Texana Sea Shells and New Distress 2015 Sprays

The Texana Design Team was challenged  to use the shells stamps and any type of sprays or mists.  I've been collecting the new 2015 colors of distress products so I thought this would be a great opportunity to play.

I began with watercolor paper that was 11" x 18".  I sprayed the bottom with Mermaid Lagoon and the top with Fossilized Amber.  I added some of the Abandoned Coral to deepen the sky color.  I also added some of the Distress Brushed Brass for a bit more depth.  On the water I added a bit of blue glimmer mist.  I set that aside to dry.

Next I took more watercolor paper and with Archival ink I stamped the four shell shapes in both sizes making four sets of shells.  I sprayed each set with Cracked Pistachio, Abandoned Coral, Mermaid Lagoon and Fossilized Amber.  A month or so ago I found some chipboard shell shapes and I played with the new Distress paints.  the shells were just plain and boring, but a couple of them were similar shapes to the Texana shells.  I stamped the center of the sand dollar on the chipboard sand dollar and I stamped the fan shell onto the other chipboard fan shaped shell.  The fan stamp did not line up exactly, but I'm not sure anyone can tell now that it's been layered.  After all of the shells dried I cut them out.  Some were cut with the Brother Scan'n'Cut and others were cut by hand.  Sometimes the Brother cannot recognize the images if the contrast is not dark enough.

The next day I started working on the journal page (cut to 11" x 11") and the tags that I hand cut to the same size as the Ranger tags (approx 4 1/4" x 8 1/2").  First I stamped the Texana Sun in the upper right corner using Archival Ink - Chrome Yellow.  I also used the same ink with the sentiment stamp "Here Comes the Sun" to make additional sun rays.   I wanted these stamps to become part of the background.  I attempted to lift the sky color for the clouds, but that didn't work as well as I had hoped, so I started trying other stuff.  First I painted through the stencil using Distress Paint, Picket Fence.  That dried and the yellow came through and I still wasn't satisfied.  So next I added some of the Ranger Texture Paste over the cloud, still yellow but now with texture.  After that dried I added more Picket Fence, less yellow, but better.  On one of the tags I went so far as to add gesso, but that still did not make a white cloud.  That's when I knew that if I had wanted truly white clouds I would have to paper piece them or have started with the clouds first before spraying the sky.  Live and learn every day!

I tried positioning the shells in the lower right corner, but decided I needed a bit more background action.  I took the small Dylusions Bubbles stencil and lifted some of the blue by spritzing with water through the stencil.  That helped, but it still needed more.  I remembered The Crafters Workshop Mini Coral stencil I had.  I also found a bottle of BoBunny texture paste in gold glitter that I had not used yet, so I put the two together and liked what I was seeing.  Later I decided the journal page needed more than one coral, so I used Texture Paste and when it was dry I colored it with Distress Coral Paint.

Next I wanted a silhouette  so I reached for the stencils by Dyan Reaveley.  I decided on Flossie.  The journal page has the middle size image and the tags has the small image.  I used Ranger Paint - Black Soot to color in the image.  The next day I evened out the edges by outlining the black with a black pen.

I decided that I didn't like her just standing in the water.  I reached for the sand paste that I bought several years ago, but it was rock hard.  I had to find another solution.  I considered sand paper, but didn't know how the feet would work out.  I found an embossing powder called "cement".  I used the the inside of the stencil to cover the black image.  Then I took the VersaMark pad and created the land to anchor Flossie.  I embossed it and I liked the way it looked. 

I stamped the sentiment "You can't cross the sea merely by staring at the ocean" on watercolor paper that had a light misting of yellow sprays.  I trimmed along the complete saying for the journal page and one of the tags, The other two tags I cut each line apart so that I could space things out a little more.

I layered the various shells over the coral until I was happy with the placement.  I glued them down.  Next I wanted matching ribbons for the tags.  I took seam binding and misted with Cracked Pistachio, Fossilized Amber and Abandoned Coral.  I left it scrunched up to dry for a bit more texture.

Products Used on Journal Page and most of the tags

Texana Designs Stamps:   

Sand Dollar (small & mini), 

Fan Shell (small & mini), 

Snail Shell (small & mini) 

& Starfish (small & mini),

 Sun, “Here Comes the Sun” 

& “You can’t cross the sea…”

Distress Sprays: 

Cracked Pistachio, 

Abandoned Coral, 

Mermaid Lagoon, 

Fossilized Amber 

& Tarnished Brass

Stencils:   

Dylusions – Flossie & Bubbles

& The Crafter’s Workshop – Mini Coral & Clouds

Distress Paints:

Black Soot 

& Picket Fence

Bobunny Glitter Paste - Gold

Ranger Texture Paste

Archival Ink:

Jet Black & Chrome Yellow

Ranger Embossing Powder:   

Antiquities Cement

Chipboard Elements painted with

Distress Paints: Cracked Pistachio, Abandoned Coral,

Mermaid Lagoon & Mustard Yellow

then stamped with Texana stamps

Mini Coral with Glitter Paste on right

Mini Coral with Texture Paste and Distress Paint on left

Cloud Stencil with Gesso, Texture Paste and Picket Fence Distress Paint

Technique:  Sprays

Texana Design Team

7/01/2015