Twinchie Book ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio collage sheet

front and back cover

Hi everyone! It's been ages since I created twinchies which are 2x2 inch squares, although I absolutely love them. I decided that they were the ideal size for creating a fun little book of "Ap-paw-ling Puns" featuring images from the Fat Cat collage sheet by Vera Lane Studio. This turned into a time consuming project in spite of its size but was so worth it.

pages 1 and 2

I found the most groan-worthy puns about cats that I could and featured one on the left hand page with a collage cat on the right page.

pages 3 and 4

The backgrounds began as scraps of  gel plate pages or ink sprayed pages. Even if the background is too awful to use in its entirety, there are often some good twinchie sections which can be salvaged.

pages 5 and 6

Additional stamping, paper scraps, or music/book text were added along with some stencilling.

pages 7 and 8

Washi tape helped ground the cats and was continued onto the opposite page to unify the spread.

pages 9 and 10

The cats were all fussy cut, matted with black, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border. They were each embellished with Stickled or Nuvo Drops noses, black gem eyes, and often with puffy heart stickers, pearls or Nuvo Drops on their collars, and punched flowers for the cover cats.

pages 11 and 12

The terrible puns were printed onto white cardstock using the VLS Baby Powder font and matted with black. A border was doodled on all the inside pages, and each page was edged with black Big Brush pen to provide a frame. The book was held together with tiny rings by Idea-ology.

my little alligator mouth 2x2 book

Thanks for joining all of the punny Fat Cats and me today. We do appreciate that. Be sure to check out the other adorable collage sheets as well as the plethora of images in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. There are so many other twinchie books rattling around in my brain...I'd love to see what you come up with :) Pop any of your Vera Lane Studio projects onto our VLS Facebook group page. We love the inspiration!

Life is good; so is art!

Bonnie

Today's Plan ~ an art journal page inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi again, everyone! I have created a second art journal page for my DT work this week for Vera Lane Studio. This time I featured one of the adorable Eyes For You images which was released last week. I love her quirky hair and those huge eyes. She just seemed to go with a page about coffee :)

I coloured Effy (Eyes for You) with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, adding a tiny punched flower coloured to match her pants to the collar of her dress. I wanted a third spot of those purples from her hair and pants. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut a second time.

The 6x6 inch watercolor background was spritzed with Lindy's Witch's Potion Purple and Sassy Sapphire Starburst sprays, as well as being spritzed with water to help the colours blend and drip. Extra splatters were flicked onto the background from the pick up tubes. Stamping was added by applying Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink to an Indigo Blu script stamp. More pattern was added by sponging Deep Purple Archival Ink through a Studio Light stencil and Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through another pattern from the same stencil.

To establish the coffee theme for the page, one of the Planner Girl collage sheet images was used to record Effy's plan for the day. The wording was printed onto white cardstock and matted with black cardstock. A doodled border was added to the outside edges and black Big Brush Pen was used to darken them, helping to frame the page.

Thanks for stopping by today. Effy and I are delighted that you did. You can find the Planner Girl Collage sheets as well as the Eyes For You images in the Vera Lane Etsy shop, as well as a plethora of other fabulous images. Pop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group often because there is inspiration there every day. It's a lovely place to hang out.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Own That ~ an art journal page inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I have two art journal pages to share today. The first one was created with the Party Like a Girl image which was released by Vera Lane Studio yesterday. The set contains two girls, two hats, and two sentiments...and every detail is so cute!

I coloured the smiling Party Girl using Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, using bright colours to show her bright outlook. A little extra doodling was added to give some pattern to her dress and carry on with the circle theme seen in the background. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border.

The 6x6 inch watercolour paper background was spritzed and splatted with Lindy's Hag's Wart Orange Starburst Spray and the negative spaces were lightly filled in with Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Ink. Stamping was added with Magenta Hue Archival Ink and a Viva Las Vegas Number stamp as well as a Rubber Moon dot stamp applied with Jet Black Archival Ink. I had previously decorated a sticker sheet with sprays, stamps and stencilling, creating a master board. I used one of the 2.5 inch circles whole and sliced another in half to create a visual triangle of these patterned shapes. They add just the pop of colour and pattern I was looking for.

Finishing details were added in the form of outlining of the circles and a doodled border using black pen. The wording was printed onto white cardstock and matted with black. A strip of washi tape was placed below Party Girl's feet to ground her and white punched stars replicating the stars on the circles were scattered about the page, both to brighten it with pops of white and to add unity to the design.

Thanks for joining Party Like a  Girl and me today. We are delighted to have you visit. When you get a chance, be sure to stop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop as well as the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. Both are awesome places to gather inspiration for that project you've been wanting to create.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Make a Wish Tag ~ Inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! For my second Vera Lane Studio project today, I decided to make a tag featuring one of the sweet Wish Fairy images. I love the serene expression on her face, her beautiful wings, and wonderful hat. She makes me smile!

I coloured Wish Fairy with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Her wings were done with the same colours of pencils as in the rest of her but I added white over the top to blend the colours into each other for a bit of a magical effect.

