Creative Squad

Inside Outside – Maura Hibbitts

  

Happy Wednesday my friends! Today we have a post from Creative Squad member Maura Hibbitts to brighten your day. Maura is using my Stroll Around the Block, Snail mail, and Cross Circle stamps and my Buenos Aires stencil to create a lovely art journal page that definitely has me thinking “Home Sweet Home”! The theme this month is Inside Outside – Inside can be cozy and warm. Outside is about fresh air and freedom. Are you a homebody or do you suffer from cabin fever? We’re creating with these opposites in mind.

I have long been an admirer of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the pottery, wallpaper, furniture, and love the Craftsman style homes. The outside details of Nathalie’s Craftsman house stamp make for a delightful little cottage, one I would love to live in. I do have several pieces of furniture inside my home made in this style, that we enjoy every day, and I can foresee passing these on in the family, they are so sturdy and well made.

I started with my gel plate and squirted on a bit of burnt umber, green gold, and quinacridone gold with my heavy body paints, then used the brayer to blend them out a bit. Next, I laid the Buenos Aires stencil down onto the plate and pressed a sheet of copy paper over it, then lifted the stencil. Be sure to clean the stencil right away and not leave it too long on a sheet of paper. (I learned the hard way that they will stick together. If that happens, just soak the stencil in water.)

I pulled two prints from my gel press to use in my project. The print on the left made from laying the paper down on the stencil and paint, and the one on the right is the second pull directly from the plate.

I tore the edges of my print, and adhered it onto a kraft page in my Dina Wakley Media Journal with matte medium. Once dry, I brushed on several transparent colors, then wiped them away in some areas with a baby wipe. I used Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Gold and Green Gold for this layer.

While that was drying, I stamped the house and mailbox on watercolor paper, and colored them with Prima watercolors and a water brush. Once they dried, I cut them out.

I used my other print to cut out part of the stencil to layer and create my sun, and the stone pathway to the house. I added a bit of doodled lines, and watercolor to the stones.

When I first looked at the Cross Circle stamp, I saw flying birds, so I used part of the stamp to add some birds to the page.

The house, sun and mailbox are attached with foam tape. I also scribbled a bit around the house, mailbox, and stone path, and wrote Take the Path Home onto my page as this seemed appropriate. After all, I know my home always calls me back, especially if I’ve been away for a while.

 

Thank you Maura! I love the little scene you’ve created and so cool that you interpreted my Cross Circle stamp as a flock of birds – I love that idea! Here are some of the supplies that Maura used in her art journal:



Do you feel inspired to create now? Are you 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 send me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    I would love to vacation in the house you created Maura.
    The path is my favorite part of the design.

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Inside Outside – Josefine Fouarge

  

Hello from the Creative Squad! Today we have a post from Josefine Fouarge to show us a great way to use my Toledo and Ornament Wallpaper stencils, along with my Stroll Around the Block stamps, in a cute art journal page that shows how creativity can take your ideas on a journey! Josefine’s inspiration began with this month’s theme: Inside Outside – Inside can be cozy and warm. Outside is about fresh air and freedom. Are you a homebody or do you suffer from cabin fever? We’re creating with these opposites in mind.

Hi everyone! This month’s theme took me on a journey. At the beginning, I wanted to create something around Winter vs Summer or a similar contrasting theme, but then I started working in my art journal and it moved into a different direction.

Basically, I created a page about myself and the contrast of me at work and me at the craft table. But more on that later ;)

I started with a page that already had a few “clean up” marks on it from a Gel Press session that I had. I decided to use the round Gel Press marks and work with those circles. I used the Toledo stencil and placed three of the stars around the two circles.

I didn’t use the alignment of the stencil and created my own pattern with them. Next up, I used the same stencil and positioned it slightly off. As you can see, I didn’t cover the entire page, just a few areas that I blended out and into each other.

Now I added the circles on top using a round Gel Press. I thought that the bright yellow looks like spotlights. But I didn’t like the brightness, so I added the Ornament Wallpaper pattern inside and then, while I was at it, to the left border.

Coincidentally I found this girl in a magazine. Even though she’s struggling with her hair, I thought that she fits perfectly onto my page – just switch the hairdryer with a heat gun :)

And onto the contrast part. I work at a job where a business casual is preferred. Not that I have a problem with that, but it’s very different to how I usually am when I’m at home. Let’s just say I love to craft in my jammies…

That’s why I picked the Craftsman stamp from the Stroll Around the Block set and stamped it onto a grey piece of paper. I kept the house very clean and colored it lightly with Prismacolor pencils.

At the end, I ripped the edges of the grey paper, adhered it onto my art journal page, added some black watercolor around the edges and sealed the entire page with Earl Lube paste.

Now we have a clean, successful looking outside with a chaotic me in the inside :)

On a side note, I love how the white pencil adds contrast to the Craftsman house.

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to come back every Tuesday for more Creative Team inspiration.

Thank you Josefine! I love hearing about your evolution of ideas – sometimes we just need a little spark to get inspired and then our creativity takes it from there :) In addition to Earl Lube Paste (gel medium), here are some of the supplies that Josefine 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

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    What a fun page Josefine…thanks for sharing.

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My Home is My Castle – Josefine Fouarge

  

Hello my friends and welcome to a project from the Creative Squad! Today we have some fun tags created by Josefine Fourage using my new RubberMoon stamps from the Stroll Around the Block and My Home is My Castle sets: Craftsman, Queen Anne, and My Home is My Castle. This month’s theme is: My Home is My Castle – Home means many different things depending on who you ask and where you are in the world. This month we’re thankful to have a place to call home, a place where we can rule and be King – or Queen :) – of the castle!

Hi and welcome to 2018. In the new year we get to play with Nathalie’s new stamps. Have you seen them yet?

I was in the mood for some Distress Oxide fun, so I grabbed three tags and started coloring them in. My favorite technique is ink smooshing. For that I used three colors of Distress Oxide from the same color family and smooshed one after another onto my craft mat. Then I spritzed a little water on top and dragged the tag through the ink, one color at the time. Between every color I heat set the ink. This way I always get an interesting and random background.

I colored all three tags in different color combinations, one in shiny yellow and orange, one in different blue shades and the third in a grungy green/ brown.

The next layer is using Distress Oxide again. This time I blended them with the Blending Tool through Nat’s Lily Wallpaper stencil. I used the same colors that I used for the ink smooshing so the flowers stay in the background.

Next up, I stamped some marks with parts of Nat’s Cross Circle stamp, again using the same colors for every tag.

I picked three of the houses, but ended up using just two of them. They are wider than the tags, so I stamped them a little off. The Queen Anne house fit perfectly to the yellow/ orange tag and the Craftsman to the grungy green tag. I decided to use the sentiment stamp “My Home is my Castle” for the blue tag.

At the end, I colored some areas of the houses with Faber Castell Pitt Pens. Mainly some shadows, but also light behind the windows and red for the door of the Craftsman. To add a shadow underneath the house (for a little more dimension), I used a black water color pencil. I also added a few white gel pen outlines here and there and then tied all the tags together.

Here is the finished piece.

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to check out the new stamps, they are so much fun to play with!

Thank you Josefine! I love how you worked into the stamps to really give them dimension. Here are the supplies that Josefine used (some are affiliate links):




Play along with us too: 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

Comments (1)

  • maura

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    Great tags, Josefine! I love your term ink smooshing – I do that, but now I have a new name for it :). The lily stencil looks awesome with the houses. Maura

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