Collage This!

Sometimes I find it hard to get out my own head.  Creating has a few rules in a sense.  Like if you want something to stick to a page, something to hold it there.  Maybe adhesive on the back, wet paint, or a handy dab of glue.  But when it comes to other things, like ideas, there really aren't rules.  Sometimes I get stuck on what I think it should be, then I see something and realize, I gotta get outta the box!

That's just what I did with my entry for the More Than Words August challenge - Collage or College!

A couple quick notes before we get too far into our artsy playdate.  We all know we need to make a little extra money, right?  I do this in two ways: being an Amazon affiliate and the Cliqly e-mail system.  When you follow the links to Amazon and make a purchase, I make a commission.  It's helpful for me to continue making the lovely art that I hope you enjoy.  The e-mail system is a super simple way to make money online when you don't have a lot of time.  I mean ten minutes, and most people have ten minutes.  Everything is set up, you log in, send e-mails that are already written, and watch commissions roll in.  You even get your own referral link to include in the e-mails to get referral commissions too.  And yes, it's absolutely for real and super easy to do to bring in some nice extra money.  Who couldn't use that?

Now onto the show!

This art journal page got me rethinking how I could do something.  I really wanted wings, and was trying to figure out how to do that.  I thought of a few different ways: drawing, stamping, using paint or some other media to draw wings on.  Then I changed my thinking and grabbed my die-cut stash.  Bingo!  I grabbed word die-cuts that were similar in color, not necessarily white, cut them up in different sizes, and crafted my wings.  Then I used some white paint and my white-out pen to give a little uniformity and shape as well as add details, and I had my wings!

My background was already started a bit with bits of paint everywhere.  I added quite a bit of stenciling, one of my favorite techniques.  Some of my stencils are older and hard to find.  For this page I used StencilGirl Scribble Scratch Stencil by Carolyn Dube, similar to this one by The Crafter's Workshop and  Traci Bautista's Circles Circles Stencil with Artist Loft Red Paint.

 
 I also used this chevron stencil from The Crafter's Workshop with Liquitex Basics Yellow Paint.

 

I also used an older Dylusions alpha stamp set for "no", a mini alpha stamp set for "ON," Dylusions Bordering on the Edge stamp set for a border, and an acrylic stamp set from Studio Calico (I think) for the stars.

 

I also used magazine cutouts, since this IS supposed to be collage.  I used a set of legs from a Dylusions stamp set called Mini Moo and outlined the word "ON" with a Uni Posca Ultra Fine Point Red Paint Marker.

I'm also submitting this to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use Your Favorite Technique.

Walking Home

 Why walk home when you can have a walking home?

Hello everyone!

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge is Architecture/Building, so I decided to have some fun with my home and Dylusions with a fairy tale/myth theme.

 

I started with a page with previous paint and stencil layers.  On the bottom is Dylusions Old School Numbers with blue paint.  I love using already started backgrounds.  It can take a daunting task, like a white page, and make it completely manageable.  I actually went through a few different pages before I settled on this one.

The house and legs are magazine cutouts.  So save those old magazines!  I also know my library at times will clean out their stash and sell the old copies for super cheap.  Go exploring and see what speaks to you.

The mushrooms are from Dylusions Doodle Parts.  I had stamped one, colored it, and cut it out a long time ago.  So I made a few more and colored them in with Tombow markers and some Artist Loft markers.  I really like these because they are saturated with gorgeous shades, and the two different tips allow for detail work and wide strokes.  I purchased mine individually, but the sets are also really good because they give lots of colors for you to play and the two tips allow for experimentation with different strokes and shading.

 To cut the mushrooms out of the white cardstock, I used an amazing tool.  Tonic Studios scissors with the burgundy handle.  Very important note with scissors: if you use a set of scissors on fabric, DO NOT use them on paper.  Yes, that's right, keep separate pairs for fabric and paper.  Paper dulls the edge of the blades, which means fabric will fray when you cut it, or try to cut it.  My Tonic pair are my paper scissors.  I have a separate, smaller pair for fabric that I will go into at another point.  And I must say, those are marvelous as well.

I searched through my stash for die-cuts dealing with home or adventuring, and arranged and glued everything down.  I also used my Sharpie pen to outline everything. 

Dylusions Journaling Block is a fantastic tool for many reasons, including using it to stamp Dylusions border stamps, which is what  used it for in making this page.  I also have to give a shout-out to my Archival Black Ink stamp pad.  Oh my goodness so I love this pad.  It lasts a long time (I'm still using mine years later), it's crisp, and you can put anything over top and it will be fine.  Or it can go over anything and look fantastic.  And have no fear, it comes in a wide array of colors.  Now there's different types of ink pads: dye, pigment, embossing, to name a few.  Archival is special, at least to me.  It's ink is permanent and vibrant.  Now the set I took my border stamp from is called Inbetweenies.  And yes, it's Dylusions.  I may be slightly obsessed with Dylusions.

I really enjoyed making this page, even if it didn't turn out exactly the way I expected.  No matter, it's the fun that's important, and I most certainly had a lot of fun!

Thanks for coming along on another adventure with me.  Bye for now!