Gesso...

Ohhh the sweet lovely smell of gesso...it's becoming a crafty favorite here! Been reading and re-reading my lovely magazines again and was literally picking apart the newest Stampington Publication, The Stamper's Sampler. I love seeing what folks out there are creating. I drool, I bend page corners, I circle images, and take note of what stamps are being used.. I first browse quickly thru the magazine, speed reading type of thing. Then I go back article by article, savoring the words, instructions and supply lists. After I finish the articles, I head to the back of the magazine..there the "Challenges" are posted for upcoming publications. I also say to myself, "I'm going to enter one of these!" I then get to the deadline date and say "There's no freakin' way I can get this done in time, I'm the worlds best procrastinator." But I don't let the deadlines stop me from "participating" in these challenges. They just don't get submitted! Oh!

In this month's issue of TSS AND Take Ten there are several challenges that intrigue me. The first article was on paint. Yeah, good ol' fashion acrylic paint. You remember when Making Memories was churning out those cute little bottles of paint and ladies were bonkers making sure they got every color... (if you want more info, pick up your Jun/July issue of The Stamper's Sampler at your favorite store)

The next article was is from the Take Ten publication, it's on fabric backgrounds..and lastly another article on Tags..simple manila shipping tags. WOW. Fast forward to the back of the magazine to the CHALLENGES...and look one on paint, another on fabric and another on tags...three separate challenges...what can I do with that????

Taking my cue from the fabric article, I went down to my favorite superstore (NOT) and bought me some unbleached muslin. I tore mine into card size panels, next I grabbed my acrylic gesso...(two challenges combined into one!!

Grabbed my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, I'm using four colors.  Scarlet, Sand, Olive and English Ivy.  Hmmm a pattern perhaps?  In retrospect, a resist or a stencil might have been fun in creating this background, but I digress.  Spritzed away..in the next batch I'll probably saturate the color a bit more. 

The next step, I grabbed my acrylic stamp with a sheet music background and I put it on my Mega Mount.  It's 6x6 block slightly curved for larger backgrounds. (I bought mine at Cat's Creations, out in Mineral Wells.)  I love it! Stamped the image off center or actually off in the upper left corner somewhere...it's not an exact science.

Spritzed some more Glimmer Mist on it, this time wanting a more splattered pattern and used the color "Coral".  Looks like rust got on there some how.  After drying, I'll adhere to a card, layer with a tag I've stamped, colored, Stickled, distressed, and glimmered.

My Christmas card will be done!  And I will have met all three challenges at the same time.  Well, I like it and think it's cool..;)  Oooh, I think the first batch of muslim is dry..time to start stampin'!