Tiled Patterns, Infusions and Foil!

I appear to be on a roll in the craft room, making up for lost time, lol!  But truth be told, I am so happy to be back at my craft table after such a long absence - and I have so many ideas, which of course multiply as soon as I start looking online at others' work and challenges.  Today I am aiming for three challenges:  Paper Artsy re "Tiled Patterns", Simon Says Stamp re "Make a Background with Infusions", and Mix it Up re Anything Goes Plus Foil", when their challenge opens Friday.  

I have some other ideas for the Paper Artsy Tiled Pattern challenge, which will be coming soon!

Unlike the past, when I made tags and art journal pages with abandon, this year I am focused on building a portfolio in hopes that I can be juried into the local Winter Market, as a stepping stone for selling my work in several local tourist venues.  So cards and mini albums it is!  And who knows, maybe some wine bottle tags, and other types of gift tags as I get my stride.  We have some fantastic wineries here in Idaho!

I started with some 300 gsm watercolor paper, and applied Paper Artsy Grunge Paste through a brick stencil in my stash - this will be my tiled pattern.  I put it on generously and unevenly, and tapped the paste with my finger to further roughen the surface.  I wanted plenty of places for the Infusions to penetrate with all their luscious richness.

The colors I chose were on the moody side - blue and purple, with a bit of aged green tossed in.  That combo was one of my favorites in a guest post I did on infusions for Paper Artsy some years past.

Once the texture paste dried, I sprayed quite a bit of water onto the bricked pattern, and sprinkled the infusions in various areas.  As the water did its work, I spritzed a bit more onto the piece, so the pigments could roll around and drip into crevasses, as well as penetrate the texture paste.

It started to get a bit too brown in areas, so I dabbed with the edge of a paper towel to lighten it up a bit, and let it dry, impatiently, I might add!  When I couldn't stand it anymore, I applied a heat gun, and got a bit more texture through the subsequent bubbling, which you can just discern in the middle here.

Although Mix It Up does not require one to use the extra technique, in this case foiling, I am a raven and love all things shiny - so of course I was going to add foil!  

Thus, once the piece was truly dry, I took a large nib two-way glue pen, thinking to somehow swipe it over the rough areas.  However, I had stored it with the nib down, and some significant amount of glue had seeped into the cover, which when I removed it, splashed some onto my floor.  Perfect!  Now I knew how to apply this glue.... by dipping my finger into the cap, and swiping that round the piece.  Once the glue was tacky, I took some Ranger foil, and pressed it onto the piece, rubbing hard with the side of my hand to transfer the foil.

I was happy with the result....

and decided to look for a quote as a "sentiment".  Perusing my books, I chanced upon a stanza from one of my favorite poets, Stanley Kunitz.  He was a remarkable gardener, as well as an outstanding poet, and I usually can find something that suits from his work.  This stanza with this image brings to mind the dawn's light on old bricks somewhere, let's say Paris or somewhere else equally wonderful!

Then came the decision of how to place the quote onto the card front.... I tried my beautiful vintage Underwood typewriter, but as it really doesn't like to play with thicker paper, like cardstock, this did not work.

I have applied digital fonts to tissue paper in the past, including a piece with another snippet of Kunitz' work, and thought to do that....even managed to locate my temporary adhesive spray which would make my carrier for the printer.... but then I thought the words would be lost, which is ok for a journal page, but not at all wonderful for a card which is to convey a sentiment!

So I tried printing my stanza in a digital font on my inkjet printer, having changed the font color to a dusky purple.... and breathed a sigh of relief that it worked.  I used one of the smaller dies from Tonic Studios' Layered Rivoli die to cut out the sentiment, trimming the lovely rounded brackets off to match the mood of this piece.  I distressed the edges physically, and with Ground Expresso Distress Ink, and then aged the little thing with Antique Linen Distress Ink.    I then trimmed and rounded the piece, and selected a pale purple cardstock for the card.... not sure how many people would buy this, but I like it, so I guess we will find out, lol!

Thank you so much for visiting, and if you did read this rather lengthy post!  Please do leave a comment if you can - I love hearing from you!