Jaune

Not So Mellow Yellow is the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp, so...

I went looking for ideas on Pinterest, did a seach for yellow and found this house. I knew immediately that I must use it and remembered another image I had of a woman and brought the two together by way of an image transfer and a fussy-cut.

I really didn't do anything that technical but today but I thought I'd share the step-by-step process just in case anyone is curious.

1. I have a toner-based printer (versus ink jet) and printed the house image using Photoshop in the size of the tag after reversing it.
2. I stamped french script (Darkroom Door) on top of the tag with archival ink.
3. Working quickly, I coated the front side of the image with polymer medium (gloss) and placed it on the tag front-side down, smoothed out any bubbles and let it air dry.
4. I put a small dot of water on my table and dipped my finger in it to apply water to small areas of the image so I could gently rub the paper away.
5. To avoid over-wetting/over-working (which weakens the medium), I kept moving to different areas on the photo and continued dipping and rubbing until all the paper was removed.
6. Then I printed my woman after guessing at a size and cut her out of the photo using an Exacto knife and cutting mat.
7. I used a brown waterproof brush marker to ink the edges which helps to blend them into the collage.
8. I pasted the woman in place using Mod Podge.
9. I didn't like the balance of values (lights and darks) so I added a strip of white tissue paper stamped with script to the bottom using a glue stick.
10. I used gray acrylic paint to tint the strip, the sky, and most of the dark green values.
11. I mixed a very transparent batch of lemon yellow acrylic paint and used it to tint the woman's dress.

I appreciate the skill of artists using photo-editing software to create digital imagery. I suppose I could learn how to do it and then create a tag like this one using only a computer and printer. But I really enjoy using my paint and glue and creating the old-fashioned way. I do admit, however, that I would be lost without my printer.

If you have any questions about my process, feel free to contact me, my email address in on the side bar.

Big Flower Little Bee

Still playing around with big stamps, this tag was made with a Jumbo Peony (Stampendous) and a bumble bee stamp from the Tiny Things stamp set (Tim Holtz), hence the title:

Big Flower Little Bee.

I also used another big stamp by Dark Room Door which is one of the largest I own, called French Script.

All I did was paste some canvas on a tag, stamped the background, the flower and the bees, tinted it with acrylic paint and oil pastels, distressed the edges and pasted on a strip of deli-wrap stamped with script.

I intentionally painted over most of the thick lines on the flower to give it a softer appearance.

I'm linking it to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp (entry #3) where this week's theme is Big Stamps.

Apollo

This tag is courtesy of an Inkadinkado 3½" x 5" stamp called World Map and I made it for the Monday Blog Challenge at Simon Says Stamp where the theme this week is Big Stamp.

Apollo was cut from an old history book on the discovery of North America and I also used some Melange tissue paper.

What's unique here is the background and the tag itself.

A while back, I recycled some 300 lb. watercolor paper by covering it with gesso then put it away and forgot about it.

So today, when I began to apply watercolor to it (after I cut it into a tag shape), the watercolor wasn't sinking in because of the gesso. Duh!

So I sanded it down while it was still a bit damp and the edges became nicely distressed. Then I used watercolor which now absorbed into the paper more randomly than if it were a pristine surface. The blue color compelled me to use Apollo and the World Stamp because of the cloud and sea effect and, as they say, this tag is history.