Jane Davenport's New Face Stencils paired with StampCow Stamps

I just got my new Jane Davenport face stencils in the mail today.  WooHoo!  They are so cute and coy.  I had to play with one of them immediately.  Which means I am back to making faces.  I wanted a very quick effect for her hair so I used the very organic StampCow stamps.  They have almost a Zentangle effect so I can tangle part of the hair and stamp part of it.  This face ended up looking like a fairy in the forest.

The paper was a piece of scrap artist paper from Stampington, the kind they give away in the magazine every month, love that stuff.  Staz-On black ink and a PITT artist pen for the black portions.  The colors come from SMOOCH ink.  Some have a little more glitter than others which gives this a mystical feel.

Check out her new 6" by 6" face stencils when you get a chance, they're really fun.  Take care ~ Renee

Pam Carriker Teaches Using Face Stencils

We were very fortunate to have Pam Carriker here at Ink About It in Westford, MA last weekend.  There were two all day classes that were taught and they were AMAZING!  We also had an opportunity to purchase her new stamps, stencils and new book.  Here are just a few photos of what was taking place and some of the students.

Here is the beautiful and talented Pam.

We folded 90# watercolor paper into 2 different sizes of work books.  This is handy to know so you can make your own art journals with a few simple folds.

Pam is demonstrating the final fold on one of the books.

This is one of Pam's samples showing how to use one of the face stencils.

Pam made it look like this with just gesso, a Stabilo Aquarellable pencil and some water.  Amazing!

Using bright acrylic paints, some water, a little black, gray, and white acrylic paint we learned how to make a color wheel.

Why make color wheels? you might ask.  By making color wheels you can find your own special palette of colors.  By making LOTS of color wheels, using her stencils, you really start to understand how color works.  You can use the wheel also as an element in your journal, as I did here in mine.

Since the class I've made about six color wheels and love filling them in, which I really didn't think I would but each one is so different.

My faces aren't as good as I would like them to be but I'm having fun doing a different style of face using bold colors that I mix myself and Pam's face stencils as my guides.  Here are a few samples of my own work.

I have to add some photos of the happy faces of the students in the classes!  We all had a fabulous time.

If you are not able to take one of Pam's classes, I would highly recommend her new book called Creating Art at the Speed of Life.  I started reading it while going through withdrawals after the classes ended.  I heard several people say exactly what I was thinking, I would have been happy to sit through a week's worth of classes with her.  The book also shows how to fold your own watercolor paper handmade journals, which are really cool.  

In closing I'd like to share some of Pam's amazing faces that she shared with us in her classes and very generously allowed us to photograph.  If you are interested in seeing more of her work, she is featured in the latest Art Journaling magazine by Somerset Studio (Autumn 2013 issue).

Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share these fantastic classes with you!  Take care~Renee

“Blog Hop: Mixed-Media with Guest Artist Pam Carriker’s New Stamp Designs”

I recently took 2 classes with Pam Carriker and it was truly worth the time and effort.  I love her new stamps and stencils that been recently released.  I have been playing around with her stamps and mixing in other people's stencils, like Seth Apters.  This is a part of a page in a journal that I'm working in right now.

The stamped wings look a little like sleeves on a dress.  I used Staz-On ink with the stencils for the background designs.
More later with photos of her classes!  Have a great week.  ~ Renee

Stampendous Steampunk Charms Stamps Make a Cute Card

My AIRs Themed Project, an all occasion "masculine" card!  Steampunk Style.

Stampendous has teamed up with IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® this month and sent all of the members of the AIRs team some of their adorable stamps.  One of the sheets of clear stamps that I received is called “Steampunk Charms” and that is the set I chose to use for this card.

Graphic 45 has a collection of wonderful, colorful papers that are new called “Steampunk Spells” so I thought this would complement the theme perfectly.

First I started by stamping the man’s image on an ATC to make it look like a playing card.  I stamped three balloons in the center and then stamped the number 3 and tiny hearts in either corner.  I colored in the balloons with IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® VersaColor™Pigment Ink Cyan Blue using an IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Fantastix™.  I have one of these Fantastix™dedicated to different colors so I can use them over and over.  The tiny hearts were colored the same way using IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® VersaColor™Pigment Ink in Orange.  I distressed the edges of the ATC with Cyan Blue too.  Now that the stamping is completed I applied IMAGINE Crafts®GooseBumps™Texture Spray sparingly by unscrewing the bottle and using the plastic tube inside like a paint brush.  I applied small amounts to the men’s hats, the hearts and the center balloon, which is a small balloon cut out of the G45 paper and glued over the stamped balloon in the center position.  The ATC is set aside to dry completely.

