The Marker

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Almost always, I have several long moments of crazy when working on a collage like this.

It begins with choosing what elements to use then escalates into a madness deciding where to put them.

I move things around over and over until I get a headache and then say to myself, "this is insane."

I think of artists whose work has a random and spontaneous quality that I greatly admire--they make it look easy but IT IS NOT!

When I come across a great photo like this one, however, I have no choice but to subject myself to such torture. Then I add to my misery trying to decide which of the endless Remnant Rub word combinations to use.

I'm linking it to the Monday blog challenge at SSS for one more chance at the $50 prize. This week's theme is red and pink.

And the craziest part of all?

I enjoy it!

Believe

Tim introduced a new product this month called "Frosted" during his December tag tutorial.  It looks interesting and I hope he demonstrates other uses for it in future posts.

I substituted old-fashioned drafting vellum for my background and text by using the Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp) and a section from Tim's Christmas Words stamp along with some embossing ink and powder to create a similar effect.

The reindeer was embellished with Perfect Pearls and you may recognize the leaves from Tim's Wallflower paper stash. The number 25 is an Idea-ology Plaquette.

I'd like to share an embossing technique seen on the leaves as it comes in handy when you want fine details and better control.

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I used a gel pen to draw in the areas I wanted to emboss. In this case, it was the veins on the leaves.

The ink stays wet long enough to apply embossing powder. I used various pen colors and clear powder in this example.

Waterfall

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I can certainly relate to the sentiment on this month's 12 Tags of 2014 by Tim Holtz which is, "out of limitations comes creativity." Perhaps that's another way of saying, "necessity is the mother of invention." All I know is I seldom have the products to make an identical tag so I have to improvise and that often gives birth to a whole new level of creativity.

I did use watercolor paper, his bubble stencil and distress inks for the background and enjoyed this relief printing technique.

The butterflies were made using a handmade stamp on book paper and sewing machine stitching provided the accents.

I know I'll use this technique again with other stencils and I think the key is to use good, smooth, heavy watercolor paper.

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.

Love Notes

The Simon Says Stamp Monday blog challenge is "Love Notes" and that was my inspiration for this greeting card design. Fashioned from various collage papers and rubber stamps (Paper Artsy), I used sewing machine stitching and painted dots to add interest along with a branch cut from scrapbook paper.

Heart Candy Love

Just a simple tag inspired by Tim Holtz using his Kraft Resist Paper Stash for a background, a paper punched strip and some hearts, embellished with sewing machine stitching, white Scribbles and a black fine-tip marker.

The love script is a store-bought stamp, the postage stamp frame was hand-cut. To get a chalkboard effect, I mixed white and clear embossing powders together after stamping with white pigment ink and used a white charcoal pencil to cloud the background.

To see more detail, click to enlarge...

Hester Prynne

Published in Somerset Studio Gallery Winter 2012

The letter "A" is the prompt for Monday's blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp. This entry may not qualify for the random drawing because I made it two years ago, but I've never blogged about it and linked it anyway.

It seems many others do not enter "new" work because less than one hour after the post, there will be like 10 or 20 entries already of real elaborate items that I just know took longer than one hour to make.

So I'm guilty as charged because I wanted to have my post appear higher on the list so maybe more people would come visit and see what I made. How desperate and pathetic is that? I do enjoy the challenge of creating new work based on the prompts and will try my best not to post things made prior to the challenge date just to be first in line. There, now I feel better and it's good to get things off your chest (sorry Hester, no pun intended). She also chose not to conform to rules and beliefs, so I guess this piece is rather appropriate for today's post.

(Hester Prynne is the main character in a classic work of literary fiction written by Nathanial Hawthorne titled, The Scarlet Letter.)