Adventure Awaits

Hello all!  I'm on another continent, but travelling with supplies this time, and even though I've had all sorts of settling in to do (including horrid form-filling and financial shenanigans - I hadn't reckoned on having to open a US bank account!) as well as starting on my next round of creative adventures in my "other life", I've still found time for a bit of crafting.

I have to confess that on my first free afternoon I made my way to Michaels to augment my little stash, and I started on a few tags and panels as well as a journal page spread just to kick things off.

This is one of the panels, made out of a third of a sheet of 9x12 watercolour card (there are two more to come at some point therefore), and I seem still to be on the blue/brown streak.

The delicate pale hues of my Vintage Journey bird tag have become slightly grungier.

I like the collaging but, really, this one's all about the textured background.  (No outdoor photos, I'm afraid, which feels a bit weird to me, but it's only for a few months, I suppose.)

I put a rough coat of gesso onto the paper and, while it was still wet, I added streaks of Raw Umber and Deep Midnight Blue DecoArt Americana acrylic paint.










When the paint was dry, I stamped the Tim Holtz text stamp randomly in Potting Soil Archival.  Stamping in Archival means it won't disappear on me as I add more layers.

Next, I stencilled on some gesso Harlequins and, once they were dry, added a layer of DecoArt One Step crackle through the same stencil.  I also added crackle paste randomly in other places with my palette knife.










When the crackle had done its work, I rubbed Raw Umber over the white Harlequins...

... and White Wash paint over the other areas against the blue.  I wiped off the excess while it was still wet, leaving the crackles nicely highlighted in each area.











A while back I ordered some 49 and Market stamps, including these rather cool stitching lines by Gabrielle Polacco.  I stamped this one in Black Archival around the corners of my grungy panel.














In the end I added a couple of trios of tiny brads, bought on sale in Michaels.

Love the effect in the opposite corners.















And the grungy Harlequins have a pleasing distressed look...
















... which I think works really well with the messy "stitching".













Then it was time for some collaging.  There are strips of tissue tape, torn book pages, both tea-stained and non-tea-stained - I brought some of each with me.

There's a length of burlap ribbon with some narrow crocheted lace over it behind the Photobooth photo.












I've used some Thrift Shop Ephemera as well as a number brad.  I hadn't put any metal elements in my stash, so I couldn't resist grabbing these in Michaels too on a coupon.











The wooden tag was also a Michaels purchase.  I thought the tags would work well with the Small Talk phrases... I love it when a plan comes together!















I roughened the edges all around and inked them with Walnut Stain (I have a dozen mini Distress Inks with me - I wonder if you can guess which colours made the cut!).













And that's your lot for now.  Auditions, callbacks and casting are all done now, and I'll be starting rehearsals this week, so I hope to be a more regular visitor once I've settled into the rhythm of things.  In the meantime, thank you - as always - for your visits and lovely comments.  Each and every one is so much appreciated.  Happy Crafting all

A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind.
Eugene Ionesco






The theme at That's Crafty Challenge is Get Cracking, so I'd love to play along with them there
I'd like to add this to Time to Take Flight over at Stamps and Stencils
And they are playing Anything Creative/Mixed Media over at the Love to Create Challenge
And with a well-timed first use of my faux-stitching stamps, I'd like to play along with It's a Stitch Up at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too