Hello. I figured my first blog post would have to be similar
to tearing off a band aid …. just take a breath and rip. So here goes. As Zoo
says, I dislike being on the computer and surfing is not my thing. I am
constantly amazed at the personal data and information people put on-line and
for me to venture forth into the world of Blogging feels a little hypocritical but hey…what you do in
the name of friendship is beyond hilarious : ) Having said that, I have to admit to
enjoying the activities and inspiration
that comes with the things Zoo has found for us to do during her travels on the
world wide web. So, if someone reads our blog and gets something from it then
we will be paying back for the fun things Zoo has found. I cannot say I will be
as informative as Zoo or as longwinded :
) but I may grow into this method of
communication, you never know. I can see my youngest daughter rolling her eyes
at me when I say things like that for others to read. I am completely outdated
and lame but that’s cool with me.
So…. Adventures with Texture Paste is our first topic. As
Zoo mentioned, I am cheap and never throw anything away. As it turns out it was
a good thing for this experiment. I save most of the things I cut out with my
Big Shot and below are the first things I tried when we played with the texture
paste. These stencils, left from cutting out dies on the Big Shot, are just
basic card stock and I had to be careful when spreading the texture paste on as
the paper tends to curl when wet and the texture paste bled under the paper
more than a plastic stencil. The snowflake shapes I ended up cutting out and
using on Christmas cards (sorry no photos from that long ago. Zoo can add one,
as I mailed one of the cards to her). The swirly one on green is the leftovers
of a die cut using vellum paper. It curled so much it was very hard to work
with and was not of any use to redo again when I pulled it off the paper after
the texture paste was applied. (the card stock template I dried flat sandwiched
between wax paper, making sure the curling bits laid flat again. They dried
well to be used again and are now a bit thicker with the added paste that did
not wipe off). The dress on green is a stamp I have that I stamped then cut out
with a sharp knife to use in this experiment. It turned out cute except for one
part that bled through a little but it was a good use of rubber stamps to make
a template.
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The remainder of the samples I tried were used with plastic
templates found either in the sewing/fabric store or cheap kiddy ones I had on
hand.
This particular template is made of a thicker plastic; therefore the texture paste is much thicker, as well. If you are using thicker paste for cards it will cost more to mail and I worry about the card bending and breaking up the paste in transit. This box that I painted with plain dollar store acrylic paint then texture pasted on the hearts using the cheap stencil was fun to do and adds my favourite colour into a corner of my craft room that was missing some red.
To add to Zoo’s info on texture paste, I would like to say
that I prefer the baby powder paste. It has a nice feel when dry and has more
give when bending the paper. I made my Christmas cards last year using the tree
stencil Zoo posted and I wanted to have some glitter in the paste. Can I just
say that it did not turn out and I wasted a lot of glitter in the attempt. I
tried using glitter in the actual paste hoping it would shine when dry. I can
sort of see it in a couple of places on maybe two of the 40+ cards I had made.
My suggestion is to sprinkle on some glitter after you have used the stencil to
paste it on. Good luck : )
The above picture is of the first page of the mixed media
book Zoo and I started together. Page one was to have texture paste of the
stencil I cut in half and brought to her and stamps. I put paint in the texture
paste to see how it would work and I really liked the effect. The clear stamps
I used were representing what Zoo means to me and it was fun using her word
stamps and bending them to fit into the circles.
So.... months have gone by and, like taking off a band aid, I have fretted for nothing. This wasn't as hard as expected and my teacher, Zoo, has been very patient with me. I hope anyone who ventures our way enjoys crafting with us. Take care and have fun!
