Life is...

Hello all!  I'm here with a trio of altered money envelopes today.  They were made as samples for one of my latest stamp sets, launched last month by PaperArtsy.  All the quotes on these come from EAB19 Life & Living.

They ended up needing to be a trio because each of them starts with the phrase "Life is..." (or in one case "Life isn't..." but it then goes on to tell you what "Life is..." in the second half!).

The cash envelopes are actually just slightly larger than ATC sized, especially when you leave the top flap open, as I have, to receive possible gift vouchers or cash as a gift.

I won't keep you long, as these were really pretty simple to make, but just in case you want to know how, keep reading.













I started by smearing gesso onto the envelopes with a palette knife.  It's really not important to be neat or precise with this bit.








Next, I added watery washes from the chosen palette - a green-turquoise-blue-purple spectrum.








Once that was all dry, I stamped some of Courtney's fabulous leaves from ECF06, combining Leaf Green and Olive Archival directly on the stamp.

Some of the postmarks from the same set are stamped around the place in French Ultramarine Archival.














The French Ultramarine is actually a soft purply pale blue, so fitted perfectly with the paint palette.













I stamped the quotes on separate pieces of card, and embossed them in Wow Earthtone Pepper. 















I love this speckled grey, especially when it catches the light... it makes me very happy.














And I did want to have the authors' names somewhere in the mix.  Obviously, you can just cut them off and discard them, but sometimes I like to have them around.














Rather than have them conventionally attached somewhere as a footnote, I used them as little balancing accents in opposite upper corners.














Okay, Helen Keller made it to footnote sort of place in the bottom corner, but only because that was the position needed to get a balanced composition.















The cotton thread adds movement and dimension.














I love how the spontaneous coils and swirls bring everything to life.  And of course there's plenty of splatter, which I find has a similar effect.














If I'm using the method of stamping on a separate piece of paper and then cutting the quotes up, rather than stamping straight on a project, the positioning of the words is worth some attention.

For instance, with this Einstein quote, you can create the pause needed for the comic timing of the quote by leaving visual space between the words.

But maybe that's just me... I know I do have a strange and particular brain as far as words are concerned!




So there you go - another batch of samples from the new stamp sets.  I hope you like them.  My favourites are still to come.  That's going to be a more complicated blogpost to write.  





Hopefully now I'm safely settled in the Czech Republic (for a few weeks at least - all a bit up in the air, depending on building work) I'll have more time to play with.  I've got most of the unpacking done, and the travelling craft stash organised... there's quite a lot, though the pile is smaller than on some occasions in the past - have a look here, third photo down!).











Three Tim Holtz stamp folders, plus assorted extra stamps; plenty of Distress Ink and Oxide pads in the TH Cargo Case; tools and brushes and powders in the little Wendy Vecchi bag; and a couple of cardboard boxes rammed full - here's a sample of the top layer of the little one.  Next time out I'll try to remember to show you a couple of pictures of my current set up.





I hope you're all thriving this week, or at least surviving.  Stay safe, stay well everyone, and happy crafting!

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Lao Tzu