Crow at the Window

There are two versions of this new Artist Trading Card series.  The second one is on a watercolour spritzed background.

Many Hearts

This Artist Trading Card is a Magenta stamp on black card stock coloured with pencil crayons.

Another Imagination Gone Wild

jjj

Coloured Birds

This Artist Trading Card is a Magenta stamp coloured with Prismacolor pencil crayons.

Home for the Holidays

I'm still working away at Christmas cards.  This one is easy - embossed with a bit of Bic permanent marker and pencil crayon on the door.

Stencils are All the RAGE.......

in art journals.  They look like this:

Only I didn't do this with stencils.  I did it with stamps and masks, which I already have.  Recently, I was admiring the lovely stencil work done in journals, and was contemplating the acquisition of some stencils.  They aren't horribly  expensive, but another storage problem I DO NOT NEED.  Then I thought "Wait a minute, can't I do this with stamps?  And I have lots of those."

Right about now, you may have some questions, such as:


What's the difference between a mask and a stencil?
A mask covers an area so you can apply colour around it.  See the bird in the tree on the left side of this journal page?

With a stencil, you apply the colour inside the cut out area.  So a stencil is a positive image and a mask is a negative image.

Are stamps positive or negative images?
They can be either, but usually they are positive images.

Behind the Scenes

One of the journals I keep documents techniques to create backgrounds for stamping on or for other paper craft projects.  I finished Volume One some months ago.  Volume Two finally got its title page:

The background idea came from Sonya at stamp club.  It is created by embossing a background stamp on watercolor paper and then dabbling with distress inks .  To apply the distress inks, apply them to a craft sheet, spritz with water and use your fingers.  What fun!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!