Hummingbirds are Beautiful

This week Stampendous is giving us a close up look at the gorgeous Hummingbirds Stamp Set and coordinating Cutting Dies.

I finally spent some time in my studio in the new year! Yes, it's been a looonnnnngggg time. I've been slowly getting through some knitting and sewing projects that I'm so very far behind on them it's ridiculous. But I've been watching videos from the Creative Jumpstart 2015 Workshop and it's been inspiring me to use my paints.

The videos are just the perfect length for good information and some great inspiration to get you going. I think my background is inspired from the first few videos of the series. I can't wait to catch up and make some more art!

So the end of my crafty time resulted in a mixed media card using one of the hummingbirds from the Cling Hummingbirds Stamp Set and the painterly stamps from the n*Studio line called Grunge and Dress Form. The sentiment is from Say It Today Perfectly Clear Stamp Set.

Supplies:

From Stampendous:
Cling Hummingbirds Stamp Set
Hummingbirds Cutting Die Set
n*Studio Grunge Stamp Set
n*Studio Dress Form Stamp Set
Say It Today Perfectly Clear Stamp Set
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink by Tsukineko®
Perfectly Clear Acrylic Stamp Handle
Creative Palette Monoprinting Plate

Plus:
Pewter Cardstock by Wausau®
White Cardstock by Neenah®
Pink Gingham Pattern Paper by Authentique®
Paint by DecoArt® (Willamsburg Blue, Salem Blue, Charcoal Gray, Grass Green, Yellow, Toffee)
White Gesso by Daley Rowney
Alcohol Markers by Copic® (T1, T4, T6, T8, C2, C4, E47, E49, R14, RV17, RV19, RV55, BG13, YG23)
Zip-Dry™ Paper Glue by Beacon Adhesives®
3D Thin Foam Adhesive Squares by Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
Re-positional Tape by 3M®
Stylus (any size)
Flat Paintbrush (and supplies for clean up)
Sponge

Instructions:

1. Make a top fold card from 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch Pewter cardstock to a finish size of 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches. Set aside.
2. Stamp Hummingbird onto white cardstock with Memento ink and color with markers.
3. Die cut image out by positioning it and securing with two small pieces of re-positional tape then run it through you die cutting machine.
4. Paint white gesso on a 4 x 5 1/4 inch piece of pattern paper leaving some of the paper showing through in the center. 
5. Place a second piece of paper the same size underneath the Creative Palette to use as a size guide.
6. Monoprint in layers starting with the lightest paint and each additional paint further from the center until you are only around the edges. Apply paint quickly with a damp sponge.
7. Dip a stylus into some white gesso and scribble around the finished paper.**
8. Stamp the sentiment with Memento ink.
9. Quickly sponge then stamp darker paints onto various stamps from the n*Studio line.
10. Glue monoprint page with paper glue onto card base.
11. Add foam adhesive squares to back of die cut hummingbird and adhere to card base.

There is more hummingbird goodness from DT talents, Jamie and Amy. You can find their links on the Stampendous blog post HERE.

And I hope you are catching all the January Catalog reveals coming from the Stampendous booth at CHA 2015. You can find all that goodness on the Stampendous blog from last weekend and this week until Wednesday.

**

This project is a nice attempt at MariLynn's really cool mixed media challenge on Splitcoaststampers Mix-Ability Challenge MIX102: Static Electricity. I hope you'll come visit and play along in the challenges. There are no deadlines to complete, just come and have fun with mixed media!

My static electricity is using a stylus dipped into white gesso and scribbled around my monoprint paper. It started out working wonderfully, but then for some reason the stylus wasn't letting go of the gesso. No matter, it was a great technique and challenge that I'll be trying again.