Spring Colors With the Steps

I started this piece a few months back

and am just now getting back to it.

Let me walk you through the making of it.

One night I had a short window of time to work with, so I decided to set up a few backgrounds to tangle on later.  I really, really love everything I know about Stillman & Birn. Their sketchbooks are wonderful! Heavyweight pages, smooth surfaces, a sturdy cover, and they come in a range of styles. My favorite is the Zeta Series. 180 lb. paper, smooth surface, natural white. Does well with a lot of water/wet media.

 So I used my Zeta series 6" x 8" sketchbook.

I began by placing paper under the page to

keep any wet/color from bleeding/running

onto the next page.

Good thing, too, because I decided to make the next page hot pink!

I spritzed the whole page with water,

then used two colors of Dylusions Ink Sprays.

I sprayed Vibrant Turquoise and Lemon Zest on top

of water and let the colors start running.

Don't worry about that little curving of the paper.

It settles down flat as the inks dry.

 Then I sprayed more water and tilted the sketchbook

from side to side, and back and forth

to get the colors mixing and covering the page.

One trick I've learned is this: 

where you have little specks of color, little dots that

spray out to the sides of your color shot,

spritz some water onto those blank areas

and you will be surprised how much color is actually

there that you don't really see with the eye.

This will give you some lighter areas of color.

And wherever you have too much color, or the color is too dark, 

or you are starting to get concerned about mud,

blot it with a paper towel and lift some of that color.

I keep a roll on my work table.

Actually I buy the pack of 12 rolls from Wal-Mart when they are on sale.

 This is what I ended up with. 

Remember I just used two colors on this page,

yet I see yellows, blue, turquoise, a darker blue,

pale green, spring green, and darker green -

all from the two colors I started with.

I love Dylusions Ink Sprays!

 An important thing to remember is these colors are not watersafe. If you use wet media on top of this page, the colors may very well start moving and blending again. As long as you remember this, you can work with it. It really isn't that big a problem.

To start building my page, I used two stamps strategically placed.

Hahaha! What was my strategy? 

I had no idea. I just like these two particular stamps.

 Then I set the sketchbook aside for a couple months while I worked on other things. Two nights ago I picked it back up and added these tangles. Just look for pops of colors, sections, blobs, areas, whatever you want to call them and add tangles in those sections. I started with the larger circles - the Frankles calls them balls - and made three sections with those. Fleurette, cruffle, kuke, and my own matahari. Then I added some bubbles, tipple, and printemps around them.

Last night I kept adding in those sections of primtemps, bubbles, and tipple, connecting them to the three sections of balls, tieing all those sections together. I even added a free-floating section over the butterfly. Did a little shading and I'm done. Super easy piece to make, the colors are awesome, and I'm happy with it! A nice mixed media looking piece created with ink spray and a Sharpie fine point. Just those two things. Nice spring colors make me smile! And you can so totally do this yourself!

Stamp Fest Fun

 This past weekend I attended

Stamp Fest, 2015,

in Clearwater, Florida.

Seeing as I am not a stamper you might wonder -

why on earth did I go to a stamp convention.

Those butterflies up there are one reason . . .

. . . and this beautiful stencil is another.

I am not what you would consider a traditional stamper.

I have tons of stamps but I don't make cards,

nor do I scrapbook any longer,

yet the stamps remain.

You already know that I am driven by bright color

and anything tangled.

I hoped to find new product and new ideas

at Stamp Fest.

My son was over last week and I was showing him

my new brushos crystal colors and we made

the above background in about 15 seconds.

At the hotel the night before Stamp Fest began,

I tangled in the designs.

Then, class began the next day.

I attended a class taught by Linda Malcom of

Lost Coast Designs 

where we learned to make sidewalk crack art.

I'll do a post tomorrow showing how I made this design.

Just let me tell you it was crazy fun!

So much fun that I skipped the make and take

so I could stay in my hotel room and create more.

The next day was the stamp sell. Whatever you call that.

Stamp show.

Stamp exhibit.

About a million people in a teeny weeny space.

I got a migraine.

For realz.

It was bad.

But before I got sick, I saw some wonderful things.

Like that blue book in the middle there.

The Beauty of Zentangle.

I actually have a piece of art in that book - 

my steampunk wall.

It was the first time I had ever seen a book

with some of my art in it - for sale - except for on Amazon.

And I couldn't get close enough to put the book on

top for this photo. 

I was shooting over someone's shoulder who was

kind enough to lean to the left for me.

My most exciting find of the day was this huge set of

Gelatos!!!

I had two before this, so I know you can make

beautiful color with them.

And that is the extent of my knowledge about gelatos.

Hello, Mr. YouTube!

My next significant find was this awesome can of sparkle!

I took a picture of it with PanPastels so I would remember to use it specifically with this product.

The lady demoing the glitter dust used the back of her

business card. She rubbed on the PanPastel colored background first, 

then stamped the image on top.

Then she took the can of glitter dust and

spritzed a layer across the top of the card.

It gives the art a hint of shimmer -

and it seals in the PanPastels.

You can rub your finger over the top of this artwork

and the color does not come off.

That's a significant statement when it comes to PanPastels.

She said it also works to seal - microns, Pitt Artist Pens, Dylusions, chalk, pastels in general - any kind of art.

We will see. I will be playing with it over the next

week or so, and I'm hoping it is all she promised it to be.

My new friend Linda Malcom recently acquired Carmen's Veranda - a stamp company - and she made this stencil I bought.

Specifically for art journaling.

I never know where to go with those journaling lines,

so this was a-calling my name!

I absolutely love these stickers!

They are going to be showing up in my art journal pages real soon.

And this sheet of butterflies that I started this post off with -

is a sheet of scrapbook paper.

All you get is the sheet of butterflies that are laser-cut (?I think that is the right term?). They are totally going to be showing up on a gelli plate one-pull wonder (I hope it's a wonder) in a few days as well.

 These are some other things I bought.

 Isn't this beautiful?

And I got these for Emeli. Aren't they cute?

I got this set of stamps, too.

They are crazy awesome when you use them right.

If I can make that happen I will post separately about them.

So cool!

I bought three sets!

 I took pictures of some stamps I liked,

but didn't purchase.

 I really, really wanted this one but couldn't

justify spending $ on it. Hahahaha!

I could totally use this one, 

but didn't purchase it.

I had one other lady following me around and we

were showing each other crazy, funny stamps.

I even got some freebies.

And on that note,

I am out of here.

Tomorrow I will explain the above photo.

So stinkin' much fun!!!

And I hear there is a stamp fest in 

Colorado Springs in August!

I may just have to go to that one, too.