White 4 x 4 Page

This month, I'm supposed to make a "white" 4 x 4" page. How did I do this? I started off printing a background from a background sheet that I got as a member of the Green Paper Packages Collage Club. You can't see it all now really. It was kind a of light green floral design. I painted it with white gesso. The floral image is from a postcard that came from the Green Paper Packages Collage Club. I cut it out, glued it down and put white gesso over it. I overstamped the completed background with the Collage Stuff Stylish Background stamp and Tea Dye Distress Ink. The "carte postale" and part of the red stamp (1.25 Gulden) are also from a Green Paper Packages Collage Club collage sheet. The Marie image is one that I bought at Etsy. The gold ivy frame is from Collage Stuff and I covered most of it up with white gesso. I put white gesso on almost everything. The little pearls are Prima. I cut up the pearl designs to get the sizes and look that went with the design. I used Vintage Photo Distress Stain around the edges of the 4 x 4". When I thought I was done with this, I looked at it and decided that it still could use something. I stamped with a text stamp in the bottom left corner with Tea Dye Distress Ink. Finished! It's probably not as white as it should be, but I like it!

Teacher's Pet ATC

The theme for the August Collage Stuff ATC swap was "Back to School." Of course, I am always struggling to get mine done. Here's my entry, "Teacher's Pet". I manipulated all of the images I used digitally. The girl is from the "Back to School" collage sheet. I colored the image in PSP X3. I also cleaned up the slate a little bit and added "a b c" digitally. The background collage sheet was originally yellow, but I adjusted the color to pink. The school house ("Institutions of Learning" collage sheet) was originally red, but I adjusted it to a pinkish color too. Everything was glued down. I used wonder tape to apply the Matte Olive Lace German Scrap Border at the top and bottom. I used the Ame Label Maker website to generate the "teacher's pet." The label maker doesn't like punctuation, so it left out the apostrophe. I can spell! I edged the sides with a black Copic marker. The black number is a Tim Holtz Typewriter Alpha Part. They are self-stick. Thanks for stopping by!

Madeline Variation

Here's a variation on the background technique using the circle grid template from The Crafters's Workshop. I glued a vintage dictionary page to some cold press watercolor paper and sprayed it with a lime green glimmer mist. I should have given it two coats, but one is OK too. I used the circle grid template with an orange glimmer mist. Once that dried, I put the template back in place and used a black Spica glitten pen to highlight the orange circles. I used the Collage Stuff Stylish background stamp with black paint to overstamp the background. To add a little more interest, I highlighted some of the black paint flourishes with a white Ranger opaque pen. For these ATCs I used the Black Spider Web German Scrap cut to fit the ATC.s The orange base was made by spraying white cardstock with the orange glimmer mist and overstamping with black ink and a crackle stamp.

Marvelous Madeline

This is Madeline. I like naming the people on my collage sheets! Let's start with the background. I used cold press watercolor paper and the circle gird template (The Crafter's Workshop). I applied gold paint with a gold paint dabber. I made sure this was dry and then sprayed orange colorwash spray and orange glimmer mist. When that was dry, I inked up the Collage Stuff Stylish Background stamp with black paint and stamped this over the dots. The colorwash/mists don't stick to the gold acrylic paint dots. The acrylic paint acts as a resist. On to the ATC. I cut some black sparkly cardstock to ATC size, and glued on some text from an old history book, but not to cover the whole thing. Then I sprayed the text with lime green glimmer mist. The little jack-o-lantern man is from the new Catnip Designs "More Victorian Halloween" collage sheet. I sized him a bit smaller than he is on the collage sheet. I edged this with a black Copic marker. I cut the prepared background down, so I could angle it across the ATC and edged it with black ink and the ink blending tool. Prepared background glued down, little jack-o-lantern man glued down, next Madeline and her hat. The word "Halloween" is from the Cursed collage sheet and I colored it green with a Copic marker and edged it with a black Copic marker. I colored 3 clear jewels with the same green Copic marker and put them in 3 corners. I hope that you're getting some inspiration for your own Halloween art. I've been having fun creating!

Glamorous Stella

I think Stella is really pretty, so I wanted to glam her up a bit. I used the background that I had prepared in the previous post, added Stella and word "enchanted" from the Cursed collage sheet. Then I cut some black cardstock in a wave fashion and glued it to the side/bottom as shown. I piled on some crackle accents (didn't want to go find another glue) and applied the Gold German Glass Glitter. It's very sparkly and beautiful. After the glitter dried and I was sure it wasn't going to fall off, I colored a Prima craftable flower and a clear crystal with a Copic marker and added it to the corner as shown. I think this is a more glamorous setting for Stella.

Meet Stella

Today I decided I would take some of the new Crafter's Workshop templates and experiment. My first two experiments are going in the bin - too many colors, uck, all ran together etc. The background on this ATC is a successful experiment. I took a sheet of cold-press watercolor paper and used the Harlequin Crafter's Workshop template. I sponged gold acrylic paint (gold paint dabber) to make the diamonds. I dried that with my heat gun and then sprayed some plum colorwash and pink chalkboard glimmer mist over the diamonds. The paint acts as a resist and the sprays wipe right off. I dried that with my heat gun. Then I placed the template back over the gold, but offset it and applied black ink using an ink blending tool. I used a Ranger Opaque White Pen to make some highlights on the black diamonds and drew all of the white squiggles in on the purple/pink parts. This is a a very busy background, so it doesn't need a lot of stuff on it. The woman image is from the Cursed collage sheet. I'm calling her Stella. She seems like a nice ghoul with a green complexion! I outlined Stella and her hat with a black Copic marker. The little flower is a Prima Carftable Flower colored to match with a Copic marker. I colored the clear jewel with the same Copic marker to match the flower. The words are from the Cursed collage sheet. I colored them with a Copic marker and softened the edges with black ink and the ink blending too. The ric rac is the May Arts 1/8" black ric rac. I used red line tape to apply it. I used glue dots to apply the Spider sequins and flower. I used the ink blending tool with black ink to smudge the edges of the ATC.