Sara Jane's Studio

Year of Collage - December 2010

December has arrived, and I bet January will be here before we know it, too!

This month's Year of Collage calendar uses the colors of Christmas, but with a non-religious theme, so hopefully it appeals to many folks.

The background uses Stampin' Up!'s cardstock color Kiwi Kiss (retired).  The background paper with the musical theme was from my scrapbooking stash, and then I found two handmade papers, on in red and one in green, both with gold accents.  The pocket is made from a piece of vellum.  The holly in the corner and the gold border are both what Artchix Studio calls "German Scrap" - and the holly, which was originally gold, was colored with Copic markers (alcohol based - water based markers will not stick to the coated surface of the "scrap").

I stippled the month with a combination of SU's Kiwi Kiss and Garden Green inks, and mounted it on a tag made from Kiwi Kiss that had been stamped with "script" in gold ink.  The fibers in a combination of bright green/gold, dark green, and red provided the finishing touches!!

 You can see all of the other months in the series by clicking here.  Watch for my class offerings so you can make your own!!

Year of Collage - November 2010

Here it is November already!!  Time flies by faster every year.  This month's calendar collage was inspired by the papers themselves.  Some of them were fortuitously lying on top of each other withing eyesite, and I thought the color combination was rich and perfect for the fall.

Like October, there is no special technique or trick in this project.  Just a pleasing collection of purples, brown and gold.

The purple is Stampin' UP!'s rich new InColor, Concord Crush.  The papers were all from my stash from various sources.  (Do you collect interesting paper, like I do?!?)  The month was stippled with a combination of Amber Clay and Bisque ColorBox Chalk Ink, to help it blend with the entire design.  THe month name came from a set of Technique Tuesday stamps, and was stamped in Concord Crush ink.

I used large skeleton leaves from my stash, and dry brushed them with Bright Gold Lumiere paint from Jacquard.  It is held on by the glue that I used to atttache the calendar portion.  And the finishing touches were brass charms from my stash.  (Yes, I collect those, too!!) 

Something a little different from the usual fall themes, but it still works, don't you think?

(All of the other months of the Year of Collage can be found here.)

A Year of Collage - October 2010

October has arrived!   With promises of beautiful falling leaves, and of course, Halloween!  My Year of Collage Calendar takes the Halloween theme and gives it just a little twist, so it's not quite so obvious.  And maybe it's a little reminiscent of Harry Potter!!

The basic colors include SU's Elegant Eggplant and Pumpkin Pie.  But I included many handmade papers from my stash and brought more orange, as well as black and gold.   

The "O" for October is from one of Stampin' Up!'s chipboard alphabet sets, painted with black acrylic paint that was spiked with "Sparkles" Folk Art acrylic paint from PLAID.  This paint contains iridescent pearl glitter, and I love that it reads a bit green in color when the light hits it.  The wings are what Artchix Studio calls "German Scrap", and they came in black.  I gave these a light coat of the same "Sparkles" paint. 

The purple circle is another piece of chipboard covered with handmade paper - there is a subtle tone-on-tone design in the paper that you may or may not be able to see...

Other than those items, there were no tricks to putting this together.  Just layers of paper in an eye-pleasing arrangement.

(Click here to see all of the other designs in the Year of Collage.)

A Year of Collage - September 2010

Here we are, at the unofficial end of summer.  And below is the continuation of my "Year of Collage" calendar, with the September design.

My inspiration came from the bright blue skies and sunflowers a-bloom in this month, the transition between the colors of Summer and the colors of Autumn.  The SU cardstock colors are the new Marina Mist and the retired Summer Sun.  The background is a combination of two "Cover-a-Card" background stamps from Impression Obsession:  "Funky" , stamped with French Blue ColorBox chalk ink, and "Script", stamped using Creamy Brown ColorBox Chalk ink. 

It seems 3-d flowers are all the rage too, so how could I resist adding a sunflower?  This one was made based on the instructions found in "The Paper Garden" by Susan Tierney Cockburn.  She has devised ways to use paper punches to make beautiful, realistic flowers.  WARNING:  You must be ready to manipulate very small pieces of cardstock and paper to make these!  If this type of detail work is not your cup of tea, you might be better off buying a pre-made flower. :)

The month name is from Stampin' Up!'s Full Calendar set, stamped in Marina Mist ink, and punched out with the Modern Label punch.  (And do it in this order:  stamp first, then you can turn your punch upside down and position the stamped image it the punch to your liking.)  It was mounted on Summer Sun and Marina Mist after rounding the corners of each of the backgrounds.

