/* */ Beulah Bee: May 2014

May 28, 2014

Artistamps


From Wikipedia:

The term artistamp (a portmanteau of the words "artist" and "stamp") or artist's stamp refers to a postage stamp-like art form used to depict or commemorate any subject its creator chooses. Artistamps are a form of Cinderella stamps in that they are not valid for postage, but they differ from forgeries or bogus Illegal stamps in that typically the creator has no intent to defraud postal authorities or stamp collectors.

The Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp is The Artsy Stamp and I decided to take a bit of a twist and make a collection of artistamps instead. I used tiny bird stamps, some colored pencils for tint, a black fine tip marker to mimic the perforations, and a vintage envelope for the background (which had an interesting embossed design).


The Wiki article further states:  While the method of production is entirely the choice of the artist, creators who exclusively or primarily use rubber stamps are occasionally held in contempt by members of the artistamp community, some of whom refer to such producers as "bunny-stampers."

Well, I don't care if they call me a bunny-stamper because these are actually birds (duh) and they were really great fun to make. The hard part is getting a realistic looking perforation--I opted to use a less authentic (but easy) method by making tiny black dots along the edges.

May 25, 2014

For Paula

Still working with my "southern belles," this tag was a simple case of cut and paste.

The background is from a sheet of Idea-ology paper stash, the frame was made out of paper called Antique Script by Bazzill, the plantation ruin and my little lady were digital images I printed.

Not much was done in the way of coloring--I only used a little pencil to create a shadow behind the frame. I did, however, knock back the plantation drawing with thin off-white acrylic paint to fade it into the background.

I do wish more papers were made like this one from Bazzill because it is very thin and works so much better in collages than thicker cardstock.

May 24, 2014

Twilight


Linked to the botanical theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday blog challenge, this tag was an experiment using tissue paper (from a sewing pattern) to unify the composition and impart a vintage color cast.

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After pasting down the leaves and butterfly, I completely covered the tag with tissue paper using Mod Podge. On some leaves, I stamped text on tissue paper pieces (Hampton Art/7 Gypsies).

I used transparent acrylic paint (except white) to bring back some of the color softened by the tissue and finished it off with a trip to the sewing machine.

May 21, 2014

Dos Centavos

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This week, the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp is botanical so it prompted me to finally finish a collage I started a while back that includes a bird cut from an out of print Graphic 45 paper collection called Botanicabella.

It's mounted on an old book cover, the paper on the right and at the bottom are vintage, the map on the left side was printed on beige cardstock then antiqued.

A stamp from Anna Griffin was used in the lower left corner, tissue paper from an old pattern, a bit of black mulberry paper and a vintage postage stamp completed the project.

May 19, 2014

Trois Dames


For me, the best part of crafting is the problem solving required when things don't go the way you expected. I believe I used "everything but the kitchen sink" when making this tag and finally stopped tweaking it when I ran out of ideas and the paper just couldn't take anymore.

It may seem a bit odd but, one of my favorite papers is a striped dark brown and off white pattern that can be cut into tiny strips to add accents where needed. An example of that paper runs across the bottom of this tag.

This is tag number two in a series I'm working on that feature some vintage photos I found on Pinterest (see earlier post here).

May 16, 2014

Monopoly


I couldn't let the letter M challenge at SSS go by without one more entry since I've had more time to play this week and found this theme easy to work with.

For Christmas, I received a collection of miniature stamps by Tim Holtz and they remind me of the place markers from a Monopoly game.

So I found a great image of the patent application submitted by Charles Darrow in 1935 and added a few new place markers to his design.

I give much credit to Stampers Anonymous for these tiny stamps as they have an incredible amount of detail. So, how about this for a title?

Modified Miniature Monopoly Markers by an M Maniac

(I think I better take a break...)

May 14, 2014

Marc Mono Mini Map

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Marc Lescarbot made a map of Canada during the late 15th century that is full of miniature depictions of plants, houses, sea monsters and ships along with land masses and shorelines.

