Poe Poetry and Journal Stenciling!

Howzit Lost Coasters!

Today I'm sharing a handwritten and rubber stamp illustrated poem by Edgar Allan Poe I created for our first annual Poe Appreciation Day blog hop back in January hosted on our Lost Coast Portal to Creativity blog.  Pop on over to my blog for more info and photos coz here today I'm concentrating on how I began this project which features Carmen's Veranda Edgar Allan Poe stamp and Lost Coast Designs' Lettering/Journaling stencil.  

"A Dream Within A Dream" 

Glass framed painting presided over by my E. A. Poe Living Dead Doll and his Raven

For this project I used a sheet of heavy weight Canson watercolour paper and started out by randomly applying Black Soot and Tea Dye Distress Ink to the stamp simultaneously to achieve a variegated effect.  I then worked at the Poe image by manipulating the stamped ink and applying more directly from the ink pads with a water brush until I was happy with the result.  TIP:  You can also use Distress Markers for similar results.

Once the painting was dry I added the journaling segments using Lost Coast Designs large journaling stencil.  The stencil is made of the same plastic as store bought stencils and is strong and easy to use.  It measures 6 x 9 inches to fit many journaling books and I used the entire stencil on this project but you can easily just use a portion of it for smaller projects from cards to ATCs, it is a very versatile tool to have in your crafty stash!  I taped the stencil down with removable tape and applied Tea Dye and Black Soot Distress Inks with foam ink applicators.  The photo below shows the stenciled areas when I removed the stencil.  I then applied more Tea Dye to the areas that were blocked out by stencil to reduce the starkness. 

 I hand wrote the Poe poem with black Micron pen in various nib sizes and applied white acrylic paint to the text with a fine liner paint brush.

If stenciling is not your thing then we do have Journaling Letter Guide rubber stamps available in 3 sizes, these are a must have if you enjoy adding your own text to your projects!

Large 5.5 x 7.5 inches

Card size 5.5 inches high

ATC size 3.5 inches high

 Before you go, did you see all our fabulous news for March?  We launched our new Facebook Fan Group on March 3rd, announced our Design Team Call as well as some hints on what activities are upcoming!  Click HERE for the entire scoop!  Plus our monthly blog challenge for March is underway, the theme is Let's Party!

Thanks for stopping by to see my project today :0)

Leigh S-B
THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
LCD/CV DT Leader

Older and wiser ...

Nikki here with a Design Team make. The new challenge at Lost Coast Designs, #12 is to make an Artist Trading Card. I don't know if anyone has noticed that I quite like making ATC's ..... LOL.

Here is my DT make and an extra little something else ...

This ATC features the very wise and formal owl from Misc Anthropomorphs and also 'Wisdom' is lightly stamped in the background from dictionary words : 

 The background was made with distress paint and distress stains. The paint applied first and when dry it acts as a resist for the stain. I spritzed the ATC with water once I had added the stain and moved the card around so that the colors ran and gelled together a little more. I really like this effect. 

The owl was stamped in dark brown into onto my ATC, then onto white gloss card stock in brown archival, which I embossed with clear powder and colored him with distress inks and stains. When I had fussy cut him and was adding him to the ATC I glued him down slightly to the right side so there is a shadow behind him. I also added a little white gel pen to pick up some of the details.

A close up of my owl : 

 For the back of my atc I did a similar technique to the front of the ATC, but I used a more absorbant paper - wow look at the different in the colors and how they merge together. I stamped the owl once and then added my ATC label. Lost Coast Designs have some really wonderful ATC sized images.

Now here is something extra. I make so many ATC's that my binders are bulging at the seams, so I decided to turn some of them into cards.

Here is the card I made, for a 50th Birthday for a friend :

I have done the same background technique, but then I used the Journalling tool / stencil to add the waves. I spritzed it all with water and removed some of the ink with paper towel, the added my journaling. Quite often we don't like our own handwriting - have you found that ? So I decided to go against that instinct and write :)

Hope you found some inspiration here, and maybe feel inclined to join our challenge.