More Paper Play!

As promised early yesterday, I've got another little bit of fun to share. This top photo is a finished piece and below will be stepped out photos, showing you how I did it. The photo actually shows 2 pieces; one with a final bit of stencilling and one without.
But what would you do with this finished work of art you ask? If you own white ink you can journal right over the top of it. (Think gel pens, pigment pens, paint pens.) If you want to cover the front of a journal or composition book or tablet, this would be work. If you want to make cards or ATC's this would certainly work. Place cards, gift enclosure cards, punched shapes like flowers, all would be great.

I started with plain white cardstock, dye-based inks, and either your stylus tool with white foam tips or sponges. This is simply direct-to-paper, adding color to a background. I specifically used some really dark colors here in spots to show you that it can be done, and how you'll work with those colors in later steps.
If you've ever taken a class with me, you know I've been a HUGE fan of Clearsnap's Magic Stamp, or Penscore as I know it from years ago when it was first introduced. These blue rectangles are moldable high density foam which can be heated and pressed into anything that will create an impression. I used one of my favorite stamps from Just For Fun, but you could use any stamp. Keep in mind it's going to give you a reverse image. So as you can see here, the actual stamp would give you raised circles that would take the ink, whereas the Penscore gives you the background, leaving the circles uninked.
I used Spring Green as one of my background colors and then used it to stamp with the Penscore. You'll notice the circles are quite visible, giving me a wonderful pattern right over the top of all that original background color.
If you don't have a rubber stamp you want to use, consider a pile of paperclips, coins, buttons, rubber bands, dried beans or rice, ...press it against the side of a wicker basket...seriously, anything with a pattern will work. And if you don't like the end result, pull out the heat gun, heat it again and it goes right back to it's original smooth surface. Now how fabulous is that!?

Remember all those dark spots of color on the original background made with Purple and Inky Blue? I used white acrylic paint, a cosmetic wedge sponge, and a length of punchinella to create the white dots right over the top of those intense colors. Tap your sponge into the paint, then off-load on scrap paper. Now that you've removed most of the paint, simply pounce over the Punchinella. You can also use mesh, dry-wall tape, and stencils for this step. I used the Punchinella (also known as sequin waste) for the large white polka dots because I knew I wanted to add another step.
And here's the next step. This is actually a length of dry-wall tape from the home improvement store. But again, any stencil would work just as well. I wanted tiny dots and I wanted to use the Garnet ink I'd already used in the first step of direct-to-paper. So now you can see I've got lots of pattern going on, but I've also created the illusion of depth.
For the last step, I pulled out a stencil I'd bought from my dear friend (and repeat student at Stampaway) Barbara. She's got a great little store just up the road from the Cincinnati airport, both of which are actually located in KY. Don't ask me why an airport in KY is known as the CVG airport; can't answer that one. Anyway, I used the stencil and the very same white acrylic paint, off-loading the majority of the paint on scrap paper, and then pouncing over the stencil.

Now scroll back up to the top of the post and take another look at the end result. Doesn't that make you want to go grab your inks, paper, sponges, stencils, and paint right this second?