Welcome Back GD: Wanda Hentges Project #1 Winter Wonderland

"Hello everyone,  Wanda here and I'm so happy to be back on the PA blog. Today I'm sharing a journal page. This journal is 7 1/2" x 10". I'm using stamps from all 3 of Lin Brown's newest sets - ELB10, ELB11, and ELB12".

 

The largest flower from Chipboard shapes ES02.

And the stem from Chipboard Shapes ES01.

Since I knew I was going to start the page by scraping on Grunge Paste and stamping into it with the Snowflake, I glued 2 pages together just to be sure it would be strong enough. To stamp into grungepaste, spray your stamp with some water, rub the water around with your finger, and stamp into the paste. When your finished be sure to clean any Grunge Paste off the stamp immediately.  

I painted on sky avoiding the stamped in snowflakes. No need to be neat about it :)

Crackle Glaze is scraped on avoiding the stamped in snowflakes and left to dry (or use your heat tool).

Add snowflake over the Crackle Glaze patting it on with a piece of cut-n-dry foam and let it crackle.  

I just love crackle!!!

I watered down some Ice Blue and lightly brushed over some of the page. I watered down Guacamole and used a pipette to add drips. I held the book up, squirted along the top and just let it run down.

To bring out the snowflakes again, I used my finger to lightly rub Snowflake paint over them. I stamped "Let it Snow!" with Archival Ink French Ultramarine. I didn't use a block and I stamped more than once with each inking.

I decided on more drips and watered down some Ice Blue but it was a little too light so I added just a bit of Sky to the mix.  

I used a damp cloth to blot up some of the blue before it all dried. I know, the cloth looks dreadful!!  It's well loved and totally stained.  It won't even come clean with bleach.

The pine bough is stamped across the top and part way down the sides with evergreen, one of the colors in Lin Brown's Limited Edition Set 2.  I did use a block because I knew I would have had my finger tips in the paint and making a mess on the page. 

To stamp along the spine area you can prop the book up on something or try to hold your other hand under it while stamping.  I'm working on a counter top and there is a drawer right there so I just opened the drawer and let the other side hang over without falling off.  It worked really slick and I sure wish I had thought of it before!!

The stamped-in snowflakes were there but didn't stand out as much as I wanted so I painted Metallic Glaze in them. Nothing tedious!!  I just used a small brush and quickly painted them.

I really like how they catch the light!!

Before I even started this page the thought of that cute bird stamped on a flower was in my mind.  I originally had thought of doing a tag with that but then decided to build a journal page for it.  My winter flower had to be crackled too. I first painted the flower with Snowflake including the edges so they wouldn't be brown.  For my crackle I based coated with Ice Blue, scraped on the Crackle Glaze and put Snowflake on top.

I also knew I wanted the bird to be standing in snow. I mixed Grunge Paste and Snowflake paint, put some on the flower and immediately stamped the bird with Archival Ink Jet Black. I thought I would get a black line from the legs in the paste, but I didn't...

so I scraped some of the paste away in the legs area and very carefully re-stamped that part of the bird.  I thought for sure I'd mess it up by not getting it lined up but it worked well enough.  I put on a little more of the Grunge Paste/Snowflake mix, used a toothpick to take any off the leg area and let it dry.  Later, I went in with a black pen along the bottom of the body and down the legs.  I also decided I wanted more "snow" and added paste again and sprinkled on clear rock candy distress dry glitter. 

I was planning to add some paper strips along the bottom of the page to look like snowy ground and I didn't want to let the left over grungepaste/snowflake mix go to waste so I tore some paper and scraped the excess onto the pieces.  A little extra texture can't hurt, right :) 

I hadn't yet thought too much about the stem of the flower, but it was time. I decided to use another chipboard piece and went to work crackling it.  I used Hey Pesto and Evergreen for the base coat, scraped on the Crackle Glaze and used Snowflake on top. I also decided to add crackle onto the torn paper - white on white so it would be subtle.

To help the flower/stem stand out from the background I inked around the edges with Archival Ink Red Geranium, Leaf Green, and Fern Green. 

I laid out the torn, crackled papers on the book deciding placement and to determine where I wanted to stamp "Winter Wonderland", took them back off and stamped the words with Jet Black.

To attach the pieces to the page, I used red line tape (a generic term for very sticky, permanent, double-sided tape with a red plastic liner) just along the bottom of each piece. 

I stamped several more birds on a scrap of Smoothy White Stamping Card so I could cut them out and use them on the page.  I painted the birds with London Bus.  I cut extra wings for each bird and painted the wings with a mix of Snowflake and Metallic Glaze. The 2 standing birds at the bottom of the page were first stamped directly onto the page and then extra birds glued on top. The bird on the flower was painted directly on the flower and only an extra wing cut to glue on. I couldn't resist having one of the birds sitting on a Snowflake!! After everything was glued on, I watered down some Snowflake and splattered it over the page by getting some on a paintbrush and hitting it against my finger.  Finally I added some metallic glaze along the tops of the torn paper and around the edges of the page.  

I hope you've enjoyed today's post!  If any part of this inspires a project, I hope you'll share it and link to the November challenge.  See you all tomorrow!

~Wanda~

A huge thanks from all at PA HQ. This is such a refreshing take on the festive season. The wintery backdrop looks magical and the depth from the snowflakes is wonderful. Great use of colour Wanda, thank you for sharing.

We would love you to join in with our monthly challenge. If you are inspired by any of this month's guests who have blogged between Nov 1st 2014 and Nov 30^th 2014 then join in and link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. You need to add your link by 19:00 (London time) Nov 30th 2014.