Painted Papers II

HEY EVERYBODY!!!

I'm back!

Finally, I know.

It's been a while. 

And I've missed it, I really have. 

I've just been really busy with school and volleyball stuff.

And busy planning for NaNoWriMo.

But more on that later. 

It's just good to be back after being gone. 

It feels like longer than just a few days though.

Today was actually my first time doing anything with paint in about a week, so that was good for me too. 

I was basically just playing around with papers and stuff.

Making up some new techniques.

And working on some stuff for my Layering tutorial. :)

So yeah. The page above is probably one of my favorites.

Basically to make it was pretty simple. 

I took a plain sheet of printer paper and a white crayon.

And then, using the crayon I drew hearts over the whole thing.

I made some watercolors and went over then whole thing with a light pink.

The crayon resisted the paint.

Then I used a darker pink wherever the hearts were. 

I love it.

This one used pretty much the same technique.

But I used another color.

And I drew a different shape.

In the last one I did some basic hearts.

And in this one I did some Traci Bautista inspired doodle flowers. 

If you've ever seen Traci's work, you'll know what I'm talking about.

If you haven't seen her stuff, you really should look her up.

She's an art journaling genius.

Really.

Here are some index cards that I was playing around on.

I love the size. 

They're just so small.

And cute.

So yeah. I'm not going to describe the techniques I used on these cards,

Because if I did, then I'd be up all night.

Because, if the truth be told, I really don't know.

I was just messing around, and I used several different techniques per card.

I was just trying to develop some ideas.

If you know what I mean.

This is a dyed paper towel that I did real quick to use up some leftover washes I had.

I didn't want to be wasteful.

Yet I didn't really want to do anymore washes either. 

I basically just took a paper towel and folded it up.

Then I folded that in half.

I dipped one end in blue dye.

And the opposite end in a black one.

I really like the way this one turned out.

The white stripes are the white of the paper towel showing through.

This is going to be fun to use.

And last, but definitely not least, we have a paper that I made using a homemade stamp.

You can see it above.

The little flower doodle into foam.

How cute.

I made this paper, and even though I love the way it turned out, I have no idea how I got that effect.

I wish I could remember. I'll have to do some experimenting to find out.

All in all I think I did seventeen papers. 

Cool, huh?

Anyways.

Like I said in the beginning, I haven't been around much because of NaNoWriMo.

I did it last year. 

It's basically a challenge to write a 50k novel in the month of November.

And I've been planning. 

Planning like crazy.

Doing the plot, and the scenes, and trying to layer the story.

Yeah. I think this is going to go well.

Paper Towels and ICAD Card

Hey guys! I'm here with you guys again, and, even though today's post is a bit shorter, I'm kind of excited about it, since I pretty much love everything I'm sharing. I worked on quite a few things today, but these are the only things that I'm sharing today. 

Let's start off with the index card, shall we? I think we shall. 

Today's index card is a fun one; most of the ones I've been making are kind of bright and in your face. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that... it's just that I wanted to try something new.

You know what I mean?

Yeah. So today's index card is quite a bit different. It's darker.

The background (the initial base) is a technique that I've been working on perfecting.

I know, I know.

Another technique. You're probably sick and tired of hearing of me inventing new techniques by now.

But then again, maybe you're not. Maybe it depends on the person.

Anyways, getting back to the initial subject.

My index card background. I was working on taking some paint (I've been trying out student acrylics), and actually mixing them directly with glitter.It takes some manipulating;

But you CAN get the paint to show...

As well as having the glitter show too. It's tough though.

That's why it's a technique in process.

And not a tutorial.

Anyways. Again, getting back to the index card (Sorry about my rambling).

After that I actually went over the top of the whole card with plain black poster paint.

Then rubbed it around with my fingers. I thought it looked pretty cool.

After that I simply stamped the word "Dance" in the corner.

And colored around the edges with a glitter crayon that one of my friends sent me.

Another thing that I want to share with you guys are a few more paper towels. 

Yep.

More paper towels.

I'm sure you guys are probably sick and tired of paper towels by now as well.

Or then again, maybe you're not.

I tried a couple of the suggestions in the comments of this post.

Including one about using the paints undiluted.

And it worked like magic!!

See.

This is why I have a blog. Without you people, I wouldn't know WHAT to do.

You can see a couple of the towels I did above; 

A cool black flower with an orange and blue background. As well as some green and blue 

pieces in the back.

I think you can see them.

At least I know I can. *shrugs*

Another idea I saw in the comments was using FOOD coloring to dye the towels.

I personally thought that idea was GENIUS.

So far I haven't gotten to it, since I've been so busy with volleyball.

But I will get to it. I will. I swear.

Speaking of volleyball, my first game is actually tomorrow. Wish me luck.

I think I'll probably need it. 

Actually, if you're a reader of this blog, you'll probably notice I'm using a new format.

Do you like it?

Let me know. 

ALSO!! THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

If YOU are interested in doing a one-on-one challenge with me,

Like I did with Dede,

Let me know in the comments. 

I'm looking for a new partner. Okay.

See you guys later. Comment away.

Collage Unleashed Progress + A Challenge!!

Hey people of earth!! I'm back in the blogosphere with another daily blog post for all of you. Today I worked a little bit in Traci Bautista's book "Collage Unleashed" and did the first project out of it. It was dyed paper towels. I'm not really sure how she gets hers to be so vibrant. Mine are always muddled and so dull. I need to experiment and try to get some better color. If any of you have any suggestions for my epic fail of paper towel dying, then I'd be happy to listen to any advice. Even if you're not sure the suggestions would work, please tell me about them in the comments, since I am always looking for new ideas. Even if it doesn't necessarily work for the original purpose that it was thought up for, with a little editing, we might have a new technique on our hands. :) That's the way I think of it.

With these paper towels I mostly worked with pinks and reds, but I used a bit of a blue and turquoise in there as well. And some metallic copper. I think my problem is that I'm using too much water. Or not enough pigment. Because you have to mix your paints with some water to make these towels. I used a bunch of acrylic paints, some sumi inks, and some watercolor paints (liquid). I love the way these turned out, but, as I said, I just wish they were more vibrant. Oh well. You win some you loose some.

Here was my basic setup/collation of supplies for this project. I just collected all the supplies that I thought I could use for this. The thing it, I always love pictures like this; you know, just a picture of the supplies, so I thought I would try one for a change. That's why I love Traci Bautista's blog so much though. Especially because of her "Snippets From the Studio" series. They are just so cool. Anyways, in this picture, I had just culled a bunch of acrylic paints, poster paints, tempera paints, higgins inks, glitters, gesso, canning jars, some syringes, and a few other things. And after I set them up I photographed them. It's as simple as that.

And here I have an index card I worked on today. I didn't finish it, but it didn't turn out half bad if I do say so myself. It's a technique that I've been experimenting with (I've been designing it myself). One of my favorite things to do actually is come up with my own techniques. It's so much fun to think of something that nobody else has ever before. You know what I mean? How about today I challenge YOU to come up with your own technique today? Post it on your blog if you have one, and link to it in the comments. I'll make sure to give it a look see. And I'll probably try out every single one in there. Let's do that! You post a link to your technique in the comments, and I'll try them out and post them as I do them! And, if you don't have a blog, then just type it out briefly in the comments section. :) So I challenge you today to post something for me. :) See you guys later.