N*Studio Creative Squad: Warm Wishes

I'm over at the N*Studio Creative Squad today HERE, sharing how I created this mitten and a few more for our WARM WISHES theme this month. I'd love for you to pop over and let me know what you think! 

Merry Christmas and a creative and joyous New Year to you! 

Maura

In case you missed it...

DOIN' MY THING

One of my favorite things to do throughout my life has been to read. I remember riding my bicycle into the village to visit the library as a kid, and filling my basket up with books to bring home. I always try to read every day, often early in the morning with a cup of coffee, and late at night before I go to sleep. So, I thought making some bookmarks would represent something I love to do.

I pulled out my small 6x6 gelli plate and squirted on some Titanium White, Pyrrole Red and DIarylide Yellow, then blended it somewhat with my brayer. I stamped into the plate with the Buenos Aires stamp to pick up the paint and transferred it to the black paper, and repeated the design to cover the paper. 

I thought Emperor’s Gold would be a good choice for my design, and stamped the small Park Boulevard stamp onto the plate, and then stamped it where the designs came together. 

When I looked at my black, red and gold design, it reminded me of some of the traditional colors in Eastern art and fabrics. I decided to add the Maiko image and stamped her in gold onto black paper, and sped up the drying time with the heat tool. Note: be sure to clean the stamp right away when using paint. 

I wanted to add a bit more red to my background design, and added in some marks with the red paint and the eraser on a pencil. I dried this with the heat tool, then cut the paper into strips for the bookmarks. 

I decided to add in a few highlights to Maiko’s outfit and stamped the fan onto gold paper with black ink, and the belt onto the red paper I was using. After I cut out the belt and set it in place, I decided it needed to be outlined in gold, so used the gold pen to do this. 

I layered the cut strips onto the red card stock after I edged them with the black ink. Then, I added Maiko. Next, I used a small oblong punch at the top, and finally tied on some red or gold sari ribbon along with some special red and yellow thread I purchased at a Hindu temple in India. 

I love doing my own thing, and hope I can always find time each day to do a little reading. A special bookmark to hold your place makes reading extra fun.