/* */ Beulah Bee: July 2016

July 28, 2016

Kimono


I get attached to certain photos, especially when I use them in art. Somehow, working with them connects me to the person more intimately and maybe, after I'm through, you will feel connected to them too.


I switched out the old wall phone with an image transfer of a vintage street scene of Tokyo. The tinting comes from Souffle Gelly Roll pens and just a bit of black colored pencil.


I'm linking this to Simon's Monday challenge blog. This week's theme is texture but instead of using physical texture I've used visual texture. If you're unfamiliar with the concept you can read more about it here.

July 23, 2016

By the Sea


I enjoy painting scenes using vintage photos. But as you can see by the original (below), I didn't stray too far with this one.

After making an image transfer (using this technique), I used a Prima stencil for the stone wall and the birds are from a Tim Holtz stamp. Mostly, I used craft paint, a bit of ink and a Pitt brush pen.


I'm linking to this week's Monday challenge blog at Simon Says Stamp where the theme is Nautical/By The Sea in a mixed media style.

July 22, 2016

Snapshot


Behold my most favorite Tim Holtz stamp (Memoirs). It's a bit tricky to get a good impression but once mastered, I think the rewards are massive. I'll never tire of using it and I'm delighted to share it with you today (this image is also my favorite Found Relatives photo).

I've used it for this month's 12 Tags of 2016, though I've strayed a great deal from his watercolor resist and word layer techniques. Still, his post inspired me and this is the result.


The manila tag support and ephemera already had a vintage tint so I only used a few Distress stain colors--primarily Tea Dye and Bundled Sage with just a touch of Victorian Velvet thrown into the mix. To create more depth in the stamped image, I used an Indigo colored pencil in the background.

The ephemera frame is actually a windowed envelope that contained souvenir photos like this example.


The butterflies were stamped onto Tim's Plain Tissue Wrap then cut-out and pasted on. I also used words from a Remnant Rub and machine stitched along the tag edges.

July 11, 2016

Ten Degrees


Here's a journal page to share with you today. I've been working in a large Dylusions journal creating two-page spreads--it's almost one-third full and getting much too thick to manage.

So I removed the completed pages and made a separate binding for them. Now my journal is nice and flat again and this time, I will work on just one side of the page and see if I like it better.

Today's page was inspired by this photo from a blog I've recently started following. It began with a background made from the corners of envelopes clipped by my great Aunt for her postage stamp collection (when I removed the stamps, I kept the corners to use for collage projects).

I applied the photo via an image transfer and used Postale tissue paper (Tim Holtz) in the foreground. The top of the collage was stenciled with texture paste (Tim's Dot Fade).


To enhance the areas the girls are standing on, I added additional lines with a permanent marker and used a bit of white paint to lighten the squares.

I wanted to retain the vintage colors so very little additional tint was applied except for some minor shadows made with a black colored pencil.

I am really grateful to this unknown photographer who captured such an inspirational image (and to the website for sharing it). Working on this page was really a pleasure. I wish I knew what a fisherman's store is but think it may be a warehouse. Can anyone enlighten me? Then I wonder what in the world these girls were doing there!

July 06, 2016

No. 76


Perhaps the mood of American citizens during Mark Twain's lifetime were similar to today. Given our current events, I thought using his quote was appropriate.

This tag was made for Simon's Monday challenge blog where this week's theme is Red, White and/or Blue. I used Correspondence paper stash and stamps along with a Found Relative and Distress inks and stains.


Thank goodness for a light wash of gesso which saved the day when the tag took a direction I was not happy with. As always, you can click on the images to see more detail in a larger version.

July 02, 2016

Condo


I've had trouble creating lately. I've shown up for the work but the results just weren't satisfactory. Hopefully, I've learned from my mistakes and the worst is over. It really has thrown me for a loop and even the purchase of a few new supplies didn't help!

So a thank-you is due to Maura Hibbits, who developed a tic-tac-toe board for this week's Monday challenge blog at Simon Says Stamp. Her clever idea allowed me to finally complete something and I opted to go all-in, using every element.


My tag is a layer of washi tape, corrugated cardboard stenciled with paste, birds stamped on fabric, sprayed and stained with blue and green distress inks and a light wash of gesso, some sequins, gold threaded ribbon and gel pen doodled dots.

I imagine it looks like an abstract bird condominium, hence the title of my blog post.