Leftover Interior Paint marries Black Cardstock!

My friend Judi Kauffman never likes seeing paint wasted. 

When a contractor readied to wash his paint roller, upon finishing her guest room, Judi quickly presented him with black cardstock, asking him to streak it with some leftover paint -- with the promise that, when he returned to paint the basement, she'd show him the ways she used that cardstock.

Above: The rectangle on the upper left has been cut to the size of an Artist Trading Card (2.5" x 3.5").  The larger rectangle has been trimmed to a size slightly smaller than 5" x 7" since it's destined to embellish the cover of a 5" x 7" greeting card.

For her early projects, Judi started with my 6" x 6" mask Bulbs and Banners s955 as well as my 9" x 12" mask Kelp Forest L963.

Above:  On the ATC at the far left, Judi used rubber stamps as well as my 6" x 6" mask Bulbs and Banners s955.  The greeting card on the far right has a background Judi created with my 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960.  Its foreground embellishment has been rubber stamped as well as stenciled with part of my 9" x 12" mask  Kelp Forest L963.

What I especially like about the art above is the unique look achieved when leftover interior paint was roller-applied to black cardstock.  This idea of Judi's created unique art!

While her masks were still out on the table, Judi decorated a series of envelopes.

 

Above: the top two envelopes were printed using 9" x 12" mask  Kelp Forest L963 and the bottom one, with 6" x 6" mask Bulbs and Banners s955. Each of those envelopes has a masked-off area, left blank for the addition of a mailing address.  For that mask, Julie used a piece of newsprint, torn rather than cut.

What I especially like about these envelopes is the rainbow effect Judi created to frame each of the masked-off areas.  It's no surprise to me that these envelopes have been purchased.

My thanks to Judi for sharing this art with me -- and my thanks, equally, to everyone stopping by here today!

To scroll thru the pages of my stencils and masks at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.

Clown Faces from Stencil-Printed Papers

Linda Wyatt, one of the StencilGirl designers, has courageously taken the task of orchestrating a monthly exchange of art between members of the StencilGirl StencilClub.  My hat's off to Linda Wyatt!  I appreciate the work she puts into this and I know I speak for many others as well.

"Fearless Faces" is the latest monthly theme and I've had so much fun with it!  The pair of faces that I came up with will either tickle my trade partner -- or give her a nightmare or two!

For starters, I realized that if I turned my 4" x 4" mask Carnival M340 upside down, its prints needed just a bit of trimming to present me with a goofy image of clown-like eyes and noses.

4" x 4" mask Carnival M340 -- right side up

  

4" x 4" mask Carnival M340 -- upside down

I made two greeting cards featuring these whimsical eyes-and-nose combos.  

After gluing down my pair of combo sets, I started -- with scissors and hole punches at hand -- flipping through prints I'd made using other stencils and masks.

Above:  The clown hair on the far left was cut from a print I'd made in two steps, using a couple of my stencils.  These two steps will be shown at the end of today's post.  The clown hair on the far right was cut from a print made with one of my kelp-inspired masks.

Above:  This clown's hair, on both left and right, were also cut from prints made using my kelp-inspired masks.

The two-step print mentioned above went like this:  

Having started with a brightly multi-colored background, I laid down a coat of dark acrylic paint through the top half of 9" x 12"  Longwood Florals Mask L675....

Soon afterward:  With Titanium White (opaque) acrylic paint, I added a scatter of leaves using my 6" x 6" stencil Ginkgo S076.

After the white paint had dried, I sprayed the whole surface with water-diluted Golden High Flow Acrylic Quinacridone Magenta.

Stencils and masks of today's post include ....

6" x 6" stencil Ginkgo S076

9" x 12"  Longwood Florals Mask L675

9" x 12" Kelp Forest L963.

  

6" x 6" Bulbs and Banners s955.

  

4" x 4" Seabed Greens M339.

Thank you for taking time to stop here at my blog today! To scroll thru the pages of my stencils and masks at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.

Artist Trading Cards -- 2 Ways!

ATC-sized prints are perfect for creating greeting cards, hanging ornaments, refrigerator magnets and collage elements.

