Try New Things - Punky Sprouts and Faber Castell

I was pretty excited when I heard that Punky Sprouts would be swapping with Faber Castell this month.  I had some Faber Castell products already and was looking forward to trying out some new stuff.

My goal for this mini was just to stretch myself, try out some different techniques and combinations, and experiment.  I think you have to do that every so often....that's how you learn what works, and what doesn't.  I chose to use a Tutu Punk album.  This is the perfect album for experimenting with mixed media.  It consists of alternating pieces of scalloped cardboard and a really absorbant mixed media paper. 

For the cover I used some FC Gel Medium on a Ronda Palazzari Crafter's Workshop Stencil. After I let it dry, I generously misted it with a variety of mists.  Then I colored some DIY Thickers with Gelatos and adhered them.  They were a little bright, so I toned them down with some stamping, using Pitt Markers as the stamping medium.

On the next page I applied some gelatos.  Then misted a background stamp with water and pressed it into the gelatos.  I thought it would remove some of the color to give it some extra texture and pattern, but I think my layer of gelatos was too heavy.  Still, the stamp itself did pick up the gelatos color, so you can see that on the right and left where I stamped the background stamp without cleaning it off.  The sentiment was colored with a Sharpie marker and deliberately smudged to add some shadow.

On this page I used the Gel Medium to decoupage newspaper onto the cardboard piece.  I added some stamping (hard to see) in the background using a woodgrain background stamp and gelatos.  Then I colored some circles, turning them into lanterns, and added some detail with a marker.

This page involved rubbing gelatos at the top (and then the side) of the page , spritzing it with water, and then allow the drips to travel down the page and dry.  The letters were made using a stencil and black dye ink, and then I added a little doodling around the letters as well as a bit of mist.

Remember when I said that it was good to play around and see what works and what doesn't?  Well this next page definitely didn't, but I kept it in the mini as a reminder that mistakes are part of the creative process.  Bunch of mist, a stencil, some Gel Medium, some coloring with Pitt Markers....this one just didn't come together the way I envisioned.

On this page I colored with my Gelatos, and then used a wet brush to blend it in.  The sentiment and the houses were cut using my new Silhouette Portrait and I attached them using Gel Medium.  It actually gives it kind of a vinyl look.  I added a bit of mist as a finishing touch.

This next page was super simple, but one of my favorites.  I just painted the cardboard page with gesso, and then misted over a Studio Calico stencil, spraying it on heavily.  Then I added some white thickers that were colored with a Stamper's Big Brush Pen.

For this page I wanted to play with stamping using the Pitt Markers.  I used the Mama Elephant Trifecta set and created kind of an ombre effect with my four markers.  You'll notice that it's easy to blend the colors with the markers, and you can also color them on blended too.  I added a little bit of gesso on the sides to soften the colors a little and drew the sentiment freehand.

Finally, for the back cover I pulled out that Ronda P pie chart stencil again.  First I lightly misted the cardboard with white mist.  Then I used the Gel Medium over the stencil again and let it dry.  Once dry, I painted mist onto each of the pie sections.  The stickers are Bazzill.  They stick really well, but I still added a layer of Gel Medium over top.  It picks up some of the mist color so the stickers blend in a bit.

I really had a great time creating this album, and I left all the backs of my pages unfinished, so I'm thinking I'll go back and do some more experimenting as time permits.  Based on my experiences thus far, there are several other techniques/variations I still want to try.

Thanks so much for coming by!

Supplies Used:  

Punky Sprouts - Tutu Punky (http://getpunkysprouts.com/store/?page/63371/shop-punky)

Lindy's - Cathedral Pines, Rudolph's Nose and Starburst Sprays (http://getpunkysprouts.com/store/?page/63371/load/product_category/category/8580/imageID/0/more-mixed-media) 

Faber Castell - Gel Medium, Yellow Gelatos, Green PITT Artist Pens, Red Mixed Media Sampler

Other:  Crafter's Workshop - Ronda Palazzari Pie Chart Stencil; Studio Calico - Bubbles and Arrows (exclusive to Neverland Scrapbooking Kit) Masks; Dylusions - Cherry Pie, Squeezed Orange, Lemon Zest, Cut Grass, London Blue, and Crushed Grape Ink Sprays; Claudine Hellmuth - Gesso; Mama Elephant - Trifecta; American Crafts - DIY, Nutmeg, and Prancer Thickers; CTMH - Giggle lowercase Alpha and Black Ink; Hero Arts - Snow Dots Cling Background and Woodgrain Background; Memento - Tuxedo Black ink; Bazzill Basics - Big Word Stickers Celebrate