  It's great for anytime or holiday gift giving and easily to personalize with your stash of RubberMoon stamps in minutes.  I'll look forward to seeing mine every time I walk into my studio. 

Bunny Butts

I absolutely love Easter for so many reasons, but mainly for two things:  bunnies and colors. I can't get enough of either.  Now, I like ALL bunnies, but I especially love the ones that are on the plump side so when I saw this Rubbermoon stamp, I knew I had to celebrate the holiday with it. My own frolic stamp was an afterthought, but what else would plump bunnies do but frolic? 

Materials:  white glossy paper, matting papers, white folded cardstock, Derwent Inktense, black  StazOn


Stamps used:  bunny butts
                       frolic



The card itself came together with leftovers from my classes.  I use a lot of dye inks with Cut n Dry Foam.  When I am done with my projects, I let the inks dry out on the foam for about a week.  When completely dry I rewet the pad with a spritzer and then take prints from it that leave a ton of white space.  This is the piece that I stamped the bunnies on.  It fit with my Easter theme perfectly.  Once the bunnies were stamped in black StazOn, I used four different Inktense pencils dipped in water to get that vibrant color on the tails.  I repeatedly stamped my frolic image and mounted for a festive springtime look.  I wonder where they are going?  Are they gossiping? OOOOO....maybe to an egg hunt!!!  My last favorite part of Easter..............

       H A P P Y    E A S T E R     &     H A P P Y    S P R I N G

Key to My Heart

Happy Valentine's Day!  Since it is that hearty kind of day,  I will create a couple of cards that celebrate those warm feelings but don't necessarily "scream" the V-holiday.  I categorize them  as "thinking of you" cards for your significant other(s),those in your "circle of trust," a favorite phrase of mine mentioned by Robert DeNiro in Meet the Parents, and those needing just a little TLC.   RubberMoon has held the key to my heart for many moons.  The artists that have created for the company, new and old, make designs are perfect for these special cards and they all mix and match well together.  But having said that, I still have oodles. 

To prepare, I decided color themes and got out my supplies.  Two cards were on the agenda for today; one red and gold, and one,  light blue and green.  The RubberMoon stamps I chose are Zen heart, key plate, moon & back, joy, ink splatter, and the Red Rubber Palette.  Also, in a shameless Curry plug, I also used one of mine, "for all time."  Other supplies include textured and printed papers, Golden Fluid Acrylic in Bronze and Mars Black, black StazOn, X-Acto knife and cutting mat,  heart and black round brads, and Score Tape. 

I started the first card by adding Golden bronze paint to the palette with a cosmetic sponge.  I then pressed the slightly textured cream cardstock into the paint and pulled up quickly.  I love the haphazard coverage and LOVE that the palette cleans quickly with a baby wipe or water.

I cleaned the palette and added a bit of black paint with a sponge and quickly stamped the key plate and the ink splatter to add some interest.  You don't have as much time because of the quick-drying acrylic, but I do like the coverage that the paint gives over the other paint. 

I added a piece of black glossy to the cream with Score Tape before cutting around the plate on three sides to make a window.  I decided I wanted some movement on it somewhere during the creation process! It's nice to be able to make changes along the way.   I finished by scoring it with a ruler and bone folder so it had a controlled open position.

I cut a matching piece of cream cardstock and stamped the Zen heart and phrase on it using black StazOn.  It was easy to attach with Score Tape.

To finish, I then stamped joy on the inside of the door AND.....

hole punched the top and bottom of the key plate and filled them with black round brads. That added a little more interest to that window  I was so excited to cut out.

 And....... voilà:     

Now it was time to explore a new direction!  Using Ranger Adirondack dye inks in Juniper and Stonewashed, I scattered the ink splatter stamp around the front, back and inside of the white square textured card. 

Once interest was added to the white, I centered and affixed a paisley printed square and teal smaller square.  I then stamped the key plate onto embossed cardstock with black StazOn ink (TRICK:  cleanly stamping onto that heavily textured paper is difficult so I keep a fine tipped Pitt or Micron nearby and handy and simply fill in the areas that didn't stamp well due to the lumpy landscape.)
I then used the hole punch and heart brads to finish that centerpiece before adding this to the center of the other squares.  

To finish, I stamped the inside sentiment inside withe the same blue ink and called it a day.

 And again,  voilà:  

As always, I love my return to card-making art.  It is so fun to take out a few materials and see where they lead you.  It's even more fun when those that receive them, love the time you took to do the custom work.  Thanks so much for being in my "circle" today. 

Moon and Back

 

Guess How Much I love You by Sam McBratney was a mainstay in our household when Sammi was little.  Who could resist the floppy rabbit and the famous line depicted in this pendant?  Well, we couldn't.  It isn't strange then that I chose that for the focus of the jewelry the very week I came back from taking that same child back to college, a new college at that.  My heart is not broken, but it is a little chipped, so this piece of art was cathartic for me. 

With my idea in mind, I got some of my supplies ready.  I already had the bezel and Ice Resin in my studio.  If you haven't used Ice Resin before, you should give it a try.  It is my favorite resin out there and is very user friendly if you follow the instructions carefully. I had a great teacher in Nancy Wethington!

My stamps for this project are in the picture about and below.  Above is "starry night" that I stamped onto an old background paper with some spot colored watercolor.  It was stamped twice in Lamp Black (touching perimeters) since the bezel was a little wider than the stamp. Below I stamped "to the moon & back"on white cardstock in Lamp Black ink (right image).  I then took the stamped image up to the printer and reduced it 40% (left image).

I dried and trimmed the image to fit in the bezel before adding Perfect Paper Adhesive to affix. The fact that the stamped paper had some other color to it before stamping, added some interest to the sky.  I was quite happy with that. 