But of course their main job is to supply us with Artist Trading Cards -- enabling art-minded friends to make exchanges that bring out smiles and result in treasured keepsakes.

My friend Judi Kauffman has taken the original ATC card idea a step further. She has created "Your Turn" and "My Turn" trading cards!

The words "My Turn" is included in Judi's artwork on the face of each of her brand-new ATCs shown below...

... and the back of each card bears the fun invitation "Your Turn"...

...so every lucky recipient can create his/her own artwork, starting with a Rubber Moon stamp-printed face.

Please notice above:  Judi intentionally left one small detail of the stenciled print in its original form, as a circle -- but lacking the elongated white dots that she'd added around all other circles.  Wearing her "teacher's hat," Judi wanted to show the striking difference made by the addition of those elongated white dots; they transformed plain circles into petaled flowers that delight the eye.

Now, to back up and follow Judi's start-to-finish process:  

Having begun with a Rubber Moon stamp to create faces, she stenciled and doodled with inks, colored pencils and pens. 

The series as a whole is titled Your Turn My Turn; the individual cards bear the whimsical titles Measles, Midnight and Fantasia.

Judi used my 9" x 12" mask L879 Fire Cherries ....

Judi's fantastic sense of creativity shows in the way she used small parts of this mask to create a headdress of buds and leaves as well as another headdress, not shown, of spreading lines.

... and she used my 6" x 6" Bulb Kelp-inspired  s955 Bulbs and Banners ....

Judi very cleverly created a green headdress and facial frame using this 6" x 6" mask, its original design inspired by Bulb Kelp-inspired formations.

...and she used my 6" x6" mask Champagne S960...

The clustered smaller dots at the center of Judi's winsome flowers came from this 6" x 6" mask, its design inspired by Rex Ray's art. 

As Judi's artwork demonstrates, Artist Trading Card-sized prints work beautifully for their original purpose.  To me, their size also makes them perfect for making dangling ornaments, refrigerator magnets and collage elements.

And I like to use ATC-sized prints in decorating my greeting cards.

Nine Artist Trading Card-sized stencils are included in 9" x 12" ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768;  another nine are included in 9" x 12" ATC Mixup Swatton #2  L769 (and each of these 9" x 12" sheets includes not only nine stencils but also bonus masks.)

ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768  houses an Artist Trading Card-sized version of L450 Fantasia ... and it was this small version that I used in decorating the ATC-sized paper that took "center stage" on the greeting card below. (It's framed between two strips of black paper marbled with metallic gold paint.  Marbled papers are widely available; one source is Loose Ends.)

This greeting card's ATC-sized "star of the show" began with a random black-and-white print-out on copy paper.  My first step, with a sponge, was to top the print with a layer of heavy body red acrylic paint paired with the small Fantasia from ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768.  After that red paint dried, I sponged on gold metallic acrylic paint using my Rex Ray-inspired 4" x 4" mask Carnival M340.  

These two prints merged with the black-and-white background to become a visually complicated print.  Although I liked that effect, I sensed a need to add something that would pull everything together, while at the same time giving the viewer something recognizable as a finishing touch.  (To my eye, complex prints are backgrounds improved by something recognizable/representational that's added as a foreground.)

Pearlescent mini beads (above) were the finishing touch on this wooden heart that I had previously coated with heavy body red acrylic paint.  Because much of the greeting card's central paper reflects light, this heart -- its beads being likewise reflective -- made an embellishment that visually worked.

Referenced in my section of today's post:

ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768...

9" x 12"

ATC Mixup Swatton #2  L769...

9" x 12"

L450 Fantasia...

(Note: This is a 9" x 12" mask. An ATC-sized version of this design is included in ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768.)

4" x 4" mask Carnival M340...

This design of mine was inspired by the artwork of Rex Ray,

My gratitude overflows to Judi Kauffman for having created her beautiful Artist Trading Cards and having shared her results with me!  She continues to delight me with her generosity.

And thank you readers for checking out my blog today! To scroll thru the pages of my stencils and masks at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.