If Only...

I don't know what possessed me to purchase a face stamp (this one's by LaBlanche) because I've found them rather limited in use. But seeing Tim's September tag and the others who've posted links, has given me some new ideas.

I also admit that alcohol inks intimidate me so mine have gathered dust but it was good to get them out again for this project.  I do love the glossy paper because it takes ink so well, stamped images are super crisp and it may be a "must have" for any success with alcohol inks on paper.

I tried Tim's background technique, to no avail, so I just dripped the colors right from the bottle onto a tag cut from glossy paper. Then I randomly stamped off-white paint through some homemade and store-bought stencils and went over it with distress inks after the paint had dried. Some light stamping with script, borders cut from washi tape and a bit of Dymo tape text finished it off.

Going Back

Posting journal pages and using strong hues isn't in my comfort zone but the Monday blog challenge this week at SSS is "bold" so I just went for it.

Long ago, I found two images that, by coincidence, seemed to go together. I've wanted to connect them in a composition and was lucky to find a passage from a book by Pascal Mercier (Night Train to Lisbon) that helped to convey my thoughts.

No magic techniques here--just stamped deli paper and dictionary pages, a stencil, acrylic paint and a permanent black marker were used (script stamp by Dark Room Door, stencil by Crafter's Workshop, photos via Nordic Thoughts).

During difficult times, finding a muse can be a challenge but when I do, I'm grateful for the benefits. This time, the act of being "bold" was good medicine.

Aporia crataegi

I've never seen a Black-veined White Butterfly (except via You Tube) and I think they are quite nice.

Inspired by this this photo, I created a tag by printing it, cutting it out, pasting mulberry paper behind the wings, tinting it with paint, ink and colored pencils, and pasting it to a distressed background.

I'm linking it to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp. This week's theme is "witch kraft" and while it may not be apparent that I used kraft paper--it's there, as a background, now covered with layers of paint and ink.

A happy accident caused by using too much Seedless Grape distress stain to darken the kraft paper compelled me to sand and rub at it with the hopes of making it lighter. When the top layer of the paper began to peel away, I gathered up the bits and pasted them back on and spread a layer of thin white paint on top.