Tag Archives: paper crafts

Biodegradable Easter Basket Tutorial

Holiday Crafts, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , ,
Biodegradeable Easter Basket
Biodegradable Easter Basket

Would you like to make an Easter basket that you can cut apart and bury in the garden when you’re done with it? If growing conditions are right you might even be able to grow some wildflowers!

Tools and Supplies
Biodegradable Easter Basket Template
Laminating sheets (optional)
Scissors
Pencil
Cardstock
Folding tool
Masking tape
Plantable seed paper
Rubber stamps
Rubber stamping ink
Clean scrap paper
Yes Paste
Piece of cut-up credit card
Stiff, short-bristled paintbrush (can be an old one – it’s for spreading glue)
4 clothespins or clips
Small hole punch
Raffia
Gift basket shred

Make the Template

  1. Download and print out the Biodegradable Easter Basket template.
  2. Laminate the parts for durability if desired, and cut out.

Make the Basket

  1. Trace the piece labeled “cardstock piece” on cardstock, and cut out. Make folds where indicated.
  2. Cut a 3″ x 4″ piece from clean scrap paper to use as a mask. Make a loop from masking tape and use it to temporarily tack down the mask piece to what will be the bottom of the basket.
  3. Rubber stamp the basket sides.
  4. Remove mask, and fold up the sides. Apply Yes Paste to tabs and press to the insides of the basket. Hold tabs with clothespins or clips until the glue dries.
  5. Trace the piece labeled “seed paper piece” onto a piece of plantable paper. Fold at the base of the basket. At the top of the flaps, fold in the opposite direction to make a liner.
  6. Spread Yes Paste onto the inside bottom of the basket, and press liner into the bottom.
  7. Spread Yes Paste onto underside of flaps, and press into place on the outside of the basket.
  8. Cut out a piece of cardstock or seed paper that is 1″ x 8.5″. If using cardstock, stamp it with the same color you used on the bottom of the basket.
  9. Cut out a piece of contrasting color seed paper that is .5″ x 8.5″. Glue this strip down the center of the 1″ wide strip to make your handle piece.
  10. With a small hole punch, make holes in lower part of basket and handle piece where indicated on the template.
  11. Line up holes and glue handle to basket. Hold in place with clips if necessary.
  12. Take egg tag template and place on back of seed paper. Trace around with pencil and cut out. Punch two holes in egg where indicated on the template. Fold in half.
  13. Thread raffia through 1/2 of the basket starting at the outside by one of the handles. Leave some trailing ends of raffia. Take another piece of raffia and thread the other half of the basket. Run one of the raffia pieces through the egg shaped tag. Tie ends of raffia together in a bow at the outside of the basket where the handles connect.
  14. Fill with compostable gift basket shred and goodies, and you’re done! After you’re done with the basket, if you want to you can bury it in your garden and if growing conditions are right you might get some new wildflower plants from the seed paper!

Flowered Card in Shades of Blue

Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Flowered Card in Shades of Blue

Here is a card project that mixes an analagous color scheme with neutrals. An analagous color scheme is one that uses colors that are near each other on the color wheel, in this case blue, blue-green and blue-purple. The colors are so close together that it’s nearly a monochromatic color scheme – a design that uses tints and shades of one color. My samples were made as birthday cards, but you can make the card for multiple occasions by changing the sentiment stamp. This card helps you to use up paper scraps!

Tools and Supplies
Paper cutter
Ruler
Cardstock
Scoring tool
Folding tool
Rubber Stamps
Rubber Stamping Ink
Waterproof ink in light to medium neutral colors
Pigment or chalk ink in white or very light blue
Dye inks in various shades of blue
Dye ink in black
Clean scrap paper
Brayer
Freezer paper or temporary palette
Old lid
Flat sided white eraser like a Magic Rub
Paper scraps in neutral shades and blue shades
Flower punch
Circle punch that is a good size for the center of the flower
Thin navy blue marker
Glue stick

Directions

1. Take an 8.5 x 5.5″ piece of cream colored cardstock, score down the middle and fold in half.

2. Using some of your favorite background stamps, stamp in light to medium neutral waterproof ink colors in the four quadrants of the front of the card. Make the axis about three inches up from the bottom of the card so that the lower quadrants are taller than the upper quadrants.

Front of card with background stamps
Front of card with background stamps. The stamp in the upper left quadrant is by Inkadinkado and the lower right stamp is by Carolyn’s Stamp Store. The stamp in the upper right and lower left quadrants is by Hero Arts.

3. Place your folded card face up on some clean scrap paper. With your brayer roll out some very light blue chalk or pigment ink onto a palette or temporary palette made of freezer paper. I only had white ink so I tinted mine slightly with some blue dye ink. Roll the ink over the front of the card several times until designs on the front of the card are subdued by a light blue semi-transparent tint.

If you don’t have a brayer or suitable pigment ink you can make a wash out of acrylic paint or gesso and brush that over the stamped images.

Front of card with layer of ink brayered over the background stamps
Front of card with layer of ink brayered over the background stamps

4. Let the ink dry. Most pigment and chalk inks dry slowly so if you have to speed up heating use a heat tool or hair dryer. Heat tools are hotter than hair dryers so use caution. To test whether your ink is completely dry, place a piece of clean scrap paper over it and rub with a bone folder. Lift up the scrap paper. If no ink comes off, it’s dry.

5. Cut out an assortment of 1.75″ x 1.75″ squares of medium neutral shades and different light to medium blues. Stamp backgrounds with an assortment of neutral inks and inks in shades of blue. Leave a few blank. Make more than you think you will need so you can mix and match later on to get combinations that please you.

6. Outline the squares in blue ink by squirting a bit of ink onto an old lid and dipping the edge of your eraser in it. Use the eraser to transfer the ink to the edges of the squares. In the image below, the stamp at the lower left is by Inkadinkado and the stamp at the lower right is by Stampington.

Squares with background stamping

7. Assemble a collection of paper scraps in neutral shades and shades of blue. You can use both plain and patterned paper. Punch out a bunch of flower shapes and circles for the insides of the flowers out of these scraps. Make more than you think you will need so you can mix and match to find good combinations as you’re assembling the cards.

8. Take some of the solid color center dots and stamp on them in neutral or blue inks.

Punched out flowers

9. Take some of the solid color flower shapes and stamp on them in shades of blue.

flowers_web

10. Lay four squares down on the front of your card and select four flowers and centers that you like to place within the squares. You can mix and match solid and printed colors if you like. A solid piece here and there gives the design a little breathing room.

11. Draw “stitches” with a navy blue marker around the inside edges of the four squares. Do the same with the insides of the circles.

12. Glue the circles to the flowers, then the flowers to the squares. Glue the squares down in the upper 3.75″ area of the card. Place a piece of clean scrap paper over all and burnish with your bone folder so the glue has a nice tight seal.

13. Cut out a .75 x 4.25″ strip of cream colored card stock. Stamp a sentiment in black ink on it. The Happy Birthday stamp I used in my samples is from Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Apply blue ink to the edges with your eraser. After the ink is dry, glue the strip to the front of the card and burnish well. Trim if needed. You’re done!

Optional embellishments: Sew small buttons in the flower centers or add a decorative flower blue eyelet or brad to each flower center. If you decide to sew on buttons, you may want to sew the stitch marks in step 11 instead of drawing them on.

twocards_together

Make a decorated seed packet

Gardening, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Do you have any garden seeds left over from your spring planting? Seeds can make great spring gifts for gardeners, especially if attractively packaged.

Front and back of decorated seed packet
Front and back of decorated seed packet

Here is how to make a seed packet like the one shown above.

1. Download and print out the PDF file Seed Packet Template. Cut out the template and if you like laminate it for durability.

2. Take some decorative paper with a subtle pattern on it and stamp some background stamps on it in complementary ink colors to make it more interesting.

3. Place decorative paper back side up on your work surface. Place template on paper and trace around with pencil. Cut out envelope and fold in tabs. Tape or glue all the tabs except the top tab. Leave that one open so you can add seeds later.

4. Cut out a narrow strip of paper with a decorative scissors and stamp on it the word “Seeds” surrounded by small brackets. Glue it across the top of the envelope about an inch down or whatever looks right to your eye. Trim the ends if needed.

5. Punch out a flower shaped piece of decorative paper and punch out a paper circle for the middle. Glue circle on flower and glue flower to front of envelope.

6. Stamp large brackets around flower.

7. Turn the envelope over and cut out a piece of paper that will fit on the back. You can stamp it with a rubber stamp that emulates lined paper like I did in my sample or use paper with lines printed on it if you like.

8. Stamp the words “Species”, “Harvested”, “Location” and “Notes” on the paper, then glue to the back of the envelope.

9. When you fill with seeds, write out the information about the seeds on the back where indicated. Then glue or tape down the top tab or seal with a sticker.

Here are links to some of the stamps I used in this project:

Memory Craft Helpers
Journaling and Planner Words

Other stamps I used in this project are from 7gypsies, Inkadinkado, and Stampington.

Here is where you can get more of my free paper crafting templates:

Free Paper Craft Templates for Download

And here is a link to a similar seed packet project that uses the same template:

Seed Packet with Collage Insert

Christmas Journaling and Icebreaking Activity Cards

Holiday Crafts, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
The front sides of some of the Christmas journaling cards.
The front sides of some of the Christmas journaling cards.

A few weeks ago I listened to a great podcast by the Scrap Gals in which guest Amy Sorensen discussed prompts for journaling about the holidays. Some of the prompts were in the form of questions and they reminded me of the activities my Mom used to like to do at Christmas parties. I was inspired to make some cards with prompt questions to use on our Christmas Day gathering and perhaps to later use as prompts if I ever decided to make Christmas journal or scrapbook. If you celebrate a different holiday you can adjust the questions and decorations to suit.

If you want to make cards like these here is what you will need:

Cardstock (plain will do since it will be covered on both sides with decorative paper)
Lined paper or journaling spots (journaling spots are small decorative pieces of paper or cardstock that are usually lined and are designed to be incorporated into a scrapbook or journal layout and written upon)
Decorative paper in holiday colors – a good opportunity to use up scraps!
Paper cutting system of choice
Glue sticks
Bone folder
Clean scrap paper
Marker or writing tool of choice
Holiday stickers
Decorative scissors
Rubber stamping ink
Small word rubber stamps
Corner rounder
Chipboard (optional)

1. My first step in this project was to decide on the size of the cards. I had a quantity of journaling spots that would work so I let those determine the size. If you want to fit your cards into a pocket page let that determine the size of your cards.

2. Cut pieces of cardstock to the size you determined.

3. Using a glue stick, glue the journaling spots or lined paper to the cardstock pieces. After gluing place a clean piece of scrap paper over each card and rub with bone folder to get a nice tight seal on the glue.

4. Glue decorative paper in holiday colors to the backs of cards and burnish. Make as simple as elaborate as you want and embellish with holiday stickers if you want to.

The back sides of the Christmas journaling cards.
The back sides of some of the Christmas journaling cards.

5. Trim the cards.

6. Cut a selection of light colored scrap papers into strips with decorative scissors. Stamp them with small words that fit the theme. I chose the words celebrate, Fiesta!, party, living, culture, spirit, living, holiday, joy and truth from four different word sets from my Carolyn’s Stamp Store collection. Set these aside to make sure the ink dries thoroughly.

7. Write prompt questions on the front of each card. For ideas I searched online for “Christmas journaling prompts” and used some of the questions I found plus I made up a few of my own. Feel free to use these or your own choices.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?

Is there a new holiday tradition that you would like to start?

If money was no object, what would you give to each person in your family?

What was your favorite Christmas outfit?

Are there any traditions that we’ve let go that you’d like to bring back?

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

What is your favorite holiday food?

What does the “Holiday Spirit” mean to you?

What is one of your favorite Christmas gifts?

What are you most grateful for this season?

What are your favorite decorations?

What is your favorite holiday song?

What is your favorite Christmas book?

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

What is your fantasy Christmas dinner menu?

What is your most spiritual holiday experience?

What gift did you most enjoy giving?

What do you normally do the day after Christmas?

8. Once you’ve written on all the cards, you’ll have an idea how much room is left for embellishments. Glue on your strips of stamped paper and add other embellishments of your choice such as stickers, rub-ons, and anything else you have that you’d like to use.

9. Round off the corners with the corner rounder if you want to.

10. If you like you can make a matching box for the cards out of chipboard and decorate it accordingly.

I spent Christmas Day with my Dad, my brother and my boyfriend. This was my first Christmas with my boyfriend Ray, and while he had met my Dad and brother before I thought that if we asked each other the questions on the cards it would be a good way to get to know each other better and also be a good conversation starter. I think it worked well, I learned a lot I didn’t know and we had a great conversation. Thanks to Dad, Larry and Ray for being open minded enough to tolerate the experiment! I gave Dad a set – they make a good host/hostess gift!

These cards could be a great prompt for other holiday activities such as a daily anticipatory activity for December or a family journal or album. Use your imagination and have fun!

I’ll have one extra set of 15 cards for sale at the studio shortly, so if you want dibs on it please contact me.

A Road Trip Journal for Dad – Part 2

Mixed Media, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Upcycling, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

For this past Father’s Day I made my Dad a blank 6 x 6 journal for a trip we took to Toronto and New York City. Dad wrote notes about our activities in the journal during the trip and we are slowly filling the book in with photos. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite layouts as we go.

Because the pages are 6 x 6 inches, I’m using a smaller than normal photo format. Using Photoshop, I am making 4 x 6 inch photo montages that I am having printed at a local drug store. I cut the prints apart and end up with images that are small enough to fit several on a 6 x 6 page. We took a LOT of photos and I’m adding a lot of embellishments, so this book will probably eventually turn into several books.

Two page spread of 6 x 6 scrapbook pages that use discarded photo negatives as a decorative accent.
Two-page spread of 6 x 6 scrapbook pages that use discarded photo negatives as a decorative accent.

A client of mine threw out a bunch of old photos and negatives, so I saved some of the interesting ones to use in mixed-media artwork. The tiny negatives shown above have nothing to do with the subject matter of these two pages shown here but they are so small you can’t tell and I was intrigued by them as a design element. I decided to include some on these pages attached by tiny brads.

To unify the look of the pages, I downloaded some free digistamps and altered them into a frame graphic which fit my printed photos. I had the frames printed out on clear transparency film and layered the film over my photos with more of the brads. The “Beautiful” stamp and the decorative papers I used are from 7gypsies and the other rubber stamps are from my own Carolyn’s Stamp Store collection.

Links to some of the products I used:

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Fasteners

Months of the Year Rubber Stamps

Photo Caption Word Stamps for Road Trips

Year Numbers Stamps 2

Make a Mini Album – 4 1/4 x 4 3/4 Inches

Paper Crafts, Tutorials, , , , , , , , ,
Make a mini album
Make a mini album!

I make a lot of 6 x 6 inch pages for handmade journals. When you cut a 6 x 6 inch piece of paper out of an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper you’re left with a lot of leftover 8.5 x 5 inch pieces. Here is a project that will use up those extra pieces and possibly some of your other paper scraps as well. If you’re a regular reader of mine you know I try not to waste anything!

What you’ll need:
Text weight paper
Card stock
Decorative papers
Paper cutter
Glue stick
Self-healing cutting mat
Metal ruler
Bone folder/burnishing tool
Clean scrap paper
Scissors
Double-sided tape
Awl or needle tool
Small hole punch
Brads
Heavy thread or lightweight cord
Beads

1. Download the template Mini Album and print it out to use as a guide.

2. Cut out a piece of 8.5 x 4.75 inch card stock. Fold in half.

3. Out of decorative papers, cut 2 8.5 x 1 pieces and 4 4.75 x 1 pieces.

4. Fold one of the 4.75 x 1 inch pieces lengthwise and make a sharp crease with the bone folder. Flatten out and apply glue to the back. Glue down on the inside fold seam and burnish well (see A on template).

Glue paper piece to the inside fold seam.
Glue paper piece to the inside fold seam.

5. Fold and glue two more 4.75 inch pieces to the edges (see B on template).

Fold two more pieces to the edges and glue down.
Fold two more pieces to the edges and glue down.

6. Fold and glue 8.5 x 1 inch pieces to top and bottom edges (see C on template). Burnish all well.

Glue two pieces lengthwise along top and bottom edges.
Glue two pieces lengthwise along top and bottom edges.

7. Fold another of the 4.75 x 1 inch pieces lengthwise and make a sharp crease with the bone folder. Flatten out and apply glue to the back. Glue down on the outside spine and burnish well (see A on template).

8. Cut out four pieces of 4.25 x 3.75 inch decorative paper. They can be all the same or all different. Glue to the front and back covers, inside and out. If you want to decorate the front cover further with more embellishments you can. Burnish all well.

Glue decorative papers to front and back covers.
Glue decorative papers to front and back covers.

9. Cut out front and back pocket pieces, fold in tabs and tape in place with double-sided tape.

Add pockets to inside covers.
Add pockets to inside covers.

10. Cut out twelve pieces of 8.25 x 4.75 text-weight paper. Fold all in half and nest pages. Use paper cutter to trim the paper that sticks out.

11. Using template as a guide for placement, punch four holes in the front cover with an awl, needle tool or small hole punch, and four holes in the back. Push brads in holes.

12. Using template as a guide, punch small holes in spine of paper and album cover with awl or needle tool.

13. Cut off a piece of cord that is about 28″ long. Thread the cord onto a needle and poke into the top first hole from the outside in, leaving about 7″ of cord trailing.

13. Run cord through the rest of the holes according to this sequence – second hole inside to out, third hole outside to in, fourth and bottom hole inside to out, third hole outside to in, second hole inside to out, then tie off. Add beads to cord if you want.

You’re done!

Make a Shadow Box Ornament

Holiday Crafts, Home Decor, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Shadow box ornament featuring a Santa rubber stamp
Mixed-media shadow box ornament by Carolyn Hasenfratz.

The Holiday 2015 issue of RubberStampMadness is out and I want to let you know about it because my article “No Ordinary Ornament” is published within! If you want to read it check the newsstand at your favorite craft retailer or go to the RubberStampMadness web site to order a copy. My four-page article contains step by step instructions and templates which you can copy and enlarge. Here are some other highlights of the holiday issue – Current Issue.

Some of the rubber stamps I used in my samples are from other stamp companies and some are of my own design and are available in my online store, Carolyn’s Stamp Store.

Scrapbooking with Memorabilia

Events, Mixed Media, Paper Crafts, Route 66, , , , , , , , , ,

Scrapbooking With Memorabilia

I was due to give a presentation on “Scrapbooking With Memorabila” at the upcoming “Miles of Possibility: The Edwardsville Route 66 Conference” but it was just cancelled due to problems with the venue. If you want to view the slides and read my notes they are on this page. I will still be there as a vendor.

Handmade Birding Journal

Mixed Media, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Cover of birding journal. Cover collage is made of found images, scrap papers and rubber stamped images from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store.
Cover of birding journal. Cover collage is made of found images, scrap papers and rubber stamped images from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store.

Here is a great handmade gift idea for someone in your life that loves to watch birds. A blank journal like my sample provides places for notes, sketches, photos, memorabilia and more. Here is how to make one.

First download my free template, Square 6×6 Journal. Print it out and use it as a guide.

Cut out two pieces of chipboard for covers. Make a collage of bird related images for the front cover. Cover edges of cover with decorative paper. Cover inside front cover, inside back cover and back cover with decorative paper.

To assemble front cover, cut out a piece of acetate and punch small holes. Punch small holes in front cover collage and attach to cover with brads. Make pockets and attach to both inside covers with double sided tape. Cut out a number of pieces of cardstock for inside pages. Embellish with brayered backgrounds, sponged backgrounds, decorative papers, Project Life cards and rubber stamps. Punch holes in all pages and covers and compile together with binding rings. Open rings and add new pages as needed.

Here are some sample page spreads to give you ideas for the interior pages.

A set of inside pages. On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned papers are from 7gypsies.
A set of inside pages. On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned papers are from 7gypsies.
On the left is a cut-down Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a cut-down Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On these two pages patterned paper is from 7gypsies and rubber stamps are from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. The plain paper insert on the right is a piece of sketching paper - it's good for drawing a sketch and it's removable if you want to use watercolor or other media that is messy.
On these two pages patterned paper is from 7gypsies and rubber stamps are from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. The plain paper insert on the right is a piece of sketching paper – it’s good for drawing a sketch and it’s removable if you want to use watercolor or other media that is messy.

Stamps: Small word stamps are from Carolyn’s Stamp Store, other stamps are from 7gypsies.

Here are links to other products you can use for this project:

Binding Rings

Long Fasteners (Brads)

Filmstrip Challenge

Art, Mixed Media, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Artwork after scanning and adding a digital layer that resembles filmstrips.
Artwork after scanning and adding a digital layer that resembles filmstrips.

I had so much fun participating in a sketch challenge recently that I decided to make an effort to enter more. RubberStampMadness magazine is currently running a Filmstrip Challenge which appealed to me. Above is my entry. There are still a few days left before the deadline if you want to get in on the fun – here are the entry guidelines.