And there you go.  Something bright an cheerful for each September day.

(You can click here to see all of the other months in the Year of Collage.)

 

A Year of Collage - August 2010

I am the first to admit that his is not exactly a collage... But I'll claim poetic license in this case.  For my year of collage, I enjoy highlighting a different stamping or crafting technique each month.  And I'd not yet shared the reverse-image stamping technique, so here it is!

This image is from the retired Stampin' Up! set "Summer by the Sea".  And what you need to make the technique work is another plain piece of rubber.  It is simple enough:  ink your image, and transfer this image to the plain piece of rubber, and then stamp with the plain piece of rubber. The result is a softer, mirror image of the original. 

The keys that I found to making this work:

• Use StazOn Jet Black ink, so there are absolutely no chances that the black will run when you water color over it.
• Make sure the ink pad is not too dry and not too wet.  (I know- this is a tough one.)  If it is too dry, you won't have enough time to stamp the mirror image.  If it is too wet, then your mirror image will be much too strong and you'll lose the effect.
• Stamp the mirror image first, before you do anything else.   Keep trying until you get one or two images that you like (remember, it does not have to be perfect, and is better if it's not perfect).
• Next, create the water.  I used a combination of brayer (with Not Quite Navy), and stippling (with Not Quite Navy and Bashful Blue).  Don't use too much ink on the brayer- because you don't want the water to be too dark.  If it does get too dark, try lifting some color with a wet Aquapainter, followed by a paper towel to blot up the color.  You can keep doing this quite a bit before the cardstock starts to break down.

You've now done the two most challenging parts and the rest is relatively easy!!  Stipple the sky with Bashful Blue and a little bit of Pink Pirouette.  Stamp your main image on a separate piece of cardstock, and color with water color crayons and the Aquapainter.  When you are happy with it, cut it out close to the edges. 

Lift some of the blue color from the reflected image with your Aquapainter and a paper towel to blot.  Then color the reflection in the water with a very watery mix of the same colors, and don't hesitate to add a little blue back for "realism". 

Then, mount your main image using Stampin' Dimensionals, and you are done!

I have my calendar on my desk at work, and have already found it to be a welcome distraction during stressful, hectic days!!

 

Happy Summer! Happy July!

Somehow red, white and blue always comes to mind when designing something for the month of July. . . No real mystery there:  Independence Day is a fun and festive, not to mention important, holiday.  So of course it infuses our thoughts in this first full month of Summer.

And so it is no surprise that the month of July in my Year of Collage calendar is inspired by the Fourth.

This is really a simple design, with a variety of woven ribbons providing the color, and cardstock providing the white.  The color scheme is obvious.  What may be less obvious is the loose connection to the flag, with blue and white on the top left, and red and white in the lower portion.  And, I had fun taking it one step further:  instead of using plain white cardstock,  I scanned and printed book pages with various languages on them:  German, French, Chinese, English, and (because I had it) shorthand!!  (Not exacly a language, but it looks cool on a page!!)  Thus the melting pot that is America is loosely represented in the various languages that are included in the design.  I added a few finishing touches in the form of red, white and blue buttons from my stash, and called it complete!

You can see all of the other months in the calendar by clicking on Year of Collage on under "Categories" on the left side of the blog.

Happy Fourth!

A Year of Collage - June 2010

Most years I manage to create a calendar that consists of a unique collaged design for each month, and call it "A Year of Collage".  I try to play with different techniques for each month, and as much as possible, of course, have the design be appropriate to the month.

Here is June for 2010.

I used cold press watercolor paper for the base together with some great watercolors from Stamp Zia.  She formulates her own sprays which create these vibrant colors that just come alive.  I used a plastic template with a flourish design, and simply kept spraying.  I'd move it, and use another color, and move it and use a third color.  Then, using a heat gun, I'd dry the whole design and start over again.  The key is to keep layering colors, drying when needed so they don't all blend together and create a muddy mess.

The gold embellishment is a piece of chipboard from my stash, painted gold with Jacquard Lumiere paint, and then highlighted with a gold Dew Drop. 

The colors seemed to match perfectly with Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry cardstock.

You can see all of the other months for 2010 by clicking here.  If you are lucky, you can join me late in the year for a two-part class to create your own calendar for next year.  Just sign up for my newsletter so you can get notice of my upcoming classes as a reminder. 

A Year of Collage - May 2010

Happy May Day! 