I cut the words apart and used the same glue and a toothpick to affix them to the background sky.  It's important at this point to let everything dry.

Once dry, I like to give it a quick seal with Krylon to make sure the dye ink is not reactivated by the resin. I noticed while I was spraying the imperfections in the bezel's perimeter.  These were Bali bezels and they all seemed to have that handmade look to them.  I embraced the imperfection. 

Now, the fun part starts.  I am not a jewelry expert by any means but anyone can do it with some patience and the right studio ingredients. Handy items are:  disposable plastic gloves, plastic plates,  baby wipes, disposable medicine cups, and disposable stirrers of some sort.  Below you see a medicine cup that I've used a Sharpie on to delineate the two amounts to pour.  Part A is poured first to the first line and part B follows to the second line. 

 Gentle stirring for 2-3 minutes mixes them together so that they have tan egg white-like consistency.

There may be small bubbles no matter how gently you fold the two parts together, but I've had most of them disappear once poured or drizzled. If they remain, they can be popped later. 

Before the next step, be sure your bezel is on something plastic.  The resin will not stick to it as it dries in case there is spillage.  This particular bezel is not as deep as some, so I prefer to drizzle the resin using the wooden stick.  I have more control that way so that it doesn't seep over the edges.  If that happens, your best bet is to use a baby wipe to take the excess off before it dries. 

Your image may darken a little ( I seem to notice that more with darker backgrounds) until the resin settles in, but it will lighten later.  Dry time is approximately three days. At that point there will be more contrast between the sky and the words.   My beauty shot at the top was taken 12 hours after pour. Already, it was starting to lighten.   To finish it, I would attach a jump ring (which I was out of for some unknown reason, and then add a chain.  To view some other class sample pendants, click here and here.

Thanks so much for visiting RubberMoon and me!  See you on Valentine's Day in this very spot. 

Joy

December is a frenetic month in so many ways, but there are moments to stop, think, and reflect scattered all through the month.  I had some of those moments this week when we spent some time riding in the car with soft holiday music playing.  I LOVE to look at Christmas lights as many times during the month as I can.  Tonight was no exception.  There is always familiarity, of course, with all the icons of the season, but there is something new to experience every year if you really look closely.  I love to see the color changes in the whites, the lines people choose to accentuate outside, the color trends, and love the variety of wreathes.

I feel the same way about ornaments.  I love to fall in love with them every year when we are hanging them.  (Yes, I have weeded some out through the years, so the ones I have made the cut.)When I saw these ornaments by Rubbermoon, I knew they would be perfect for my "Victorian" era Christmas project.

Stamp references:  white and black border (db4986i catalog p. 60), spiral ornament (mk264a catalog p. 89), checkerboard ornament (ge2551c catalog p. 86),  stars and swirls on ball (I drew the topper), and my all-time favorite word, joy.

I have been obsessed with manipulating Citrasolv backgrounds so I took a random National Geographic page that had already been sprayed with Citrasolv in a National Geographic and left to dry while the magazine was still intact.  For more info on this process, visit the tutorials on my blog in September and October. So, as you can see below, this piece is torn straight out of the magazine.  I didn't trim it down so you could see the raw manipulation (totally happenstance).  I believe the original picture was some kind of cricket match.  I chose it only for color.  I went in search of a page with green and then fell in love with the peachy secondary color on this page.  This page was done around six weeks ago, but you can rework it after the fact.  I make piles of pages.  Become best friends with someone with a National Geographic stash.  You'll be glad you did. 

 These are some of the supplies I use when reworking a page.  I often use India ink and dip pens, stencils, stamps, paint brushes, etc.  That's only the tip of the iceberg, though. 

For this particular design, I chose to remove a pattern around the edges with Terri Stegmiller's Layered Salad stencil.  I did first cut down the design to remove the text from the article and to have a workable size.  The detail picture below shows which part of the stencil I used with a paper towel scrap lightly dipped in Citrasolv.  I was able to remove a lot of the green, leaving the peach behind. The second picture below shows the finished border. 

Now it was time to make this into something interesting.  I started by stamping the white and black border stamp in the middle using Black StazOn. This addition of black pushed the background back where I wanted it and began the composition.

I continued with the ornaments, starting the ball in the lower right corner, and then the checkerboard ornament in the upper left corner.  I rough cut a mask of the checkerboard ornament and placed it over the stamped image so that I could stamp the third spiral ornament behind.  I hand drew lines and made a ornament top with a XS Pitt Artist Pen.

To compliment the composition by I then masking off all but one side of the border stamp and stamping it along the perimeter for a repeat pattern.  I added some black into the border with another great stencil by Joanne Sharpe for the StencilGirl's Club. Then I finished it off with the simple word joy at the bottom.  Now who would have thought this was a cricket game????  That's the beauty of creating art from something else.  I know.  You now know, but no one else would see anything except a complex background. 

While I liked this so far, but it still needed some tactile texture so I mounted all of it with two sided tape to green cardstock, and then sliced a tiny bit of peach to slide under before adding it all to matte black heavy cardstock.  (I decided to make this a card, but this could also have been mounted and framed.) I then took my all-time favorite PPA matte glue from USArtquest and some of their Guilt Trip pearls and went to town using my toothpick with a little bit of PPA to pick up the Prills right from the container.  The antiqued gold color and organic nature of the Prills was perfect to finish off the ornaments.

I love to do oddly colored Christmas pieces.  It keeps it fresh for me!  I hope you enjoyed it.  Rubbermoon has oodles of other Christmas and holiday stamps.  Check them out and please comment with any technique questions you might have here, my website or on my facebook art page. I'll see you on my blog on December 24 for holiday part 2, a holiday gift from Rubbermoon and me.