/* */ Beulah Bee: April 2018

April 26, 2018

Polyommatus Theo


This moth was clipped from some vintage Tim Holtz kraft paper and it was labeled as a "Polyommatus Theo." Now you know.


It became a decoration for this greeting card made from other Tim papers as well as an old book page. I seldom add sentiments so I can use the card for any occasion.


The flowers (Stampers Anonymous Flower Garden set) had another life before they became a part of this card. When a tag I was working on turned south, I cut them off the tag and reused them.


I used a transparent white paint to fill-in the flowers and the Distress inks underneath bled through. This explains the coloring you see in the final piece.

The text stamp is Stamper's Anonymous Ledger Script and the dots are Perfect Pearls and there's also a bit of machine stitching (something you don't see on a store-bought card).

I'm linking to Simon's Monday Challenge blog for this week's theme which is Flower Power.

April 23, 2018

Marigold


I've made a greeting card to thank the hostess for a party my husband and I were invited to over the weekend.

It's nothing out of the ordinary but I used a few less common techniques that I thought would be fun to share.

The main ingredients are the Flower Garden stamp set, a page from the Etcetera paper stash, some Tissue Tape, and a Dot Fade stencil (Tim Holtz).


I stamped then embossed the flower, tinted it with Distress inks then used super-cheap kid's construction paper as blotting paper and a hot craft iron to remove the embossing. Newsprint also works great for this technique. To learn more about this process, see this post.


I know there are a set of die-cuts available for this stamp set but mine was cut-out by hand using an Exacto knife and self-healing cutting mat.


Here's a tip you might find useful: Cut as close to the image as you can but don't worry about the irregular edges. Then go back and make the tiny cuts later and you'll find it a lot less intimidating.


And finally I'll share a tip I've blogged about in the past (see this post) that helps you decide where to crop your scrapbook paper when designing a layout.

This template is nothing more than a sheet of transparency that I made lines on with a permanent marker. I put masking tape around the edges to mask the background. I lay this template over my paper and move it around until I find a spot that I like and mark the corners with a pencil dot to guide my cutting lines.

This week's theme at Simon's Monday Challenge Blog is "Flower Power" so I'm linking up. I haven't made a card in ever so long and it was such a pleasure that I plan to make some more for this week's challenge (I have lots of flower stamps 😉).

April 20, 2018

Lemony Snicket

doo·dle ˈ/ do͞odl /
verb: 
scribble absentmindedly "he was only doodling in the margin"
noun: 
a rough drawing made absentmindedly

There's not much doodling here. It's a stretch for linking to Simon's Monday Challenge Blog this week but perhaps it counts that the first step I took was to make a border of circles around the tag.


The chair was stamped (Claudine Hellmuth) and then I drew the table. The globe and the hot air balloon were stamped (Tim Holtz Tiny Things); the books, shelves, windows, wall and floor were drawn.

I would argue that drawing and doodling are not the same. But if you consider the definition, I guess this was absentminded in the sense that I have no idea where the idea came from but once I decided to add the books, I thought the quote by Lemony Snicket was a good fit.

April 15, 2018

The Phoenix


Just under the wire today, linking up to Simon's Monday Challenge Blog--this week's theme is Mythology.

My idea came from the namesake of my current residence and a little research turned up an interesting story of how the city got it's name, who knew dipsomania played a part in it.

In mythology the Phoenix represents rebirth which is exactly what I did with the wooden support for this piece which was originally an Idea-ology burlap panel (6" x 4").

I removed the burlap, applied an image transfer and then colored it with paint and inks and also stamped some text in the background (Stamper's Anonymous Ledger Script).


The technique was similar to this project which became a favorite of mine and I thought I'd have another go at it. I appreciate how it's possible to take advantage of the brown of the support board and convert the positives shapes into negative ones.

April 11, 2018

Ada Again


I have modified a recent collage (see previous post, Ada 1916) by scraping off the photo of my great Aunt Ada and replacing the image with one I like better.

Because the original photograph was a bit thicker than the other collage papers I used, it was pretty easy to get underneath it and carefully peel/scrape it off.


Then I used this image as a transfer and created a mask of the hands and face. I used the mask to apply off-white paint on the background where the image was placed. Since image transfers are inherently transparent, this technique keeps the background from showing through.


The image transfer's darker undertones made it necessary to adjust values throughout the collage using transparent paint (glazing) and I also colored the collage paper flowers.

And finally, I felt the need to contain the composition by adding a border which was made using dots of Scribbles. I think the addition of the black accents helped to emphasize the other black elements in the collage.

April 08, 2018

Ada 1916


My great Aunt Esther wrote on the back of this photo, "Ada, June 1916." I suspect it is a photograph to commemorate her sister's graduation from high school as I have several copies and the year would be appropriate.

I used a wooden panel (10" x 10"), the new Idea-ology collage paper (Botanical), some Memoranda paper stash and an Idea-ology Collector Layer. All the paper bits were made thinner by rubbing the back side with water and I also used damask patterned tissue paper along with some light pink. The circle scroll design was an image transfer.

(Click on the photos to see a larger, lightbox view.)


The wooden support was gessoed, I pasted on a crinkled sheet of light pink tissue paper, added crackle medium, then rubbed on brown wax to bring out the cracks.


At this stage I was thinking I should have waited to crackle the board AFTER I arranged the collage but in the end it may have been the right approach even though most of the surface was covered up.

Here are some close-ups that show how I layered the collage paper.




Working with the collage paper I learned that, if you don't want the white of the tissue to show, it's important that the glue underneath covers the entire surface. In the photo above, the hand-written name has fewer missed areas of glue underneath than the section of tissue just above it.

My glue of choice for this piece was fluid matt medium. I like that you have a longer working time than a gel medium and that it moistens the paper slightly so it lays down easier. You can get all the bubbles out without using much pressure (which might tear a delicate paper).