2019 #12 Eyes: A Case for Mr Magoo with Ink and the Dog by Lucy Edmondson

2019 Topic 12: Eyes

Summer weather calls for a case for sunglasses!  Lucy to the rescue with this stamped fabric case. ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Lucy from Lucy's True Colours here with you today, and I'd like to share with you a calico glasses case I have made using Vintage Ink and the Dog stamps: oldies but goodies!

As soon as I heard the topic 'Eyes' I thought of the Ink and the Dog Mini 'The Eyes See Everything', although in my case they don't, as I'm the resident Mr Magoo in our house. I cause much amusement seeing things that I mistake for other things because I haven't got my glasses on. I really don't like having 'eye furniture'. By the time this comes out I will have a new pair of glasses which are a bit more trendy than my old ones, and some prescription sunglasses - and a homemade case for them! For those of you with perfect vision, I hope you will make a case for your holiday sunnies!

I wanted to make a simple, rectangular soft glasses case, so I cut a large enough piece of calico and started off stamping a selection of Ink and the Dog stamps in shades of yellow Fresco Finish Acrylic paint. 

 I used Eclectic Plate 4, Clocks Plate 5, and Letters Plate 5, with Yellow Submarine, Tangerine Twist, Zesty Zing, and Mustard Pickle Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints.

I then carried on, overlapping and filling in the gaps, using darker orange Frescos such as Tango and Autumn Fire, and turquoise  shades such as Beach Hut, South Pacific, Caribbean Sea, Mermaid, and Jade. 

  
Stamps used, again from Ink and the Dog, were the Flourish Mini 96, the Words Mini  44, and one I have a particular fondness for, Phrenology Man Mini 83, which always reminds me of Mr PaperArtsy (I'm sure this will be edited out if it's too cheeky, but he is so perfect for the theme, with his sunglasses on!). I also love the clock and 'the voices speak only to me' words from Eclectic Plate 4!

Now it's time for the stamp positioner, to get a really deep black for my  main stamp image, Mini 02, the Eyes See Everything and the eye in profile, using archival ink in Jet Black. I do love having the stamp positioner for things like this, don't you?

  Then it's time to add a bit of wadding and stitch it into a simple pocket and we're done!

I had such fun making this glasses case which I know will be really useful to pop in my handbag. I hope I have encouraged you to dig out your old Ink and the Dog stamps. It's incredible to think they started in 2004, and I have had many of mine for such a long time. They still feel so very current and versatile. The fabric piece could be used in so many different ways: make up bags, pencil cases, covered boxes. I'd love to see what you make!

Blog: Lucy's True Colours
Facebook: Lucy Edmondson
Twitter: @CraftyLuce

2019 #2 Brayers: Friendship with EAB {by Jennie Atkinson}

2019 Topic 2: Brayers

Ohhh delicious colours from Jennie tonight, and such a delight to see how she pulls the layers togehter so thoughtfully!. Lots of old school stamps in the mix plus of course the newest from Alison finishes everything perfectly! ~Leandra

Hi everyone, Jennie (Live The Dream) with you today with a (colourful for me!) journal page celebrating friendship.

As our theme is brayers I just had to get out the Gelli Plate and use one of the fabulous new PaperArtsy brayers. I have been experimenting a lot with the Gelli Plate since the New Year as I was leading a session using one here in Shetland. I was a bit rusty and so have been seriously addicted to Gelli Plate Videos on Youtube. There are so many wonderful techniques that one doesn't really know where to start. So I have kept this simple ......

Alison's fabulous Friends and Friendship stamp collection (EAB10) was my main focus for the double spread journal page. There are so many wonderful quotes in this set it is very difficult to pick just one .... I feel a mini book coming on at some point!

I picked my PaperArtsy Fresco's quite randomly and it was only afterwards that I realised I had a mixture of transluscent and opaque which I think has worked really well in terms of the lighter yellow showing through.

I wasn't too sure whether these would work together, but after all it's only a bit of paper! I have used the single layer transfer technique (ie multiple pulls) rather than layering all my colours onto the Gelli Plate (single pull).

I started with Pumpkin Soup over the whole page. For the next pull I used Bora Bora, but keeping some lighter gaps. It was this layer that I used some old impression stamps to create a bit of texture. The next layer was Teresa Green very lightly here and there and the final layer was Hint of Mint around the outside edges. I also got a very nice ghost sheet too, although the paint dried quite quickly.

I also used my brayer to get an even layer of paint onto a flourish stamp. 

Mini 96

I used Chalk for this layer and the wider, larger brayer meant a good even layer of paint with no "blobbing" !

A stamping layer came next and I decided to keep the circular elements going with a clock and more some paint circles.

Most of the stamps you see here are my all time "go to" stamps for highlighting background papers.  There are so many wonderful elements in C1 for backgrounds and the two small bookplate stamps in Scrapcosy's set appear on just about everything I make!

Clocks 1 (C1)

Scrapcosy 03

My other go to stamp set is Ephemera 2, this time for collage pieces. In fact the Carte stamp has it's on acrylic block and doesn't leave my craft desk!

EA2

I have used the same ink throughout in terms of stamping and blending (Ranger Archival Ink Potting Soil). I feel this keeps everything balanced with the focus on the colours of the background rather than the foreground inking.

The collage is perfectly sized to sit in the lower corner without dominating the background pages.

The quote I wished to use was quite wide and only just fitted the width of my journal, so I tried to keep the design on this page more horizontal.

It seemed appropriate to leave a clear area of stamping at the bottom of the page.

I did add a few watery paint splatters as I felt the double page needed something to tie it all together.

When I started this journal page I was unsure as to whether the background colours would work together, and indeed whether they would compliment the vintage theme I had in mind. Limiting myself to one ink pad both for stamping, blending and colouring the embellishments has I think allowed it all to work together. This is really quite colourful for me! but I love that the Gelli Plate and Brayer allow me to blend out the colours and add different layers on top of each other to soften the look. 

As always thank you for joining me and I hope that our current theme inspires you all to get out your brayers!

Jennie x

Blog: Live The Dream