The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge ~ R is for Rare

As you know if you are a follower, I have been playing along with the Alpha/Dictionary challenge at The Craft Barn for the past few weeks. Every fortnight, they determine a letter and we must find a word in our dictionary that inspires us enough to illustrate it. Some people (like me) are working right in the dictionary and others are removing the definition and featuring it in another project. Not only are the DT pages wonderful but so are the entries of the participants. I've been having so much fun visiting their blogs and having them visit mine. Anyway, the letter for this fortnight is R and I chose the word rare. The dictionary definition (which is really basic and can be read below in photo #5) inspired my pages with the sentence it used to put the word in context.

I started by Decou-Paging the two pages to the ones  before and after for extra strength and then gessoed the two pages I intended to play with. Next I applied Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress inks to the bottom third and Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers Distress inks to the top 2/3. At the very top edge, I applied Cotton Candy and Blueberry gelatos (brand new to me...yay) and blended them with a wet finger. I'll be playing with these a whole lot more. They are fun! For added texture in the background, I applied Faded Jeans Distress ink over plastic netting and then used gesso on a flip flop sole, I stamped the white crisscross pattern in a few places. Once dry, more Peacock Feathers DI was sponged over the Dylusions Number Jumble stencil and Faded Jeans over The Creative Workshop Mini Chevron Arrows stencil. Stamping on the grass area was done with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink and the patterned stamp from the PA set used for the flowers.

The flowers were stamped directly on the pages using Paper Artsy's JOFY 10 stamp set. The stems were lined with Leaf Green and Dark Pthalo Green Big Brush pens. The flower heads were stamped again on white cardstock, coloured with Prismacolor pencils, fussy cut, and adhered to the page over the previously stamped heads. The stems are really thin so I didn't want to cut them out but I wanted the flowers brighter and the colour pure which required stamping and colouring on white.

The rare and special bird is from Stampotique and is called Bird Legs (LG). She was also coloured with Prismacolor pencils, fussy cut, and adhered to the left page. Her legs and hat brim were coloured with black Micron pen. The ground was roughly sketched in with a Micron pen and then shaded underneath with Peeled Paint Distress marker.

The definition is required to be highlighted in some way as part of the challenge rules. I had gessoed around it initially so washi tape was used to frame it. I always seal my washi tape with Decou-Page or gel medium so that it doesn't lift later. I did the same for the washi tape down the seam between the pages. The definition was further highlighted with Scattered Straw and Spiced Marmalade Distress marker and shaded around the outside with a charcoal pencil and a paper stump. White gesso was pounced through the Dylusions Dotted Flowers stencil to create the white dots.  The words "She knew she was a rare and special bird" were computer generated on kraft cardstock, torn and inked around with Vintage Photo DI, and then adhered. Doodling was completed with a Black Big Brush pen, a white paint pen, my favourite doodling pen, and a Micron pen. The finishing touches were the date stamp and an Idea-ology letter R.

I'm lovin' these pages with the bright colours, the funky flowers, and that rare yet fabulous bird. Now that I'm finished I can go and look at what the others have done for the letter R. Why don't you come and play along? Thanks so much for stopping by today. I do appreciate you doing that and always look forward to your feedback. Off to enter this at:
 The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary challenge. ~ letter R
Stampotique Designers Challenge ~ SDC 94 Flowers
Simon Says Stamp and Show ~ Anything Goes (A Very Strict Challenge)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie