NEW LOOK

Welcome to my newly re-styled blog!
This is the kind of spring cleaning I can tolerate -- coming up with a new look for my blog.  The three columns in my newly designed blog were created by Karen Watson, who also does other services and who provides free blog backgrounds:
http://www.backgroundfairy.com/
http://www.thegraphicsfairy.com/
Thank you, Karen!

Hearts in Touch Designer of the Month

As the April Designer of the Month for Hearts in Touch Rubber Stamps (http://www.heartsintouch.com/), I've completed several projects that use the #57 Double Fems sheet of unmounted stamps.

One of the reasons I prefer unmounted stamps is that a sheet of them can be used as a printing plate. And that's what I did in creating Women Rock.

With the rubber sheet face-up on my work table, I applied ink with an inverted stamp pad, then placed the receiving paper atop the rubber sheet. I burnished from the top, using a brayer.

Next, I carefully peeled off the receiving paper, now printed with multiple images. I repeated this process several times, using different papers.

One of the papers I used was a print-out from my CD of clipart (available by using the Pay Pal button at the end of this post); the image is a sheet of burlap with unraveled edges. The print came out so well that I chose it for background on the right side of the cigar box.

I papered the left side of the cigar box with another HIT-printed sheet. I supplemented the images with some clipart from my CD.

My embellishment elements came from a wide range of sources:

Having bought a dollar-store set of doll clothes for my granddaughter, I gave her the doll clothes but kept the molded black plastic female form for this projet. I sanded it and dry-brushed it with several acrylic paints before mounting it on a wooden element found at a rummage sale.

Behind the female form is a marble tile sample given to me by a friend. I used a gold metallic pen to outline the designs in the tile, then mounted it to the cigar box.

The wooden block (“Women”) came from a game purchased at a thrift shop; the greenery, now pressed and dried, originally came from a bouquet my daughter received. The wonderful black beads came from Oriental Trading Company (also known as “the big dollar store in cyberspace.”)

Now to go looking for more cigar boxes...!

Cecilia