The background began with a textured and mottled blue paper from which I cut a #8 size tag. Vintage music paper edged with Coffee Archival Ink was layered vertically over the blue and a piece of white doily was adhered overlapping that. To give Wish Fairy a place to stand and tie in the blues from her hat and dress, a piece of marbled printed paper was torn and adhered horizontally toward the bottom of the page. The Idea-ology Small Talk sticker was layered over the blue strip.

To finish the tag, black pen was used to outline the layers and doodle a border around the outside. The edges were inked with Coffee Archival and edged with black Big Brush Pen. Green and blue twine were combined to make the topper, again pulling the colours from the image to unify the tag.

Thanks for joining Wish Fairy and me today. That was kind of you! When you get a chance, be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop as well as the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group, both great places to hang out and be inspired.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

No worries ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! I read the saying I used for this art journal page the other day and immediately thought of using one of the Peekaboo images from Vera Lane Studio. I combined her with one of the Bird Houses images as well as a little flower from The Gardener set which I used to balance the design. She looks like she just peeked around the corner to remind us that everything is figure-outable and we needn't worry...like our own little cheerleader reassuring us.

I coloured all three images with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cutting them and  leaving a narrow white border. They were then matted with black cardstock and fussy cut leaving a black border. That's something I do most times because then I know they will stand out from the background no matter how wild and crazy I go.

The 6x6 watercolour background paper was colourized with two Distress Oxide Inks, Mowed Lawn and Squeezed Lemonade, blended and layered until I was happy. Mowed Lawn Distress Ink was also applied through TCW Plaid Fringe stencil. Additional patterning was added with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink and a Paper Artsy circle stamp (ETS01), a Studio Light grid stamp, as well as a Crafty Individuals script stamp. As usual, I had to add a pop of black using Jet Black Archival on a border stamp by Inkylicious.

To ground Peekaboo and the bird house, two strips of washi tape were added to white cardstock and layered near the bottom of the page. The white behind the washi helps the pattern show much better because the white shows through the translucent areas. A wiggly border was doodled with black pen and the wording was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black.

Thanks for joining Peekaboo and me today. We are delighted that you did. When you get a chance, be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop as well as the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group, both great places to hang out and be inspired.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

ATCoins ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio collage sheet

Hi everyone! When I have scraps left from backgrounds I have created or patterned paper I have used for other projects, I always check to see if they are big enough to cut an artist trading coin or artist trading card from. I keep a stack of pre-cut backgrounds for both of these so when I want to create something quick and fun, I'm half way there. Today I am sharing two coins featuring images from a Vera Lane Studio collage sheet called Fun Collage.

I fussy cut the three small images from the same sheet leaving my usual white border. These were then matted with black. Foam tape was attached to the bird and the girl to add dimension and shadow. To ground the images, a torn piece of washi tape was added to the pink coin and a die cut arrow was added to the green one.

Stencilled Xs or stamped dots were added to create more interest. Chit Chat Stickers matted with black and popped up on foam tape were added and a doodled border finished them off. So simple...so cute!

Thanks for stopping by! That was awesome of you! Check out the other collage sheets at the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. They are a fabulous time saver and there's a wonderful selection so the possibilities are endless! We would love to have you visit our Vera Lane Studio Facebook group, too, when you get a minute. It's filled with daily inspiration and wonderful people!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Well-loved ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I love the new Rag Dolls images released yesterday by Vera Lane Studio. They make me think of the Velveteen Rabbit when the Skin Horse is explaining what it means to be real. I was inspired to create a tag with one of the three rag dolls. I love the saying that comes with the set but I had another one in mind when I was creating.

I coloured Ragdoll 2 with Prsmacolor and Polychromos pencils, adding a little extra detail with a black Pitt Pen. She was then fussy cut leaving a white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again leaving a black border. Foam tape was used to pop her up when she was adhered to the background.

The tag shape was cut from a piece of cardstock from my stash which had been used to catch the over-spray from Distress Oxide sprays while creating another project. I love the randomness and the hard edges this creates within the pattern. The tag is a standard #8 size. An Ellen Hutson Bokeh Circles stamp was added in three places with Coffee Archival Ink and a piece of drywall mesh was layered where Ragdoll's torso would land. A stamped, folded, and stitched strip of plain vintage book paper was matted with brown cardstock and adhered along the bottom edge and this was topped with washi tape to give RD a place to stand.

The sentiment was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. A simple border was doodled with brown Sharpie and Walnut Brown Big Brush Pen was added to the edges along with a brown reinforcement for the hole. The topper is a piece of the selvage edge from  woven fabric. I wanted it to be slightly worn looking as well.

Thanks for stopping by today to visit with Ragdoll and me. We are delighted that you did. When you get a chance, pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop to check out Ragdoll's sisters and all her other friends available to star in your creations. Check out the inspiration supplied by our DT members as well as our talented members in the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. It's a lovely place to hang out and we would be delighted to have you visit.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie