Mail, Mail, Here Is The Mail

Congratulations! If you have ever watched Blue's Clues you now have an obnoxious preschool song stuck in your head....

ANNNND now you have a Jefferey Dallas song stuck in your head. Muahahaha. Did I mention I am kind of manic lately? Yeah. Lots of stuff going on, so now I am being dorky. Hope that's okay.

So, recently I reconnected with a dear friend of mine and, like myself, she loves to color and with the new "fad" that has finally caught up to the both of us I wanted to print some free coloring pages and send them to her.

Years ago now, probably at least 5 years? She sent me this amazing box with glitter, paint and washi tape ALL over it. I swear this is STILL glitter in my dining room from that box. I wanted to create something just as special for her that she could keep or hang (or toss, whatever) but make it also be meaningful and make her smile.

I started with a manila envelope (size, 10 x 13...YIKES) and laid down a generous layer of Gesso. I didn't want the colors to mute or get muddy. I also didn't want the watercolors seeping through the paper and creating a ripped up mess either. 

Once that dried, I used my favorite technique of watering down my Dylusions spray inks and creating a beautiful piece of art. I just love this technique and was SO happy with the outcome this time!! I used some stencils and paint to add some more pattern/interest and, of course, used my faber castell black pen and my posca pen (white) to doodle like mad. 

I tried something different too. I decided to stamp these girls on label paper, like, what you would get at staples? Colored them with colored pencil and cut them out with my fussy scissors. It was perfect! No way these gals are coming off in the mail! No worry about how to affix them or masking them off. It worked so well! 

I really can't wait to take this to the post office tomorrow and send it on its way. REALLY can't wait for the recipient to get it though! I hope she loves it! 

Ingredients:

Stampotique Stamps:

Marsha

Sargent

Hanging Hearts

Just Keep On 

Stencil Girl Circles 

Dylusions Circle Stencil

Dylusions Ink Sprays

Ranger Gesso

Posca White Pen

Faber Castell Black Pen

Ranger Archival Black Ink

Folk Art Acrylic Paints

Americana Acrylic Paints

Label Paper

Colored Pencils

Back To School!

So, it happened. My baby boy is now a 4th grader. I really can't believe it. Its frightening. Time just keeps slipping away. On the positive side, I have time to catch up on chores and to craft, so, its a balance.

Today I was dragging. Seriously dragging. Getting up before 7 is for the birds. And for those who may scoff, I have reasons. K? Like, medication reasons. Anyway, in an effort to bring up the mood, I crafted. And with what else? A new stampotique stamp! Cause, not only am I obsessed, I am kind of on the team so I get to bring you delightful art in addition to my own art! 

Stampotique just had a release so, of course, I had to jump right on that and create something else. I created a bookmark. Love the style of these stamps and how they go with the style of Ms. Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. I decided to use Sargent and can see her maybe being Olive with her chunky boots. For coloring I used watercolor pencils. 

Because this is a bookmark, I made sure that it didn't have a lot of elements that could fall off or mess with the spine of a book, but I just HAD to add some texture. Texture paste to the rescue. Just enough to give the bookmark texture without breaking the spine or leaving an imprint in the pages. 

Really love how vibrant the colors are and how it just pops. The sentiment, from Cosmo Cricket, was kind of perfect. Esp if you have read the aforementioned book. Now that my son is in school, maybe I can sit and READ a book instead of listening to an audio book like normal...if I don't fall asleep. ;)

Ingredients:

Sargent, Stampotique

Cosmo Cricket Sentiment

Stencil Girl Circle Stencil

Dylusions Key Hole Stencil

Dina Wakely Acrylic Paint

Ranger Texture Paste

Master's Touch Gesso

Watercolor Pencils

Americana Acrylic Paint