Assembling the card is simple; each piece of matting is ¼” smaller than the last.  I cut a panel out of the paper to place the burlap, card and ephemera on.  Then the black card stock and the black cat paper under that.  The entire panel is attached to the blank cream colored card.  I put a mini clip on the top edge of the ATC.  A quick swipe of IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Memento Luxe™ Mixed Media Pigment Ink in the lovely Peanut Brittle color distresses the edges perfectly.  I applied IMAGINE Crafts®GooseBumps™Texture Spray sparingly by unscrewing the bottle and using the plastic tube inside like a paint brush again to the clocks that are on the paper panel behind the card.  It just gives it a little more sparkle. 

Supplies

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® VersaColor™Pigment Ink Cyan Blue, Orange

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Fantastix™

IMAGINE Crafts®GooseBumps™Texture Spray

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Memento Luxe™ Mixed Media Pigment Ink in Peanut Brittle

Stamps

Stampendous Steampunk Charms

Other

Graphic 45 paper collection “Steampunk Spells”

Metal clocks and clip from Alpha Stamps

Burlap

Adhesive

Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate your visit!  Have a great day. ~ Renee

GooseBumps make a great resist!

This is my AIRs Project of Choice for the month of September.  I received  some IMAGINE Crafts® GooseBumps™Texture Spray and also with a dauber top in the new Shimmer color along with ten different colors of IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®VersaColor™ Pigment Ink.  How can you go wrong with that combination?  I decided to use the GooseBumps™ (it reminds me of liquid plastic) as a resist on a piece of 140# watercolor paper to start out the base of this project.  I did a tutorial to walk you through the process so grab a cup of coffee or other appropriate beverage and watch this colorful card creation from start to finish.

I start by laying a stencil down on a large piece of water color paper and spraying, then daubing the IMAGINE Crafts® GooseBumps™Texture Spray through the stencil onto the paper.  When this is dry I start applying color.  I used IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®VersaColor™ Pigment Ink in Fresh Green, Green, Cyan, Turquoise, Cyan and Orange.  I applied it directly from the pad to the paper and then wiped it with a baby wipe.  Now you can see how the GooseBumps™ pops through acting as a resist to the ink.  I added small amounts of gesso to this master board and will add some stamping later.

Using the same inks I made a smaller master board on a piece of white cardstock to make my flower.  After the ink was on the paper I applied IMAGINE Crafts®Embossing Powder in Iridescent to give the paper even more texture and heat set it with my heat gun.  The VersaColor™ in Violet is perfect for the flower that I stamped with a Peony nestabilities stamp.

After stamping the 3 parts of the flower I cut it out and assembled it with a violet colored brad in the center.  Now to put the components all together is a snap.

The base of the card is a piece of white card stock folded to make a 5” by 7” card.  I cut out a piece from the watercolor master board and stamped some stems on it and a few circles with IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®StazOn®Solvent Jet Black Ink then cut a piece to measure 3 ½” by 2 ½”, this will serve as a “vase” for the flower.  Glue this to the blank card.

Using that same master board I die cut some leaves using a Sizzix die and my Big Kick machine.  All the components are ready to be assembled.  I glued the leaves down and then the flower centered with the “vase”.  I stamped “Get Well” in the upper right hand corner and added a tiny violet bow with a glue dot.  The edges are distressed with yummy IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink in Peanut Brittle.

This may seem like a long process but when completed you have enough of your own master board papers to make several cards like this not to mention extra pieces that can become ATCs.  There are lots of possibilities here for future projects!

Supplies

IMAGINE Crafts® GooseBumps™Texture Spray and also with a dauber top in Shimmer color

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®VersaColor™ Pigment Ink in Fresh Green, Green, Cyan, Turquoise, Cyan and Orange

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink in Peanut Brittle.

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®StazOn®Solvent Jet Black Ink IMAGINE Crafts®Embossing Powder Iridescent

Stamps

Hero Arts and Inkadinkado

Peony by Heartfelt Creations

Other

Watercolor 140# paper

White card stock

Violet brad

TCW stencils

Sizzix Paper Sculpting Lilac Die

Adhesive tape runner and glue dots

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit, I always appreciate it.  Take care; I’ll talk to you soon. ~ Renee

Drawing faces on unusual surfaces

When I'm drawing faces I do them sometimes on unusual surfaces like a large envelope.  I chose a white envelope to do this one on and used Pan Pastels for most of it.  For the eyes and lips I did use inks and acrylic paints.  She looks like Mermaid to me, I should draw her tail on the back of the envelope.  This is done using Jane Davenport's face stencil.

For the next one I used a piece of water color paper that has been serving as a kraft sheet that I clean off stencils on.  There are all kinds of paint, inks and gesso on this paper, very random.  I put the stencil on the cleanest part of the paper and added some hair with Inktense pencils and water.

