O is for ~ altered dictionary spread

Caution: Long and winding post.

Do not attempt on an empty stomach :D

Hello crafty friends!I haven't played in my altered dictionary for a while and when I saw all of the fabulous owl digi images by Norma J. Burnell at Sweet Pea Stamps, I knew exactly which one I wanted for my O spread. Mind you, I bought 5 other stamps at the same time...LOL. They are gorgeous and I am weak :D

I coloured Hoot with Prismacolor pencils using very intense colours and contrasting shading for more drama. Hoot and his tree branch were fussy cut, edged with Black Big Brush pen and asked to wait patiently while the background was completed.

The two pages were adhered to the ones next to each with Matte Medium for added strength. The working pages were covered with slightly watered down white gesso making sure that the definition was not covered. Shades of blue Neocolor II watercolour crayon were scribbled (literally) across the page  and spread with water. Once dry, White Linen Dylusions ink was sprayed through the Prima Threads stencil and left to dry thoroughly.

Some Michael's inexpensive little stamps were used along with Studio 490 Cornflower Archival ink to add more circle designs aka background texture :) More stencilling was applied with a make-up wedge and Coffee Archival ink through Dylusions Number Jumble stencil.

White gesso was pounced with a scruffy brush through two of TCW's Well Rounded stencil designs. Before adhering any of the elements to the pages, black gesso was slightly watered down and flicked across the pages (and my arms/hands) with a brush. Seriously, I could not stop laughing. I even had it on my glasses. Rings were stamped using a bottle lid. (far less messy)

The poem was computer generated...no idea as to the source. It was always in the Primary readers back in the day, although the last line is sometimes slightly different. It was printed on white cardstock, cut with a Spellbinders die and inked around with Vintage Photo Distress ink before being matted with brown cardstock. It was then faux stitched and popped up on foam dots.

Clouds were cut from white cardstock using an MFT die and then run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder to get the large raised dots. Broken China Distress ink was applied to the bottom edges.

The lettering for the word owl is chipboard with a woodgrain pattern which seemed to fit with Hoot's tree branch. White paint pen dots were added to each letter. The Oo letters are Idea-ology Ransom Alpha Parts.

To ground the bottom of Hoot's branch, washi tape with a measuring tape pattern was glued to both pages. A leftover piece of scalloped paper was placed under the horizontal piece and a circle was cut and half was glued to the other page for continuity and repetition. A length of border cut from brown cardstock with an MFT die was also applied in two places to bring a little more brown around the pages. It's just like when my sister and I were little...whatever one got, so did the other. I treat my pages the same so that they flow better. Lots of black doodling was done on both pages and around each element before the edges of the pages were inked with Pthalo Blue and then Black Big Brush pen.

This page puts me half way through my altered dictionary which means that I still have lots of fun ahead. Yay! Thanks for stopping by today. I really appreciate your visits and your kind comments. Hoot thanks you, too, but he's the quiet type like the poem says.

I am entering this project in the following challenges:
One Sweet Challenge ~ It's a feast! Focusing on the colour blue
Left of Center Challenges ~ No People
Sweet Pea Stampers ~ Lots of texture
Wags N Whiskers ~ Things with wings
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie