Hello and welcome to another post from the Creative Squad! Here we have an art journal page from Maura Hibbitts using inchies and twinchies (read on to learn more :) Maura is using my New Orleans stencil, one of the stamps from the Fanfare rubber stamp set, and this month’s theme: Little Wonder – We’re thinking small this month and focusing in on a tiny scale, exploring the delicate details, and creating something that is petite and precious.

Isn’t it often the little things that fill our lives with meaning? A smile, a hug, a flower in bloom, the flight of a bird, a good book, quiet moments, a song…to me, these are the little wonders that mean so much. Think about all of the little things that fill your own life to the brim!

I decided to make my little wonders with inchies (1”x1”) and twinchies (2”x2”). You can turn these tiny squares into little works of art, but this time, I’ve kept mine simple. I also decided to keep my supplies simple.

First step is some color blending on the gel plate – Green Gold, Cobalt Teal Hue, Cerulean Blue and Gold. I squirted small amounts of the four colors I am using and blended them with the brayer.

I have to say, I love printing on my gel plate, and once I start, I really having a hard time stopping. Once the paint is blended on the plate with the brayer, I laid the New Orleans stencil down into it, lifted it off with the paint on the stencil and pressed it on the water color paper. Since I still have some paint on the stencil, I laid it between a sheet of deli paper to get the rest off. These extra prints will come in handy in future projects.

I wanted a mix of designs, so I repeated the process, but this time after laying the stencil in the paint, once I lifted the stencil, I laid the paper on the gel plate.

I decided to add a bit more gold to one of the sheets, so squirted the gold on the gel plate, brayered it, and laid the stencil onto the paint. Then I lifted the stencil and pressed it over one of my painted sheets, just to add another layer.

The papers are dry and ready to be cut to size, 8 twinchies (2”x2”) and 4 inchies (1”x1”).

On the inchies, I stamped a design from the Fanfare set with archival black ink. I also edged all the pieces with the black ink.

Just to add one more little element to my art journal page, I decided to punch small holes around several of the twinchies with my Japanese awl. I like the contrast between the painted pieces and the black background.

Then, I adhered all twinchies to the art journal page with adhesive, popped up the inchies with foam tape, and wrote my thought in the center with a white paint pen.

It’s the little things…day to day, in art, in nature…that add so much to our lives. Think about all the little wonders in your life, and enjoy each and every one of them! Maura

Thank you Maura and yes, we could not agree more that it is so important to be thankful for the little things in life :) Gorgeous page and gorgeous message!

Want to try making something yourself? You can find all my Rubber Stamps and Stencils in my Online Shop and here are some of the other products Maura used:

Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share?  I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat