March - Coming in Like a Lamb

I had such fun making my March calendar. Perhaps it was because it involved coloring which I found particularly soothing after my stupid computer at work ate an entire afternoon's efforts....ooo, don't even want to remember. So I came home on a Friday night and came right to the Fun Room to finish my calendar for the lovely Kate Crane's calendar challenge at her blog The Kathryn Wheel.

A sea scene in delight of the new Dylusions Ocean Backgrounds...love them!

I started with the seaweed and leaves on a separate piece of paper, colored those in, and then started cutting them out. Wasn't too long before I reached the conclusion I was NOT having fun. So I stamped right on my background and colored them in with a collection of Copic and Tombow markers. I used a white pigment ink pad to stamp the little fishies on the background and found some old Stamping Up! fishes my sister had given me which were easy to color and cut out.

I'm always challenged by the lettering for the page. March was no exception. These started life as white chipboard, which I almost used but decided it was too white. Painted them green, didn't like that. Covered them with distress stickles, wasn't crazy about that either. And then IT happened. I rubbed a little white paint on it and the stickles acted like a resist and I LOVED the result. Happy Accident. Yay.  I can't wait to try that combination on something else!

The circles are my continued attempt to push the envelope beyond the squares. They remind me of golf balls right now, but will look better once they are filled in, I'm sure. Lastly, here's February all done!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday #195

Julia is too funny. Each week she hosts this marvelous event which connects people literally all around the world so we can see what one and other are up to. This week Julia is having a just a wonderful time rolling up her ribbons. Or not. Still every once in a while it must be done. It being the organizing thing. So more power to her and good luck.

What I'm doing is getting ready for a couple of other things. The blue green paper will eventually be my March calendar for the challenge which Kate Crane hosts monthly on her blog. I started last year and found it to be lots of fun. Turns out I have very definite ideas about what colors go with what months. I just got one the new Dylusions Fish Stamps - well actually I got the background seaweed but I'm happy to have that. So I have printed out several on white paper ready to be colored in tomorrow after work. That's what the white piece of paper is. The red page was me trying different inks on the fish stamp to see which one I want to use on the calendar. And lastly among the general paraphernalia on the desk is my small art journal with the first step in Dina Wakely's intuitive painting technique. Don't know what it will turn out to be yet.

Just finished up the February class over at the Stamp Cache where we did tags this month. Here are a couple I made up for the class. I think I might like the name True Bunny Love better than the actual tag!

And then there is the Not So Caged Bird. I cut  a folded piece of manilla with Tim's Tag and Book Plate Die but moved it in a hair so it didn't cut on the left side - and Viola, I got a tag that opens like a card!

We're pretty excited up here in Alaska, the daylight is coming back by leaps and bounds - actually we're gaining almost 6 minutes a day. That means it's almost light in the morning when we go to work and plenty of light in afternoons when we come home. Now if the north wind would shift, we'd have it made. Hope all is well in your world!

Full Spectrum Watercolor Words

Over at Simon Says Stamp this week, the challenge was show us your favorite word. Because I've had a lot of time on my hands, I thought about this for a while. But in the end, it comes back to the truths we know. There is nothing I would rather do than

Laughter to me is full of color, life, and spirit, so I decided to use my new Dylusions dye inks as a medium. Because my new friend Marjie Kemper blogged about filling water pens with the inks , I thought, hmmm, since I don't have that many water brushes, why not just spray some into a palette and paint from there? Which is exactly what I did. What amazingly LUSCIOUS colors.

Here's the low down on how I made the piece. The base is watercolor paper which I sprayed with purple and pink Dylusions Ink, and then dry brushed over that with white acrylic paint. Some of the inks reacted, some didn't; I was fine with that. I bounced some white and black paint over it for interest. I folded it like an accordion card. The cactus looking things, the girl parts, and the border were all painted on cover stock and adhered to grunge paper for support before I cut them out. The letters are grunge board, covered with two coats of picket fence stains, and then covered with a pink copic marker, edged in black. Once that was dry (or almost) I used some Stardust Stickles on top for the glitz. (I tried out a gazillion different ways of doing the letters and probably would just paint them white the next time with acrylic before adding color, but by that point I didn't have the right letters left any more).

I used a Fiskars postage stamp punch on black paper, and added the white dots with an opaque pencil for interest. I put the pink letters on that, and then mounted the whole thing on mini Popsicle sticks, which I had covered in black marker. There are slits in the back section of the base, into which I pushed the Popsicle stick.

I was really happy with the way this turned out and can see making more with different words. I want to futz around with the accordion fold because I would have liked the layers a little closer I think, but I was running out of time. And the second time I do something is always better anyway. I just wish someone had told me in high school that I really should pay attention to algebra and geometry!! Angles and dangles are definitely a hit and miss thing with me.

Another of my favorite places is Inspiration Emporium and their challenge this month is watercolors. I'm thinking this qualifies - I used them with water, mixed, and painted, so I'm posting there too. If I'm off the mark there, please forgive me.

Enjoy a laugh today!!