Blue jean girl...

July page for Darcy's 2015 Altered Calendar challenge :D

 Use "bumped stencil" technique and add your own face...

This month I had chosen to use the Bruce Springsteen page of my calendar...and promptly forgot to take a photo of the original...

He was wearing a bandanna, which is a habit I share(as well as the curly hair) AND

I also have a denim waistcoat lol so it was easy which bits of the original page to leave visible.

 I found an old photo from my youth and did a quick likeness in place of the Boss, as well as adding a few curves to his waistline lol.

 Now to try out the "bumped" stencilling technique.

This is where you stencil in a dark colour...

 move the stencil over slightly, then cover with a lighter colour.

I used a set of stencils by Artistcellar from Tam's Whimsy series.

 This technique gives a wonderfully simple 3D effect to your page...

 A quick bit of defining with a black posca pen...

and Bobs your Auntie :D

The Poe quote reads...

"...And the maiden she lived with no other thought

than to love and be loved by me."

(from Annabel Lee)

Enjoy :D XXX

On a much lighter note...

Didn't have a plan for a painting this week, so have taken the opportunity to cut out a few more stencils. 

These are A4 in size, and the leafy one was cut freehand, as was the curvy lines one, using the flap from the plastic folder :D

...and this is me playing with them on a drop sheet :D

When I don't have a project in mind, I like to play. I saw a project on one of the group pages I visit which just looked so much fun. I am calling it "Stripy Mitts" and you can see the original post HERE

Basically, you just draw round your hand....

then draw stripes across the page, curving the line as it crosses your hand shape...

and colour in the stripes. Outlining with a darker colour adds to the finished effect.

I drew the straight lines "outside" the hand shape first and this lead to a couple of lining up issues, so it is probably better to just draw them freehand and work right across the piece with each line.

Quite a fun effect don't you think :D

I used the chisel end of my promarkers to colour with, which made it quite a quick play too...

If you like the colour combi, I used Pear green/Leaf green/Tulip yellow/Gold/Honeycomb for the stripes, and Tan for the outline :D

I think we are all in need of a splash of colour at the moment, so why not give it a go...who knows where it will lead :D

Enjoy :D XXX

Couldn't find my stencils so I made some!

Well I gave up stressing about the box of stencils I couldn't find this week and got busy making my own...cos everyone said it was so easy :D...and it is!!!

I can draw...and I have craft tools...and plastic folders are dirt cheap!

Being slightly sensible I decided to work in A5, which meant I got 4 possible stencils from one cut up folder...

never shy to jump in, I went straight for a face lol. I made a stylised self portrait, and cut it out with a scalpel.

Cutting with a scalpel makes your finger sore!

Tested inside my handmade journal...

though gold paint doesn't show very well lol...

so used a dropsheet and some black paint...

How Manga is that!!!

"See Me"

Liked! so doodled some background texture patterns, but was dreading the cutting out...

until friends suggested using a soldering iron/hot tool...I have one for heat foiling...and wow this was much easier,

"Crazy Cow" and "Drystone Wall"

but after doing 2 the smell of melting plastic was making me feel ill(so 1 a day in future), and if you like a nice tidy edge this method can leave quite rough edges.

Was still concerned how I was going to manage the 2 fussier designs, when another crafting buddy said "I can cut them out with my machine if you like...will only take a few minutes"

"Never Forget" and "Ouija"

She has a Craft Robo....she uses it for die cutting ...it cuts thin plastic...such a clean precise cut!

So all in all a very productive exercise...and I am already using all of them. It is wonderful to know I can just make the stencil I want so cheaply (though I have added the cutting machine to my *wants* list, marked urgent)

Why not try making some of your own?...and you get to give them freaky names :D

Enjoy :D XXX