' ' ' 'Crafty Endeavours: Quote challenge Journey & Friendship

Friday 21 November 2014

Quote challenge Journey & Friendship

Settle down for a long post or go down to the last image for the latest Craft Barn challenge.
I have chosen the word Friendship and managed to find stamps to represent the quote, all from Crafty Individuals. Just as well, as I wanted to play with some of the new CI stamps in my collection which I just won on their blog. I am so grateful for Jean and Malcom's generosity!

Another recent supply I wanted to play work with was the Brushos as they're just fun!

My first attempt turned out very dark as you can see in this page for the quote challenge Knowledge or Hurt, that I finally managed to catch up with:


I should have used "Knowledge is experience" as a quote because this page is all about experimenting and it shows! I started by a Brushos background with blue, violet and a bit of green all cool colours but... too much!
I tried bleach stamping and it worked to some extent but is quite subtle. If you look very closely, you'll spot a script stamp (ESN10 from Paper Artsy) and a Harlequin stamp (C349 from the Artistic Stamper). I also tried the splats from (Messy Art from the Artistic Stamper) but they can be seen a lot better when I stamped them with white paint.
The central stamping in white paint is of a much too detailed stamp from Impression Obsession (Rose impression background-F8867), which hides the best bits of the Harlequin bleaching! Never mind...
I penned my quote in ink and chalked it all up to experience! I am entering the page in the Pan Pastel UK challenge.

So first Brusho lesson: Don't use too much! The small spoon I reserve for embossing powder is definitely too big for the Brushos. You need a light touch with them and I came up with 2 methods that worked for me.
        1. A small brush. Dip the dry brush in the pot and tap the handle to sprinkle the powder on your pre-wetted paper.
        2. Transform each pot into a salt/pepper shaker of sorts. An internet search revealed that some Brushos aficionados pierce holes(s) into their pots to do this but I wasn't prepared to deal with any resulting incidents where a pot, or worse the whole box of pots, would hit the floor ! Brusho on carpet is no laughing matter...
Here's a pic of my impromptu shakers:

If you have pre-teens in the households pinch a few of their loom bands to secure cling film on top of the pots and pierce a few holes with a needle.

My second attempt with my new tools yielded the background below:


 With a lighter touch I obtained this one (the photo is NOT blurry, it's the brushos) :


Finally the last one is the one I chose for the quote page:

This one is made with a lot of black powder, which dissolves into brown and blues on contact with water, my favourite powder of the set because of this effect. I added a dash of purple and a small sprinkling of red.

For all these experiments I used watercolour paper since a lot of water is necessary to get the brushos moving and card isn't good for very wet work.

Enough of my experiments, onto the page itself:
I stamped the girlfriends (CI-284) first on a piece of vellum & masked them before stamping the music score (CI- 309).
I stamped the heart (CI- 342) directly on the page and added white highlights with gel pen.
To isolate the girls further from the colourful background I applied white and black pencils on the back of the stamped vellum.

If you are a lucky owner of Brushos please share your tips in the comments section!

19 comments:

  1. I have gone down the piercing a hole in the top route, as I was warned about the intensity of the powders, will just have to hope I don't drop them... Love your experiments though, I think they look fab.

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  2. I use a wooden coffee stirrer but yes it's amazing how highly pigmented these crystals are. I managed to activate just a couple of crystals that had fallen on my desk and as soon as they got wet they made an almighty mess! There's a link to a video on my blog by the owner of Katzelkraft, BĂ©atrice which is helpful (look for Bistre/Brusho this month).
    I love the effect you have achieved for your page, it works well with the stamps.

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  3. WOW definitely very 60's hippy type tie dye backgrounds. I NEED t-shirts with these designs on as i ADORE the patterns.

    Two beautiful entries, both are amazing. You have got me wondering if you could use a Gelli plate to tone down your gorgeous vibrant first background...

    Sorry, am enjoying your post a lot you have got me enthused & i don't own any brushos yet lol:-) xxx

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  4. The more I read about these Brushos, the more impressed I am with them. I like your idea of the poked hole. I can't begin to imagine how intense these colors must be.

    I have found bleached paper is directly related to the color of the paper itself. Two different black card stocks can bleach differently. One can bleach brownish, the other redish, etc. And the strength of your bleach will have a world of difference, too. The newer, the better. I had NO idea that bleach had a shelf life, but it does.

    Regardless, both of these entries are stunning.

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  5. Wow, stunning backgrounds. I have to get a closer look at these Brushos. They create fab effects. Love your finished page.Just beautiful :)

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  6. Great colourful backgrounds and you look like you had so much fun experimenting! Love your use of the girls stamp with the friendship quote!!

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  7. Aren't Brushos fabulous! Only had mine a short time, and still experimenting. Love your quotes, and I'm also a fan of Crafty Individual stamps.

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  8. Stunning background and the stamped image is wonderful; just perfect for the quote :o))

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  9. Love, love this. Great Brusho experiment. Jean x

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  10. Yep, you understood correctly, i make both our cards. I can't see the reasoning behind OH having to pay out for something expensive. He chooses the colours and tells me what he wants i then have a craft project to do and we both save money. Win, Win lol :-) xxx

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  11. De superbes essais !!!! Bravo Christine !! Et merci pour ce beau partage, moi j'adore quand il y a des râtés.. :D En plus c'est toujours passionnant de voir le processus de création décomposé je trouve. En tout cas tes deux cartes sont superbes, même la première en raison des couleurs (sublimes) et de tes essais de bleach stamping. Bisous, Coco

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  12. Lovely CI stamp - perfect for this challenge - perfect friendship stamp!

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  13. All I can say is WOW! I love the intense color whether or not that was the desired outcome! I will have to look into these Brushos!

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  14. I have never come across brushos. They look like fun. A lovely page.

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    Replies
    1. This way of using brushos is fun but I need to test if I can use them as colorant for gesso, texture paste, mediums etc... which is the really interesting thing as it saves money and space!
      I enjoyed your page, wonderful background and fun photo to illustrate those strange lyrics!

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  15. I like your experiments and tips, sadly I'm not an owner (yet) of brushos.

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  16. Fabulous page! Great background and lovely stamp! I've never used Brushos either but you have done very well with them! xx

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  17. Fabulous backgrounds you have created. I love the serendipity nature of Brushos.

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  18. Wow, these look great. I'm hearing a lot about these but don't have any but xmas is coming so maybe..... Love the colours and that lovely stamp. Hugz

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