Though I’ve been rubber stamping for well over 20 years, I haven’t done a whole lot of coloring in of rubber stamps. This project helped me to get some practice and was an opportunity to experiment with mixed media.

The first thing I did was to cut out a bunch of 2 x 2 inch and 2 x 3 inch pieces of scrap paper which would become the individual “frames” in the finished artwork. Then I stamped images on them in black waterproof ink.

The next step was to give each section it’s own background color with decorative chalks and old eyeshadow. To apply I used Q-tips, sponge tip makeup applicators and Fantastix by Tsukineko which are a great help in getting color into  tight areas around the edges of the stamped images.

Next I sprayed the paper pieces with workable spray fixative to hold the chalk in place, then I coated them with a thin layer of matte medium and let it dry. The workable fixative allowed me to brush on matte medium without the powders smearing and the purpose of the matte medium is twofold – it’s the glue I will use to attach the images and words I cut from magazines, and it keeps the markers I’ll apply later from smearing the black ink that I stamped.

The next step was to figure out words to put in the word and thought balloons I had stamped. It would be a lot of fun to tell a coherent, planned out story with this format but I couldn’t think of any ideas for a story so I did what I often do, I relied on the random and let my subconscious guide me. Cutting out pictures from magazines has been a reliable way for me to tap into the subconscious part of my brain for decades. I picked up some discarded magazines that I hadn’t cut up yet and went through them looking for words that piqued my interest. Along the way I cut out appealing pictures – some I put aside to use in other projects and a few I used for this one. I grouped the words on my work surface into combinations that appealed to me and matched the words or groups of words with images. Some of the results make sense to me, some don’t and it’s likely the ones that mean something to me won’t mean the same thing to others and vice versa. That’s one of the fun things about art!

I then glued the cut-out images and words in place by brushing the backs of them with matte medium and smoothing them in place with an old credit card. One way to reduce the risk of wrinkling the paper is to coat both sides of the pieces with matte medium and let dry before wetting the backs again to apply. It’s extra work but it’s worth it for good results. You can speed up drying with a heat tool so your work session isn’t interrupted. (It sounds funny to say “work session” – this was play!)

If you prefer instead of gluing in cut-out words you can write words in the balloons or use word rubber stamps or stickers.

My next step was to take each section and highlight the stamped images with a little color here and there and add some texture to the backgrounds with stencils from The Crafter’s Workshop. I like the way some of the textures vaguely suggest the “dot gain” effect that you often see in comic books. My coloring implements for this project were Sharpie markers and Prismacolor pencils. Both will color just fine over the matte medium but if you want to use different media, do some tests on scrap paper first to see if the surface will accept the color. I could have made masks to protect the areas I did not want to stencil on but to save work I relied on my eye to tell me where to stop. I only went onto the white word areas on a couple of spots so I decided to touch up these areas later with acrylic paint to disguise my mistakes. If you decide to sponge ink through the stencils you will need to make masks.

I glued the individual “frame” pieces down on a piece of archival cardstock with Yes Glue. Then I got out a tiny paintbrush and touched up the white areas and I liked the way the bright white looked so I added white highlights here and there all over the artwork where I thought it needed it. I liked the effect, it added a little extra “pop”.

The next image shows what my artwork looked like before I scanned it and added digital enhancements.

Here is my artwork before I added any digital enhancements.
Here is my artwork before I added any digital enhancements.

Stamp credits:

Row 1, left to right: Unknown, Carolyn’s Stamp Store, Unknown, All Night Media, Carolyn’s Stamp Store

Row 2: Viva LasVegasStamps, Carolyn’s Stamp Store, Unknown

Row 3: Viva LasVegasStamps, Viva LasVegasStamps, Carolyn’s Stamp Store, 7gypsies

Row 4: Unknown, Carolyn’s Stamp Store, Chronicle Books, All Night Media

Row 5: Viva LasVegaStamps, Carolyn’s Stamp Store, Carolyn’s Stamp Store, Carolyn’s Stamp Store

After scanning in the image, I opened it up in Photoshop and added a layer for a faux filmstrip effect which I made from a couple of these free digistamps. I may print out this “filmstrip” layer on clear transparency film and mount it over the original artwork with brads or eyelets to display it.