Darcy Journalling month 2. {with Eclectica³ Stamps by Designer Darcy Wilkinson}

Hi everyone, Darcy here with another journal page for you to play along with. But first, thank you to everyone who entered the challenge last month. I was so impressed with your versions, and the techniques that you attempted. I know many of you said it was a painty, messy challenge, I hope it was fun too. Now you have a record of those techniques you can carry those forward and use them on other projects.

The winner of the Journalling challenge for month 1 is: Helen. Well done Helen, let me know which of my stamps sets you would like to receive as your prize.

So let's get started with this month's page. I decided to give myself a challenge too. I really don't do neutral tones, I much prefer to work with brighter colours. But I do love the work that other people do with neutrals. So this is totally out of my comfort zone. I am typing this as I complete each stage, so at this moment in time I have no idea how this will turn out. I am not sure if I am excited or scared lol Follow along with me and see what happens. 

My first job was to cut out 3 tags. These will only be used as masks, so don't use your bought tags, draw around them onto scrap paper or card. I used sizes 5,6 and 8, but you will need to use whatever sizes fit your journal pages. I then laid them onto the page and lightly drew around each one, so I could keep replacing them in the correct place. 

Next I took the medium damask stencil  and laying it OVER the scrap tag, I sponged  on some Nougat Fresco paint. I carefully moved the stencil across the page, always making sure the scrap tags were in the right place, until I had stencilled both pages. 

This is a really neat technique, as the Nougat  acts as a resist. Once the nougat was dry i lightly spritzed the pages with water, then painted on Irish Cream, Toffee and Chocolate Pudding. I randomly streaked them on, and IMMEDIATELY wiped back off with a baby wipe. You can see how the nougat shows through, looking like delicate lace. 

Next I took the Fade horizontal stencil  and added a few dots here and there across both pages. I put a little Toffee and Chocolate Pudding onto my craft mat and picked up a little of each to stencil with, allowing them to merge and blend. 

I wanted to add a little interest to the page edges, I cut out a scallop shape. I don't have the scallop flower die, but if you do then that would work perfectly. I again used scrap card, and used it as a mask to just sponge on the tiniest amount of Chocolate Pudding around the edges. You can see I did not add it heavily. 

Now for some HTE.. {highly technological equipment} only the best for you...ok so it is an old gym card and an empty barrel from a pen. 

But don't dismiss found objects, they can make for great tools, especially for stamping. I used the card to add some lines of Chocolate Pudding, and the pen barrel to add small circles of Nougat.  Then I replaced the medium damask stencil...again make sure your scrap tags are in place...I used a german text stamp from 

ESN01 and stamped THROUGH the stencil. This ensures that the text is only stamped on the original nougat areas. 

I then used the same text stamp from ESN01 to add text to the page edges. I used my cut-out scallop as a mask again. 

This is the first half of the background complete, and this is how it looks now. Remove your 3 scrap tags and inspect the blank areas left beneath, if any stencil paint has seeped into those tag areas now is the time to tidy them up with a little Nougat paint. 

Now we will fill in those 3 tag shapes, and make them into faux tags. My intention is that they are completely flat but look as though they are real tags that have been glued in....

Tag#1. Top left. 

This is an easy one. I carefully cut off the heads of my lollipop flower stamps {shhh don't tell on me}and stamped just the circles into the tag area using Archival Potting soil.  I then painted between them, first with French roast, and then with a top coat of Cinnamon . Before the Cinnamon dries, take the wood end of your paint brush and scratch some swirls between the flower heads. This will give the impression the tag has been through an embossing plate, but of course it hasn't , we are cheating!

Tag #2, on the left page. 

This one turned out to be my favourite. I coloured the tag shape using the black side of cut n dry foam.  I used Pumpkin Soup in the middle, then blended Caramel,Toffee and Cinnamon as I got nearer the edge. {Lay some scrap paper around the tag shape so that your paint stays within}

If this was a real tag, I would add a strip of book page, but we are working on a page here, so we must create the illusion. I painted a strip of Vanilla with jagged edges, right across the tag. Just on the edges of the Vanilla I blended a little Irish Cream, now it looked like old paper. I finished it by adding the same text stamp as earlier, and voila, faux book page! I wanted the text to look old and a little faded, so instead of black ink I used Archival Watering Can.

Next I wanted to add a ticket, a faux ticket of course. You can see in the photo the painted ticket and the real ticket. I think I got pretty close. I drew around the real ticket, then painted the shape with a mix of Vanilla and Nougat. . Don't forget to add the wiggly perforations at the ends, a tiny shadow of Mocha Mousse underneath and a line of French Roast for the staple. 

I then stamped the word Grow from EDY05, and doodled around the edge with a fine black pen. 

I stamped the topiary tree EM08  directly onto the tag, and coloured it again with neutrals.

 I wanted it to look like it was stamped onto tissue paper, so I painted a watery line all the way around with nougat. Making it watery makes it look fuzzy, like it would if tissue paper had been glued on. To add to that effect I put a little matte glaze over it. 

Tag #3. on the right page. 

Again I masked off the surrounding page,  and I then painted the  tag area with a little vanilla and a little mocha mousse. . I took another piece of highly sophisticated equipment, my ruler, and dipped it into black archival ink. I then stamped lines all over the tag shape. the inspiration came from this small flower. 

I wanted to try and recreate crunchy wax paper . I painted a wobbly strip of Vanilla first, then added Toffee over that, and using my brush end I scratched back to make it look like it was all scrunched up and had creases. if you have ever scrunched up waxy paper you will know the creases are a lighter colour. I don't think I got it quite right, but it's not too bad. I added a watery french roast shadow to the left. 