This month's calendar is based on a tried-and-true layout:  the Grid.  If ever in doubt, you can base a design on a grid pattern, and you can almost never go wrong. 

 My inspiration was the design in the upper left corner- it's a transparency with a printed brocade image that I adhered to white cardstock with Crystal Effects.  To that, I decided to add brown and green, and a variety of patterns and textures of paper.  Each square is 1-1/8" on a side, with a scant 1/4 inch in-between each one.  The lower six squares are adhered directly to the Chocolate Chip cardstock base, and the top six squares are adhered with Stampin' Dimensonals.  I used a variety of embellishments: a brass charm, ribbons, a small Prima flower, and beads in coordinating colors.

The dates of the month were printed on Whisper White carstock on my computer, and I highlighted the edges with one of my favorites:  a Krylon Gold Leaf Pen.  It was then adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals.

And there we have the lovely month of May!  Click on the Year of Collage link to see the other months I've created.

A Year of Collage - April 2010

One of the things I love about April is daffodils.  I love daffodils.  I'm not wild about other yellow flowers, but there is something about daffodils that just get me.  So it seemed only fitting that an image used for the April year of collage is that of daffodils.  And I had fun with an image transfer technique using Oil of Wintergreen.

I found an image of daffodils in a gardening catalog,  scanned it, and then printed it with my laser printer.  (You can also photocopy it on a machine that uses toner.  The key is the toner- inkjet ink won't work for this method.)

I placed the image print-side down on a piece of white cardstock, and using a cotton ball, dampened the image with Oil of Wintergreen.  (You can find Oil of Wintergreen at your local drugstore.)  It does not take a whole lot, and you can use too much and smear the image.  So start with a light hand, and keep lifting up an edge to see how your transfer is proceeding.  When you are happy with it, remove the remains of the image and throw it away, and allow your new image to dry.  The aroma of wintergreen will linger for a while; I love it so it does not bother me.  But if you are bothered by it, be assured that it will fade away in a few days.

To assemble the calendar, I tore the edges of the daffodil image, and then mounted on Soft Suede cardstock.  In my collection of stamps, I had one from Wordsworth Rubber Stamps, which is a poem by William Wordsworth on daffodils!  I stamped it on vellum, and attached it with brads on top of the daffodil image.  The whole was mounted on Brodade Blue cardstock, together with the month of April calendar.

BTW - if you are interested in the whole poem, here it is.  (My heart dances with the daffodils, too!)  Welcome spring!!             

     I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
     That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
     When all at once I saw a crowd,
     A host, of golden daffodils;
     Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
     Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

     Continuous as the stars that shine
     And twinkle on the milky way,
     They stretched in never-ending line
     Along the margin of a bay:                 10
     Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
     Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

     The waves beside them danced; but they
     Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
     A poet could not but be gay,
     In such a jocund company:
     I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
     What wealth the show to me had brought:

     For oft, when on my couch I lie
     In vacant or in pensive mood,                20
     They flash upon that inward eye
     Which is the bliss of solitude;
     And then my heart with pleasure fills,
     And dances with the daffodils.
                          W. Wordsworth 1804.

A Year of Collage - March 2010

As part of my ongoing Year of Collage, I am happy to share the month of March.

This month is only a little bit collage, and relies on the technique called Faux Silk - which is  ridiculously simple, but gives a great textured effect.

On plain white tissue paper, I stamped the Medallion background stamp using Bermuda Bay ink.  After giving it a moment to dry, the image was crumpled up in my hand.  Then without smoothing out the wrinkles, the tissue paper is glued to a piece or cardstock.  If you use white glue, use it sparingly, because the ink will bleed a bit as you might be able to see on mine.  Trim the tissue paper slightly larger than the cardstock, fold the edges to the back and glue them down.  This gives the cleanest edge - but you can also simply trim the tissue to the edge of the cardstock.

I added a large clear rhinestone brad to the center of the medallion, and added some pearlized highlights to the medallion with Glass Effect Gel by Viva.  (But you could reproduce this look by mixing some Frost White Shimmer Paint mixed with Crystal Effects, and applying small drops with a paper piercer or end of a paintbrush.)

The saying was from Penny Black, stamped after the piece was thoroughly dry, wtih StazOn Jet Black ink.  After everything was complete, I mounted the whole on a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock, trimmed 1/8" larger all around.

For all of the months, I created a table template in Word, and printed each month out on Whisper White cardstock.

March:  out like a lion, in like a lamb.  Let's hope so!!