Believe in Magic ~ RSD Altered Dictionary Spread

Hi everyone. I'm here today with an EDT project I created in my nearly completed altered dictionary. I chose to do L for Legend so I could feature this wonderful Rick St. Dennis image called Lil Wizard which can be found in Rick's Zibbet shop. My dictionary is filled with whimsical and humourous characters so this guy fits right in.

I coloured Wiz with Prismacolor pencils, fussy cut him, and then matted him in black. He was popped up on foam tape and then backed with cheesecloth to add texture and the feeling of mist..

The background started with the two pages being adhered to the adjacent ones for strength and to better stand up to the mixed media process. Then the pages were gessoed except for the word and definition. Blue and purple Neocolor II watercolour crayons were scribbled onto the background, spread with water, and then given a coat of gesso to knock the colour back. Black ink was added to the top of the pages and allowed to drip as well as being splattered onto the background. Various scraps of three different blue and purple designer papers were layered onto the pages. Stencilling was done with gesso and TCW templates. Stamping was added with a text stamp and Forget-Me-Not Archival ink and more stencilling was done with gold metallic paint.

Bits of washi tape, scraps of die cut borders, brads,  and punched circles were adhered around the page. Metal accents in the form of punched stars, letter stickers, and an embossed and punched circle were also scattered around the spread to bring in the play of light and create a little magic. The sentiment was computer generated, matted in black and popped up on foam. To emphasize the word magic, it was added in shiny black stickers with white raised letters. The Ll letters were adhered to the metal circle to mark which dictionary spread this is.

To complete the pages, Black Big Brush pen was messily used around the edges. Doodling with both black and white pen was added. Black gesso rings made with a bottle top and rows of dots made with a catalyst tool were  introduced. To tie the red from the image into the rest of the spread, an arrow was coloured with a red marker, Glossy Accented, and added to the top corner. The visual triangle was completed with a scrap of red scalloped border glued to the bottom left corner.

Thanks for visiting today. Wiz and I both appreciate it. For more inspiration using Rick's fabulous images, fun challenges, and some wonderful sharing of projects and knowledge, come and visit:

our Facebook group
our Airless Chambers blog
our Rick St Dennis Gallerie
our Tuts and Comments blog

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

eclectic Paperie Sneaky Peek

Hi everyone. It's my turn to post over at the eclectic Paperie blog today. I'm featuring one of my few remaining altered dictionary spreads: V is for Veil. For more pics and description, pop over to the eP blog to check it out! Thanks bunches!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Aurora Easter Egg Hunt ~ TEW Challenge # 4

I'm so excited...could burst into that song but I like you so I won't...lol. I am participating in my first blog challenge as a DT member for The East Wind. The first of the month, subscribers to Unky's newsletter receive a free image which the DT also play with. This month's freebie is called Aurora Easter Egg Hunt and she is adorable! I decided to feature her in my E pages in my altered dictionary (E is for eggs).

I coloured Aurora with Prismacolor pencils, cut her out with a narrow white border, and then matted her in black so she would stand out against the background as well as have more strength when I popped her up with foam dots.

The dictionary pages were glued to the ones adjacent to them using Matte Medium. Then the e pages were gessoed except fot the definition and the letter heading. A border was drawn around the outside edge of the two pages and the pattern was filled in with Black Big Brush pen or white paint. The inside of that frame was coloured with Neocolor II watercolour crayons and a wet brush. Once dry, pink crayon was added to the outside in a wavy pattern. Once that was dry, it was deepened with gelato next to the black and white frame. The yellow inside was also deepened with gelato next to the pink. Black Big Brush pen emphasized the border. Stencilling was done with Dylusions Number Jumble stencil and Sepia Archival ink. Memento Bamboo Leaves ink was used on Unity's Reversed Punchinella stamp to create a subtle texture.White gesso was watered down slightly and brushed over the top of the stencilling and stamping to knock the colour back a bit. White paint was pounced through another halftone stencil to create the circles you see. This was done twice for a more solid look.

Many eggs from Tumblefish Studio's Dozens collection were sized differently and fussy cut. Some came patterned and some were plain and decorated to complement the page. I absolutely love the purple egg with the added feet and wings, as well as the cracked one with the feet sticking out. They make me smile!

The egg over the letters at the top was cut to leave the piece missing, and then backed with striped paper which was cut to reveal the letters.Little details like that make me so happy. Some eggs were glued flat, some popped up on foam, all shaded around with either Copic marker or coloured pencil. Lines were doodled to suspend some from the frame.

