She Leapt for Joy-Viva Las VegaStamps!

She Leapt for Joy...Ideas were Proliferating Like Rabbits

Ah! You've been there as a crafter, yes?  Days where the blank page mocks you.  Dares you to create.  And your muse is silent, offering no help.  And then suddenly, ideas begin to flow, welling up and hopping about like bunnies, out of control.  Bursts of color and energy leap onto the page, and you leap for joy.

It seemed like a good theme for an art journal page!

Supplies:
VLVS! Images Used--

Dictionary Page Item 19015 Plate 890

Wind-up Bunny Item 19218 Plate 953

Sakura of America Gellyroll- Stardust: Rose-star, Purple-star, Golden-star, Lime-star/Standard: White

Dyan Reaveley Creative Art Journal
Dylusions Ink Sprays-Cut Grass, London Blue, Pure Sunshine, Lemon Zest, Postbox Red, Dirty Martini
Montana Marker Standard tip-Shock Yellow Lt, Shock Blue
E6000 Glue
Amazing Casting Resin Spills
Amazing Clear Cast Resin 
Acrylic paint-flesh tones, green, red, blue
Permanent Marker
Alumilite Dyes-Flo Red, Blue, Flo Yellow, Flo Green
UnWow Studio Mask-Light Bulb
Paper Doily
Paper Towels
Water Mister

Several months ago, I made up some backgrounds in my Dyan Reavely Art Journal using Dylusions Sprays.  For this particular spread, I sprayed Dylusions ink spray in several colors, then used the reductive method of lifting some color by placing a paper doily down, spraying liberally with water and soaking up the moisture with paper towels.  When you lift up the doily, the color is lighter where the water was soaked up.

I used the Light Bulb mask to place a light bulb on each side and colored them with the Sakura Gellyroll pens.  Then I used the Montana Markers to glaze the page, allowing the color behind to show, while unifying some of the rougher places where color had leaked through from other pages.

I stamped the Wind-up bunny images and colored their heads with white gellyroll pen.

A while back I posted about a resin spill from one of my Amazing Mold Putty design team projects. The spill was painted with Acrylic Paint, defined with permanent marker, and stamped with the Dictionary Page stamp.  She looked to me like a woman leaping, and she seemed perfect for this page . 

I glued her down with E6000 glue.  


Now I needed something else with weight on the other side!  I took a 1x2 inch piece of Eco artboard and wrapped rubber bands around it.  I made a mold with Amazing Mold Putty and then made 5 different castings using a different color each time.  They made me think of oriental character and I think they provided a good balance down the page.

To finish, I used a permanent marker to write my saying.

For more of my work with Viva Las VegaStamps!, Amazing Mold Putty, zentangle-inspired art, and daily links to tangles, tutorials, and giveaways please visit my "Life Imitates Doodles" blog.   ~ Sandra Strait

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The Viva Las VegaStamps! Button Fairy Swap

The VLVS! Button Fairy Swap

When I joined the Viva Las VegaStamps! Button Fairy swap, I immediately knew which stamps I would use.  

Fairies are whimsical, honorable in their own way, but ever willing to trick you if they can.  The Steampunk Dogface fairy, with his dog-like aspect, lets you know  he'll test you, but once he's accepted you, he's loyal forever.  Doesn't mean he won't trick you, but mostly his tricks will result in steaks gone missing, and drool on your pillow, and he'll follow them up with toothy grins and slobbery kisses.

