Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella

Hello everyone. It's Bonnie Irvine here today with the U pages in my altered dictionary. The poor thing is getting so thick, I'll soon need a bungee cord to keep it closed! I started the two page spread by gessoing the pages I wanted, keeping the word and definition gesso-free. The two pages were adhered to the adjacent pages with Matte Medium to give them strength so they could better hold up to wet media. Next I took my water brush and watercolour palette and applied some greens, oranges, and blues to the background.

Mowed Lawn Distress ink was applied through the Dylusions Diamond of a Border stencil to frame the bottom and sides of the spread and provide an outline for the images. I chose this stencil because the shapes in the border look like umbrellas to me. Doodling with a black pen above and below the stencilling emphasized the curvy shape. Lime, Tangerine, and Metallic Blueberry gelato were placed next to the inside black line and blended with a dry finger.

The drips at the top and the raindrops were created by applying Salty Ocean Distress ink through another stencil and then outlining them with black pen. Using TCW's Well Rounded stencil, gesso was applied through one of the patterns. Rocket Red Gold ink was applied through another pattern from the same stencil. Memento Peanut Brittle ink was sponged through TH Burlap layering stencil and some text stamping was done with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink.

The sweet little girl is a Mo Manning image, coloured with Prismacolor pencils, fussy cut with a narrow white border and again with a narrow black border. She was popped up on foam tape for dimension.The words to an old Bing Crosby song my mom used to sing were penned in around the frame line repeatedly. The other sentiments were computer generated and matted with black cardstock to give them more visual weight. The two umbrellas were cut freehand from old book text and given a smear of white gesso to fade the printed words. Doodling with black pen, edging with Black Soot Distress ink, and toothpick handles finished them off.

One of the finishing touches on the page was to colour in the outside edges with Black Big Brush pen and add white dots. This keeps the eye inside the pages where before it wanted to drift off. Black gesso was slightly watered down and rings were created by dipping a bottle lid into the gesso before twisting it onto the page. The letter U, a Random Alpha Part letter, was adhered to the top left corner of the spread and black spatter dots were added with a TH stamp and Jet Black Archival ink.

Thanks for stopping by the eclectic Paperie blog today. We always appreciate your fine company and kind comments. I hope you find a little time to play and get inky soon.

Bonnie

Here are links to the products I used from the eP store:

Distress Ink Pad - Mowed Lawn	Distress Ink Pad - Salty Ocean	Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Metallic Colors
Faber Castell - Gelatos - Green Colors	Faber Castell - Gelatos - Yellow Colors	Dylusions Stencil 5x8" - Diamond of a Border	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Burlap
TCW - 6x6 Well Rounded Stencil	Tsukineko - Memento Dew Drop Bamboo Leaves	Tsukineko - Memento Dew Drop Peanut Brittle	Liquitex Acrylic Gesso
Claudine Hellmuth Studio - Black Gesso	Faber Castell - Big Brush Pen - Black	Findings - Alpha Parts, Ransom