ZENTANGLISH

ROSE CUT OUT WITH "DOODLES"

I had a few of these cards (which are still available from Regal Craft Cards) in the storeroom and was looking for something to do with them, apart from just colouring in, or putting some coloured fabric or paper behind the cut-out rose.

What I ended up doing - doodling - is hardly earth-shattering, but even so, I liked the end result enough to share it with you.  Its just black fine marker on white card under the main flower, and a white gel pen on black card under the leaves.

I tried to finish it off with a hand drawn border which turned out a little bit less than amazing but I still like the idea.

I think I'll have another go at this.  Any card with a cut-out could be used.

3D WITH STAMPS

SIDE VIEW

 There are a couple of techniques to share this week.  The first is a background.  Versamark Dazzle is an ink pad that has a similar effect to normal Versamark (i.e. it shows stamped on dyed-through papers a shade or two darker than the paper colour) but adds a little sparkle as well.  Its not over the top, just a subtle shimmer (which obviously doesn't photograph easily).
The background here has been made with a variety of Darkroom Door stamps.

3D SHELL CARD

The main shells are from Graphic45, which brings us onto technique 2, which is to add a little dimension by stamping two images, cutting the second smaller than the first and then fixing it over the top with foam tape or silicone glue.  It works best if you do a little shaping first.  There are tools and mats with which you can do this, but gently stroking the middle of the shape in the palm of your hand works for a little project such as this one.

FOLDED FLOWERS

FOLDED FLOWERS

I had a little space under the TV that kind of needed to be filled with something.  As I have many "somethings" that I'm not greatly fond of, I folded up these flowers as a "stand in" until I found A "something" I really loved. I'm actually kind of liking them so maybe they'll stay a while.  There are really clear instructions at:
http://foldingtrees.com/2008/11/kusudama-tutorial-part-1/

LEAF-PRINTED BACKGROUND

LEAF PRINT BACKGROUND

 I bought a really nice set of leaf stamps recently, but there is an alternative - real leaves!!  This little bunch came from a banksia rose.  I just dabbed some Versacolour ink directly onto the underside of the leaves. Pigment inks are a bit stickier than dye-based ones and I suspect work best for this, though I'm happy to be corrected.  I'd already made a base background by "printing" with distress inks on an acrylic block (as in a recent post).  the brighter green is the first print, the more subtle example is the second print.  I placed the inked leaves on top and brayered over the top to apply an even pressure, and made a couple of prints before re-inking.  I applied them in a random way, similarly to the stamps in last week's example.
The results with rubber stamps are obviously more predictable but this approach will produce a truly unique result (which you can of course scan if you want to reproduce it).