The sentiments, both from Create With TLC, were printed on white cardstock and matted in black. The right hand one is popped up on foam tape. The left has some colouring done with Prisma pencils. My dictionary is nearing completion and, as you can imagine, it's getting very fat. In order to reinforce the seam, washi tape was applied to it and also as a tab on the one sentiment. TH Remnant Rubs were applied randomly with words or phrases that suited the scene.

There's even an air mail one on the pink egg as well as the row of tiny stars at the top. A TH Zigzag stitch stamp was used to frame the definition and was repeated around the pages. And, of course, I had to add my TH spotty stamp with a little Jet Black Archival ink just to make the spread a little messier :)

Thanks so much for stopping by. Your support and interest mean so much to me. When you get a minute, pop by The East Wind Challenge blog to see the amazing creations from my oh-so-talented teamies. What a fabulous group! Then sign up on the blog for Unky's newsletter so you can get this adorable freebie and join the fun. if you haven't already, check out The East Wind shop on Etsy...amazing images. We have a wonderful and very active FB group, too. Hope to see you there.

I am entering this project in the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations ~ Anything Goes/Easter Colours
Crafting From the Heart ~ #12 Anything Goes/Cute & Cuddly
Crafty Boots Challenge ~ Easter
Incy Wincy Designs ~ Tic Tac Toe Diagonal yellow free black
Kaboodle Doodles ~ 3217 Spring is Coming
Lexi's Creations ~ #113 Easter
613 Avenue Create ~ #65 Anything Goes
Sentimental Sundays ~ Add a doodle to it

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Sneaky Peek of my eclectic Paperie blog post

Hi everyone! Today I am posting the N (N is for Novel) spread in my altered dictionary over at the eclectic Paperie blog. I'd love it if you bounced over there to see the real deal :) This is just a teaser! I used a ton of eP products for this play session.This gorgeous digital image comes from The East Wind shop on Etsy. I love Unky's fabulous images...they are wonderful to colour. Prismacolor pencil heaven!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hope ~ eclectic Paperie challenge

Hello, everyone! It's time for another eTeam Picks Challenge at eclectic Paperie with the lovely and talented Andie (Adriana Templeton) as our hostess with the mostest. Andie has chosen the theme of Hope for this challenge...love that! As I hadn't completed the H page in my altered dictionary, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so and, of course, I had to include the lovely Hope quote from Emily Dickinson...it immediately sprang to mind and became the inspiration for the pages.

Once I had gessoed the two page spread, being careful to leave the word/definition uncovered, I adhered the two pages to the adjacent ones with Matte Medium. This strengthens the pages and allows them to better stand up to all of the media I throw at them. I began by scribbling three shades of pink and two of yellow Neocolor II watercolour crayon over the page and spread the colour with gesso with a piece of Cut n Dry foam. I did a second lighter layer over that and spread with water to intensify the colour. I then applied Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress inks through the TCW Mini Bricks stencil to create a wall effect.  Metallic Melon and Watermelon Gelatos were used to deepen the edges of the pages and Butter Cream gelato emphasized the areas where I had placed no bricks. White gesso was applied through TCW's Mini Punchinella stencil to create the dotty parts. Coffee Archival ink was used to stamp Live Inspired from Donna Dowmey's Empowered Words stamp set.

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This Mo Manning A Little Birdie Told Me digital stamp seemed ideal for my quote and was the reasoning behind the bricks. I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils, fussy cut it, and matted it with black to give it some visual weight and greater contrast with the background.

The two quotes were printed onto kraft cardstock from the computer and the edges were distressed on both the kraft layer and the black matting. Vintage Photo Distress ink was applied to the kraft edges. The open letters on the Dickinson quote were coloured in with white Prisma pencil.

In order to bring some of the blue from the window frame onto the opposite page, two scalloped borders left from another project were adhered to the page creating that visual triangle that keeps the eye moving around the spread. I also added scuffs of metallic Blueberry gelato randomly onto the background. Feathers were glued or stapled onto the page and image as a nod to the Dickinson quote. I love the texture they add to the spread. Two lengths of offcut brown border were added to the inside edges of the page.

At this point, the pages still weren't quite doing it for me. Close...but no cigar! They needed more pops of white and black as it was all too much the same.

I added a white metal star and punched some small cardstock stars which I scattered over the pages. Black circles were punched and doodled with a white pen. White gesso was scuffed randomly across both pages and various elements using my finger as the tool. Snippets of drywall mesh were scattered across the pages. Black Ransom Alpha Parts letters were added to the page as well as a small H letter tile. The word Hope on an  Idea-ology metal tag was emphasized with white paint pen before being attached to the page with a brad. A tiny piece of jute which was sitting patiently on my desk waiting for me to notice it was knotted and adhered to the feather.