I then stamped on the flower stem/border from EDY06. 

I also stamped on the heart-in-ring flower head from EDY06. once I had coloured it, I again added a hazy,watery line of Nougat all around the ring, to make it look like it was on tissue paper. The heart in the middle has a shadow too, as though it is propped up on a square of sticky foam.  Finally I painted a strip of Nougat at the side, edged it with Toffee and stamped the quote from EDY07 

All 3 faux tags have a drop shadow painted under them, just to make them look a little more 3d. This completes the background of the page, and this is how it looks now. I was pretty pleased at this point, I think they do have quite  lot of dimension to them even though they are all completely flat. 

Now to trick the eye even more, and add 2 REAL tags.I chose to use manilla tags size 7 and size 8.  {of course you need to work on whatever size fits your book}

Lets work on the one for the left side page. I took the smaller tag, and coloured it with Pumpkin Soup and Toffee, then I added a layer of Crackle Glaze, and a top coat of Nougat. Before the nougat dried, I wiped a little off with a baby wipe. Then edge the tag with Chocolate \pudding. 

I then scribbled all over the tag using 3 browns from my set of portfolio pastels.  Now comes a neat technique. Lay your original medium damask stencil OVER the postfolios and gently rub back through the gaps with a baby wipe. 

You are left with this wonderful patterning. It looks really weathered, as the pastels have gone into all the cracks created by the crackle glaze. 

I then stamped the top half of the tree stamp from EDY06 onto deli paper, you could use tissue paper. they work in the same way but deli paper is stronger. I also painted a piece of smoothy card with Vanilla and Mocha Mousse. before stamping on the text from EDY06

These were then cut out, the deli paper was attached with matte glaze  and the smoothy was stapled onto the tag. Real staples this time! To finish it off I cut some neutral flowers in half, layered them up and glued them underneath. 

Now for the final tag. I coloured it in exactly the same way as tag#2, blending the colours with the black side of cut n dry, doing this in swirls leaves you with an almost worn leather look. Next I stamped the mini border {EM06}using versamark clear ink all down one side. I love this border, as if you are careful you can match up the ends and create a much longer border. 

I sprinkled on a mix of gold and copper embossing powder and heat set. 

Next I stamped the birdcage from EDY07 , I used Nougat paint onto a piece of smoothy card.  Once this was dry I spritzed the card with water then brushed on some Chocolate Pudding and wiped it straight back off. in exactly the same way we treated the background of the page. I cut the birdcage out and outlined all the brown areas with a brown pen. 

Although I liked it, I felt it needed to be darker, so I went back in and coloured all the negative shapes with more chocolate pudding. This was then stuck down over a piece of german book text.. real paper this time. I stamped the leaves from EDY06  using Archival Potting soil.  I mixed a little Grunge Paste with Toffee, and using a small brush I painted the coloured paste into the leaves. I left the small circles clear so that the book text could show through. I added a doodled vine between the leaves with a brown pen, andsome dots of coloured grunge paste. 

Once the paste was fully dry...{ remember if it feels cool to the touch it is not yet dry.}  I added some Treasure gold. 

Now to disassemble some more flowers, this flower tube is great. I have used loads and there are still so many left. I cut apart one brown flower, and 3 cream ones. I also wound some very fine coloured wire onto a cocktail stick. 

I stamped the german text stamp onto the cream parts, and assembled my butterfly, adding just a little Treasure gold to the wings. 

Here is the final tag all finished. I decided to add a small trail of flowers behind the butterfly, just using a black pen. 

Now all I needed to do was glue the REAL tags into the book alongside the FAUX tags. Are you still with me? on the left page, I overlapped these two tags. 

Here is another final shot of the finished page. Can you tell at a glance, which ones are real and which ones are fake?

This was quite a challenge, not only was I using colours that I would not usually use, I also had to find a way to create dimension on the flat tags. it turned out to be a lot of fun, and I am really pleased with the whole page. 

Ideas for you to explore this month:

• creating a paint resist through a stencil
• Grunge paste, tinting and applying with a brush
• Masking off areas with scrap card or die cut templates
• Using embossing powder
• Blending with  the reverse of cut n dry foam
• Using crackle glaze
• Positioning stencils or stamps to create a repeating pattern
• Limiting yourself to a neutral pallette
• Using found objects as stamps
• Creating an illusion with faux elements

See you next month, Darcy x

P.S next month I will be changing products, and for 2 months I will use brand new fresco paints, new PaperArtsy stencils and Ellen Vargo stamps, amongst more general supplies. So if you would like to play along then that is the direction I will be taking. 

If you would like to join in then please link up how you were inspired by the techniques presented above using the linky below (this is a separate link to the weekly PA challenges). This journal challenge will remain open for a whole month, and will end the day before my next journal page. Please follow the guidelines below, and enter your journal page to be in with a chance of winning one of my brand new stamp plates. 

• This challenge is to show how you have been inspired to action by this month's example make sure in your blog post you explain what part or technique prompted you to create a page of your own. 
• Make sure you have your journal page entry linked up by 5pm (London time) March 28th 2014. 
• Winner will be announced the following day.
• There will only be ONE draw, ONE winner. You may link up as many times as you like but each name will only go into the draw once.
• Please don't feel you need to copy the example exactly.
    
  You are also welcome to use any stamps/ products / substrates you have to hand, we do not expect you to exclusively use PA products - but of course it is lovely when you do!