Rosie's Room

(especially for Carolee, Linda, and Carla)

Today's Project:

I apologize that my photos aren't better but I took them with my phone as I was working.  Here's the process I used to create this 12 in. X  12 in. page.

I used 140 pound, cold press, watercolor paper by Strathmore for the background paper.
To create the background I used a homemade ink/paint spray and while the spray was still wet I dripped some Liquitex ink on the very top rim of the paper.  Then I liberally sprayed water onto the paper, spraying more heavily at that line of Liquitex ink.  The water helps the ink to flow.  When the watercolor paper dried it looked like this...

Whenever paper gets wet it will curl!

So all you can do is flatten it out by pressing it underneath something very heavy.  I put that sheet of watercolor paper under a few of my scrapbook paper storage boxes.

The next step is to create a doily by using a stencil and black Archival Ink (by Ranger)  When the ink has dried fussy cut the doily.  The stencil I used is called Mini Ring Doily by The Crafters Workshop.

I used these papers and stamped image given to me by Carolee (thank you, again!)  The papers are designer papers by Stampin' Up! and so is the stamp.  The ink used on the stamp is also SU! and the color is Pacific Point.  The paper the image is stamped on is the inexpensive cardstock that you can buy at Walmart.  It's Georgia Pacific's 110 pound, 92 bright cardstock.  Carolee and I were playing with this image and I happened to stamp it on this cheapie cardstock.  

What you need to know is that SU! ink is a water-based dye ink, which means the ink will reactivate when it gets wet.  So I sprayed the image with a couple of coats of  Krylon matte sealant to protect the image.  Look at the difference between a sealed image and one that's not sealed.  First, here's a photo of the papers 

Next, here's a comparison of the sealed vs. unsealed stamped image

You can also see that I jumped ahead a step.  I cut the sealed, stamped image with a die; the die set is Labels 1 and the set is made by Spellbinders.  I also cut a "mat" for this diecut image using the next largest in size die and the paper I used for this mat is by SU! and the color is Not Quite Navy

Next, I worked with (sheet music) pattern paper that I bought at Hobby Lobby, it's made by The Paper Studio.  This paper is the standard 8-1/2 X 11 size sheet of paper.  To make this paper more interesting I tore the edges and used black Archival Ink to tone the torn edges down; the black also complements the black that's in the feather designer paper.  

I wanted to "age" the paper so using Archival Ink again, this time using the color called Potting Soil, I randomly inked the top of the paper using the direct to paper technique as well as using a blending tool (Mini Blending Tool by Ranger)

To tone down the paper I painted over the surface of it with watered-down white gesso (by Liquitex)  You can either the let the paper dry on it's own or you can speed up the drying process by using your heat tool.  When the paper is dry you'll probably have to place under something heavy to get it to lie flat so you can continue to worth on it.  When dry, I randomly sprayed the same ink/paint spray I used to create the background paper over parts of the papaer.  I wanted to get some color on this music paper and tie the color in with the background paper.

Next, I grabbed my background paper and a stencil (called Leafy Trio, made by Joggles; the item number is 10-33730).  I masked off the areas of the stencil I didn't want to spread molding paste through...see that hard edge on that leaf?  

I covered that leaf as well as other hard-edged areas on the stencil like that with painters tape, and in some places with micropore tape.  Micropore tape is surgical tape that you can buy at Walmart. 

Whatever works, right?

Now I need to prepare some molding paste (made by Golden) which I'll spread through the openings of the stencil.  I added blue acrylic paint to the paste (cobalt, Dina Wakely) and I even added a quick spray of the same ink/paint spray I used to create the background paper.  It doesn't take long to mix the paint into the paste.  Spread the paste through the stencil using a palette knife.

Always remove a stencil immediately after spreading any paste or medium through it and go wash it well.  Molding paste dries quickly and it'll turn to concrete if left on your stencil. No one wants their stencils to get ruined!

I cleaned off the rest of my work surface right after washing my stencil.  Some of the paste seeped through the stencil holes but I don't mind that.  Another piece of advice I'll give you is that it's best to let molding paste dry by itself rather than use a heat tool on it to speed up the drying process.  Molding paste will quickly begin to bubble-up, and you can quickly scorch it, because of the temperature of the heat gun.  That's a technique though that you might like to try on a future project, though, so keep it in mind.

Now that the molding paste is dry it's time to do some more work on the background paper.  I took a stamp and randomly stamped using Archival Ink (the color is Cobalt) 

And now my background paper looks like this.  Pretty, don't you think?

Next, I outlined the molding-paste leaves using my white Signo Uniball pen.  This is absolutely the best white pen in the world!  

Then I turned my attention to the opposite side of the background paper and using a border stamp (by Paper Artsy, set # EDY11) and stamping with Versamark ink, I embossed the border using white embossing powder by Zing.  

Finally it's time to start putting everything together!  I glued the music paper down first, and I used matte gel medium (by Liquitex) to do it.  Gel medium is an adhesive as well a sealant for papers.  It's a very strong adhesive so it's good for gluing many more things than just papers.  Gel medium goes on looking "milky" but it dries clear.  You can carefully use your heat tool to help the drying process along.

Now it's time to break out my trusty Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue.  This glue works miracles, it's only downside (which is also it's upside) is that it dries so quickly!

I used the Aleene's glue to complete the rest of this project.  I used it to adhere the stamped image to it's "mat"

And for gluing the doily (did I mention that the paper I used to create the doily is also 140# watercolor paper by Strathmore?) as well as gluing down the designer papers

If you want, you could stop now and called it finished.  But I want to add some finishing touches.  Using black Archival Ink I stamped the little circles in the four corners of the music paper. 

I also used a punch and took some pattern paper I have in my scrap box and punched corners and glued them to the four corners of the floral designer paper to help highlight the stamped image

I've had this punch for years, it's made by EK Success

I then added some strips of the same paper I used for the corners (by the way, I got this "typewriter" like paper at Hobby Lobby)  to the side and top and bottom of the feather designer paper.  I then used black Archival Ink to go over the edges of the background paper to frame the page.

Now I'm done with this page!

Hope you enjoyed this project!  

And THANKS for stopping by!