The final touches were the doodling, where I discovered that my pen didn't like the metallic gelatos, some white gesso dots, and black Big Brush Pen around the outside edges to help frame the spread. Oh yes, and I can't forget those clusters of splatter dots stamped with Coffee Archival...they end up on every piece I create :)

Thanks for hanging out (and hanging in!) with me for this lengthy post. I do appreciate your fine company. if you get a minute, pop over to the eclectic Paperie blog  to see Andie's gorgeous mixed media layout and the other DT projects which cab be found in the thumbnails of the same post. Hope you'll join us :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Here are links to the eP store for some of the products I used:

Liquitex Acrylic Gesso	Ranger - Cut n′ Dry Foam Pads	Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain
Archival Ink - Coffee Ink Pad	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Metallic Colors	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Yellow Colors	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Tropical
Unity Stamp Company - Empowered Words (Donna Downey)	Uni-Ball White Gel Pen	Findings - Alpha Parts, Ransom	Faber Castell - Big Brush Pen - Black

Oh, you beautiful doll ~ eP Get Altered Challenge (Hearts)

Well, Happy New Year! I decided to get the year off to a great start by playing in my craft room most of the day. There's a new Get Altered Challenge on the eclectic Paperie blog hosted by our fabulous Sue Lelli. She has chosen the theme of Hearts and has shared a gorgeous art parts wall hanging on the blog to inspire us. I chose to incorporate hearts into my D is for...doll spread in my altered dictionary and just for fun, I included a Steampunk twist.

My focal image, Steampunk Girl with Doll, by Mitzi Sato-Wiuff, comes from her shop, AuroraWings. I have so many of her digi stamps. She creates the most beautiful faces and images filled with magic and lovely detail. I coloured Jasmine (who told me her name) and her doll, Esmeralda (who also told me her name) with Prismacolor pencils and cut the image out with a Spellbinders Curved Rectangles die. The white space was inked with Spun Sugar and then Vintage Photo Distress inks and the image was matted in brown cardstock.

The two dictionary pages were coated in white gesso, leaving the definition uncovered, and then were adhered to the pages before and after with matte medium for strength. Once dry, Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet Distress inks were randomly applied to both pages, keeping the colours muted and soft..Vintage Photo Distress ink was applied through TCW's Mini Gears stencil over the pinks.

 Brown cardstock was embossed with Alterations Riveted Metal and Diamond Plate embossing folders and then highlighted with Treasure Gold, Silver, and Copper wax gilt.

Strips were torn from the one pattern and mini gears were cut from the other to add texture and edginess to the background and frame the image.

Crocheted lace trim was adhered to both pages. One of the things I love about Steampunk is the contrast between the soft lace and ruffles and the hard metal elements so I wanted to capture that here. Three pieces of drywall mesh were also added into the mix. The Inkadinkado hearts were embossed with Versamark and clear powder before being fussy cut. Each one was doodled  and/or stamped on to grunge up the pretty pink patterns. I added the sticker lettering "real" as a nod to the Velveteen Rabbit where "becoming real" is explained so beautifully. That's also the reason for including the "Embrace Imperfection" Idea-ology word tag. Clearly Esmeralda has been well loved...and still is, in spite or maybe because of her imperfections.

The remaining letters were also stickers, some Ransom Alpha Parts, some black glittery circles, and some scrabble tile stickers which were inked with Vintage Photo to warm them up. Idea-ology game spinners were adhered to the bottom left corner drawing the eye into the page. An Idea-ology compass coin was added to continue the Steampunk theme. Silver nailhead stickers were adhered to the inside of the gears to bring more metal touches and detail to the second page. A metal Idea-ology gear was adhered onto one of the hearts and doodled inside.

More doodling was done as a border and around various elements. Both Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain  Distress inks were applied to the page edges, as was Walnut Brown Big Brush pen. Open rings were stamped with Golden's Iridescent Gold paint and a bottle lid. A splatter stamp and Coffee Archival ink created the dotty clusters. The final touches were a fussy cut butterfly with a Glossy Accented body and the letter D to identify the page letter.

Thanks for stopping by today to see my take on the Hearts Challenge at eclectic Paperie. I always appreciate your interest, support, and comments. If you get a minute, check out Sue's lovely inspiration piece for the Get Altered Challenge. Other DT members will be adding their projects which you can see in the thumbnails below Sue's post. I'd love to see yours there, too!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie
I used these products from the eP store:

Distress Ink Pad - Spun Sugar	Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet	Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain
Faber Castell - Big Brush Pens - Neutral	Liquitex Acrylic Gesso	TCW 6x6 Template - Mini Gears	VersaMark Stamp Pad
Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder - Clear	Idea-ology - Word Bands	Inkssesentials - Glossy Accents 2 oz.