I have an old book called The Discovery of North America that contains a copy of this map. I cut out the little ships along with the symbol that denotes the measure for distance and the map's title which was found in a strip at the bottom of the page.

The chair is from Claudine Hellmuth whose book, Collage Discovery Workshop, got me interested in paper crafting many years ago.

Other stamps used are by Inkadinkado (left side) and 7 Gypsies (right side).


I've linked it to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp where the theme is the letter M:

M for Marc Lescarbot
M for monochrome color scheme
M for miniature ships
M for map

all dished up on a Manila tag!

Monarch

This week's Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp is the letter M. Hopefully, the title of my blog post illuminates the connection.

I decided I must use a stamp this week since that is the store's emphasis and my link-ups tend to drift away from that more often than not.

So out came the most expensive and most frustrating stamp I own.

It was an impulse buy, designed by Lynne Perrella for Paper Artsy, and the cost made great due to shipping from England to the USA. What I failed to take into account when I chose this stamp is the large expanse of dark area and detail too fine to show up well when stamping.

It's challenging to add color and I've been most successful by stamping onto tissue paper, tinting the backside then pasting it on. I learned on this go around that my archival ink pad needs re-inking since this is a large stamp and it was difficult to get good coverage. I've also tried using detail inks and special stamping paper but seldom get a look I'm happy with. I expect I'll keep trying to master this monarch and was glad for a challenge that prompted me to revisit this love/hate relationship.

The background paper is by Bazzill and it's called Antique Script. The butterflies were cut from an out-of-print Graphic 45 release called Botanicabella. Distress inks were used and torn bits of tissue tape from Idea-ology. Now, pretend there's a hole cut in the top because I forgot to do that when I made this tag (oops).

May 11, 2014

Cabbage Salad

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I stumbled upon a person who collects images of women's fashion from the Civil War era and I've begun to follow her board. This discovery has prompted me to create collages using similar images. I hope to work out a series and this tag is my first go at it.

I'm also curious why, in many vintage photos, the subject looks so serious. Did no one say "cheese" when the photo was taken? I expect the grumpy face on this lady is why I chose to use her.

I began with a variety of papers including store-bought scrapbook paper, pages from a dictionary, a vintage cookbook and sheet music which I cut into small pieces and pasted on the tag.

After printing the lady, she was added to the tag using my image transfer technique. A homemade stencil was used to trace the outline of a frame with a fine tip marker and several areas were tinted with colored pencils to provide color and contrast. For framing, I cut thin strips from black and white striped paper and pasted them along the edges.

Why Cabbage Salad? For one thing, it's her expression and her face is rather round. And, if you look real close, you'll see that the cookbook's menu page has a listing for cabbage salad aka cole slaw.

May 05, 2014

Natasha


A pretty Russian ballerina on a starry background surrounded by a Russian banknote is the tag I made for the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp where the theme is the number five. It was made by simply printing, cutting and pasting and then adding a bit of distress ink along the edges.

I like using this old Russian money because of the intricate frames and was lucky to find one in this denomination. I used a similar note a few months ago which you can read about here.

When I use photographs of people, I pay attention to the light source and try to work it into the composition. Here, I featured the ballerina's back lighting using paper left over from an altered book project. Sometimes I think it's silly to save all my scraps (I kept this one six years) but today, I'm glad I held on to it.

May 02, 2014

Calling Card


The month of May brings a mosaic-type layout for Tim's 12 Tags of 2014 and here is my interpretation. I don't have much in the way of "cool trinkets" but I do have the Wallpaper stash and it's full of goodies that can be fussy-cut which I used here.


The bottle-cap frame I used for Timothy's portrait was found on the street during a recent stroll around the neighborhood. It was already rusted and flattened-out and I was lucky to find it just in time for this month's tag.

Tim's tutorials are the very best and this month's demonstration was so informative. I'm amazed by all the gadgets that can be used in paper crafting and I look forward to seeing the ShadowPress equipment put to use by others participating in this month's link-up.