Hi there.

Thanks for popping in.

As promised, this week I am looking at all the things you bought  in the sale last week,

and trying to provide you with some ideas and inspiration.

Last Tuesday we sold out of the Colour Burst Powders very quickly. Nonetheless, here’s a little play session,

which might give you a new idea or two…

Our dear friend Mel drew this stencil a while ago now,

together with a number of other seed heads and pods.

click here

They’re all brilliant, but Mel and I both agree that this one, 

the seed heads one, is our fave.

Right.

Ready for a play?

Lay the 7″x7″ stencil down on a piece of 7″x7″ Clarity stencil card.

Spritz the whole thing with water.

Puff a few puffs of Colour Burst at the wet stencil.

Then lightly spritz again.

Now in theory, you’re supposed to lift the stencil and go

oooh! aaah! 

Didn’t happen.

Way too much water. 

When I said lightly spritz, I meant lightly spritz.

Not hose it down Gray!! All bled under the stencil.

A right merry mess.

Note to self: less spritz!

So that little masterpiece went destination BIN.

But then I looked at all the wet puff powder on the stencil,

and I thought to myself…

mmmm…. I wonder….

So I laid a piece of 7″ x 7″ stencil card straight down on the wet messy stencil,

and a kind of promising result.

Plenty more mileage where that came from!

Spritz stencil again without adding any extra powder puff.

Let’s see what happens when it starts to fade…

Wow! Now that’s better!

This time, let’s try a different idea.

Same grubby stencil.

Puff a little green and blue at it.

Spritz with water again.

This time, lightly spritz the piece of stencil card with water 

before you lay it down on the soggy stencil.

Love it. Let the colour bleed and spread.

Revive the stencil with a little water spritz,

Just keep pulling prints. Dry ones, wet ones, damp ones.

Use the stencil as a stamp.

It is so arty!

And no two are ever the same.

Ran it through the E-Bosser too.

That’s cool.

Now for something different again.

Dab a black dye-based ink pad like Black Soot over the stencil,

on the same side all the puff powder has been.

Remember this one?

I’m going to lay the inky stencil face down on it.

and run it through the E-Bosser.

I do love my E-bosser.

Don’t do dies. Never have.

But I do love my E-Bosser for embossing.

I use it like a mangle, not a cutter. 

What do we think….

Excellent!

Trim the sides and mount on black…

Trim back and mount on white, to lift it.

Happy with that.

Enjoyed that stencil session with Colour Burst too.

Lesson for the day:

WORK WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT.

And if it happens to be a soggy stencil caked in Colour Burst,

then that’s your challenge!

For me, that IS the definition of creativity.

Not knowing exactly where you are headed, 

but using your imagination to develop the arty process 

as you go along.

And then, when you get to the end, you feel satisfied and content.

No matter what others say, YOU are OK with it. 

Mel has drawn a fab new stencil with various seed heads. 

She’s already given me the artwork, 

but we haven’t had time to turn it into a stencil yet. 

But when I went round Mel’s for the day the other day, 

I was puzzled, because she had loads of prints piled up using this stencil!  She had been so excited to try it out, couldn’t wait for us to get our act together, so she had hand cut it out of card to use it. Exquisite. 

It was taped to the window, drying out, 

and looking really well loved!

Now THAT’s what I call an artist!

Love & hugs,

Barb

xxxx