Supplies:

VLVS! stamp used:

Steampunk Dog Face-Item 18669 

Tall Tree-item 14917

Whimsical Cloud -Item 19091

Amazing Mold Putty

Amazing Clear Cast Resin

Creative Paperclay®

May Arts Ribbon

140 lb .watercolor 8x20 inches

Silk tissue Rice Paper-Natural

Unryu Paper-Natural & Brown

Illustration Board

9x12 300 lb. watercolor paper 

Faber-Castell gel sticks-Lt Blue, Black, Sienna, Orange, Yellow, Green
Acrylic Paint-Metallic Copper, Metallic Crystal Green, Metallic Black Pearl

Krylon Pale Gold Leafing Pen

5 Buttons of various size

Gellyrol- Metallic Gold, White

Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Colored Pencils-Lt. Blue, Lemon Cadmium, Canary Yellow, Dark Sepia, Prussian Blue, Gold Ochre

Scissors

Thin wire

StazOn Inkpad-Jet Black, Saddle Brown

Golden Soft Gel Matte and Heavy Gel Medium Matte

E6000 adhesive

The Background

Using my gel sticks (which are the cheaper version of Gelatos), I swiped color onto the watercolor paper, and spread the color with generous amounts of water.  I added more color, then more water, smearing with both brush and finger until I was happy with the result.  

With the StazOn Saddle Brown I stamped the Tall Tree image several times across the page, re-inking after every 2 or 3 stampings.  Then I smeared a little more green gel stick around the foliage.

I tore a few strips of the Unryu paper and decoupaged it with Soft Gel where I most wanted to lighten (natural) or darken (brown) the color.  It's a bit thicker than the silk tissue paper, and also has these thick threads that create really cool patterns when you add the gel medium.

I repeated the process with the silk tissue rice paper building up texture and a glaze that gives the piece a hazy, mystical look.  

Once all the soft gel had dried, I added more gel stick where I wanted to increase the intensity of the color, and to highlight some of the threads from the Unryu paper (It's pronounced Oon-Roo or Oon-Doo).

Matte gel was used rather than glossy because I wanted to photograph the piece, and glossy shine is hard to do.  I was happy with the matte though, because it gave a softer, mistier  look.

The Resin Pieces

Although VLVS! has tons of wing stamps, I used a cloud stamp for the shape of my wings.  I wasn't interested in the detail of the image, just the shape, because I intended to use drywall tape for the texture.  I stamped the image onto a piece of illustration board, using both the front and back of the stamp, then made a mold.

I also used molds already made, one from rolled paper roses, a star-shaped piece from a shower curtain embellishment, a machine piece that I cannot identify and a piece of dried fungus (which I decided later not to use for this piece).

The Button Fairy and Flowers

I stamped the Steampunk Dog Face onto a piece of Unryu Paper, cut it out and colored it with colored pencils and gel pens.  Then after rolling some Creative Paperclay to a thin layer about the same thickness as my resin wings, I took the same stamp and pushed it into the paperclay, then trimmed around it.  

When the paperclay had cured, I used Soft Gel to adhere the Unryu image over the paperclay.  

I painted the resin wings with acrylic paint, and picked out the drywall tape texture with the gold leafing pen.

To assemble the button tail, first, I wove a piece of thin wire through the buttonholes to make it stiff.  Then I wove ribbon through, using it to tie the tail to the paperclay fairy.  I used heavy gel to stick on the wings, and then adhered the entire fairy to the background.

I used a touch of acrylic paint to color the flower castings.  I wanted to keep the translucency, so I just brushed on enough paint to add a bit of color.  

Putting it together

I laid my button fairy and flowers on the watercolor painting and moved them around until I knew where I wanted them to go.  I realized immediately that my painting wasn't large enough.  I wanted a stiffer support anyway, so I painted up a 9x12 300 lb. piece of watercolor paper with metallic black pearl.

Heavy gel medium was used to adhere the Button Fairy because of the weight. Because the flowers were resin-slick, I used E6000 to adhere them.  

I went back to the Heavy gel medium to adhere the whole piece to the 300 lb. watercolor paper.

For more of my work with Viva Las VegaStamps!, Amazing Mold Putty, zentangle-inspired art, and daily links to tangles, tutorials, and giveaways please visit my "Life Imitates Doodles" blog.   ~ Sandra Strait

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