I used Jane Davenport's 3/4 face stencil for this one.  I thought her hair looked quite dramatic!  I love these stencils, if you get a chance to try them out don't hesitate.

I hope you're having a great week.  We've been so busy trying to enjoy the last days of summer, fall will be on us before you know!  Take care, talk to you soon. ~ Renee

100 Faces in 100 Days

Just to let you know I have been sticking with my commitment but didn't want to bore everyone with my attempt at drawing/sketching a face every day.  My promise to myself, to do a face every day for 100 days, is fulfilled at the end of this week.  I have managed to draw a face every day, some days more than one.  I must admit it does help to perform an exercise like this each day.  Not only do you create art every day but the faces get easier and better with practice.  Not to mention the fact that I've really enjoyed it.

Any way, I received some new stencils in the mail this week from The Crafters Workshop and of course I had to dive right into them.  Guess what?!  I received the new Julie Fei-Fan Balzer face stencils.  WooHoo!  I used the 3/4 face (12" by 12" stencil) and this is the end result.

The background colors came from blotting off IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko VersaColor inks that I used on another project.  I create a master board just by blotting off the stencils onto watercolor paper as I work on other projects.  That way nothing goes to waste and I get some really pretty background papers.  I just placed the large stencil on top of the watercolor paper and used a Copic pen to trace through the stencil.  The rest of the color on her face in Faber Castell Gelatos and Smooch pearlized accent ink.  Very cool stuff!  I saw it demoed at CHA and then saw it on sale on Blitsy.  It allows you to concentrate intense color into tiny areas.  Makes her eyes sparkle.  I decided to name her "101 Wishes" instead of "Number 96".

Have a great week, thanks for stopping by.  I always appreciate the visit, take care. ~ Renee

VersaColor Artists Challenge!

This month’s AIRs challenge from IMAGINE Crafts® involves using their bright, fabulous IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® VersaColor™ Pigment inks!  I received 10 colors to choose from, that was the hard part.  I decided first to make a large tag cut from watercolor paper and decorated with one of Julie Nutting’s doll stamps.  After some ribbon and a few touches of bling later this is what it looked like.

If you want to make a tag like this start by cutting your own tag.  I cut mine out of 140# watercolor paper, the measurements are 3 ½” by 7 ½”.  Punch a hole in the upper center portion of the tag and trim the edges at an angle. 

Stamp the doll tag on a scrap piece of the watercolor paper using StazOn® Solvent Ink in Jet Black.  Trim out the girl image.

Apply VersaColor™ inks to the butterfly stamp using several different colors such as Turquoise, Orange and Violet.  Spritz the tag with water and stamp the image on the tag.  Repeat this process until there are three butterflies on the tag.  Dry with a heat gun.

Using a bullet tip Fantastix™ brush apply the VersaColor™ Violet and Turquoise to the dress on the doll.  Apply embossing powder and melt it with a heat gun.  Apply Delicata™Pigment Ink in the Golden Glitz color using a clean Fantastix™ to the girl’s crown, belt and shoes.  Apply embossing powder and melt with a heat gun.

Punch a circle to cover the hole punch out of scrap paper and affix it with glue.  Tear two pieces of the same scrap  paper to measure 3 ½” wide and glue to the bottom of the tag.  Stamp the phrase on the tag.  Now I brought a little bling to the tag by applying random dots using Shimmer Goosebumps™ with the Dauber top bottle on the tag and allowing it to dry.

 Ink the edges of the tag with VersaColor™ ink in Cyan and Violet using an InkBlushers™ sponge, set the tag aside.

Affix the doll to the tag with pop dots.  Tie ribbons and twine at the top of the tag.  Glue a small piece of lace across the bottom of the tag and on the girl’s skirt.  Adhere random purple rhinestones to the skirt of the dress.

Tags are great when you don’t necessarily want to give a card to someone.  They’re cute all by themselves on a shelf or tucked in a good book.  Here is a list of the supplies I used to create this.  Thanks for stopping by I always appreciate the visit.  Take care, talk to you soon ~ Renee

Supplies

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® VersaColor™Pigment Ink in Turquoise, Cyan, Orange and Violet

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Delicata™ Pigment Ink

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Fantastix™ Multi-Purpose Applicators

IMAGINE Crafts®InkBlushers™ Sponges

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®StazOn®Solvent Inks in Jet Black

IMAGINE Crafts®Goosebumps™Texture Shimmer with dauber top

IMAGINE Crafts®Embossing Powder™Clear color

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Memento™ Markers Dandelion

Stamps

Julie Nutting doll stamp

Phrase by Rosie’s Roadshow

Butterfly by Inkadinkado

Other Supplies

140# watercolor paper

Ribbon, twine, lace

Queen & Co. self adhesive rhinestones

Pop dot glue

Orange Tint Pan Pastels