Something Wonderful

Over on the PaperArtsy Blog they are having new product releases all week long!!!  Yesterday they released 8 new Hot Picks sets of stamps.  There is a video and wonderful samples from all the new sets included in the release post.  Be sure to pop over HERE and check it out and then be watching their blog all week for more fabulous stamps from several designers.  I'm blessed to have some of the new sets in my hands and have been working on this journal page that uses the large collage image from the new Hot Picks set, HP1507EZ.  I've used 2 other stamps on this page - the small text image from the older Hot Picks set HP1303EZ and a quote image from Lin Brown's set ELB06.  

I started this page with gesso, spreading it around with a palette knife.  I wanted gesso to keep anything from bleeding through the paper as I new my first layer of paint was going to be really wet.  Once the gesso was completely dry I started my background.  *Note - All paint used on this page is Fresco Finish Paint from PaperArtsy.  

The colors used in the background are Spanish mulberry, Caribbean sea, and hint of mint.  I dripped some Spanish mulberry on my page, sprayed it with water and moved it around with my fingers.  Next I added Caribbean sea in the same way.  While moving paint with my fingers I kept spraying water to help the paint move and blend.  Lastly I added hint of mint and continued swirling the paint with my fingers.  I then left the page to sit while I cleaned my kitchen :)  I came back and continued the drying with my heat tool.  There were still a few pretty good puddles on the page and instead of blotting at them, I took out my Idea-ology Spritzer and blasted those spots to spread out the watery paint and finished drying the page.  Next I came in with that small text image and stamped about the page first with Archival Ink pink peony and then with tree branch.  The pink peony only showed on the blue areas and is quite light but it's one more layer that adds to the overall look.  I stamped the collage image with Archival Ink jet black.  I didn't stamp it all the way at the bottom and to help ground the image I added stamping in black with the small text to fill the bottom left corner and across the bottom of the page.  I blended it right into the image making it look like it's all one stamping.  I painted the flower stemp first with guacamole and then added some hey pesto and finally some green olives.  I also eventually used a white gel pen lightly to help the stem pop more.  I stamped an extra of the collage image on white cardstock, paint the butterflies first with a mix of zesty zing and a small drop of metallic glaze.  Next I used south pacific in the centers and blended it outward using some water.  For the flower I began with zesty zing and caribbean sea working the zesty zing from the tips down and the caribbean sea from the bottom up and then came in with some south pacific for a deeper color.  These were all cut out and set aside to glue in later.

The current challenge on the PaperArtsy blog is stencils so I knew I wanted to include stenciling.  Go HERE for all the challenge details.  The leafy stems across the top and bottom of the page are from the Lin Brown stencil PS002.  Across the top of the page I started with squid ink paint and then "bumped" the stencil and added hint of mint.  I didn't clean my stencil brush between colors so the hint of mint took on a little squid ink for a wonderful light tone.  Across the bottom I used little black dress first, bumped and added hint of mint.  I did rub my stencil brush quite a bit on a paper towel first but still got a little mixing of paint.  

For more fun in the background I've added circles of south pacific using the cap from a mini mister bottle, stenciled through TCW stencil mini tiny circles with south pacific and then also a mix of hint of mint and zesty zing.  I also made dots with that mix using the end of a paint brush.  The whole page was splattered with watered down snowflake paint.  

The quote image was stamped onto white cardstock, cut out and glued on the page.  The flower was attached to the page with a double layer of foam mounting tape.  The butterflies were glued just in the botdy area.  

Finally I got REALLY BRAVE and wrote on the page across the top.  I was so nervouse I'd mess it up!!!!  I used a Pitt pen and then went over it with a Posca marker to make it darker.  I thought something was needed under this and used the cattail stems from the JOFY stencil PS007.  I taped off the cattail heads and stenciled just the stems with little black dress and then finished up that part with dots using a white Posca pen. 

Ok, I think I've touched on everything I did.  I'm quite please with how this page turned out and the message of the page.  

Some close ups!!!  Remember, you can click on the pictures to see them larger.