What if you Fly Stamped Card with Stenciling

It's reminder time. So here I am. Reminding you.

Go play in the STAMPlorations theme & sketch challenge already! Really - this month is an anything goes theme, so why not? You can use any stamps/products you want to AND you can win cool prizes. Win win win.

For my card this go-round, I didn't want to use the sketch, so I just used the anything goes theme and had a little mixed media play.

It all started after I stared at this background:

Soooooooooooooo pretty, right?!
Just kidding - you don't have to humor me, I know it's gaggingly gross.

This background was made while I was experimenting with Distress Crayons. Let's just say that this particular experiment did NOT impress me - haha.

BUT, much like with all my "ICK" creations, I decided to try gesso on it before I pitched it in the trash bin. 

 

I used the Foiled Again ARTplorations stencil and painted some gesso through it. 

Folks, I'm convinced that gesso was created by the great magicians of lore because it can fix ANYTHING.  All of the sudden, this background that gave my eyeballs a good coating of bile suddenly looked a teensy bit appealing!

I still wasn't super happy with it though, so I took a Distress Marker and started outlining some of the shapes.  The outlines seemed a little bit to harsh and clean, so I used a wet paint brush to pull some of the color into the centers of the shape and muddy down the edges a bit. 

Once the background was dry, I stamped over it using a script from the Mixed Media Elements stamp set and sponged the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I then embossed feathers from the Trendy Feathers 2 set and used the same Distress Marker to add spot color. I stamped a sentiment from the Strong Women stamp set and used a Spellbinders die cut with some faux hand-drawn stitching as a focal panel. 

I tied the look (literally) together with some teal twine and a vintage gemstone from an old earring. 

If a starting off point helps, use our sketch to give you some inspiration. Otherwise link up ANYTHING this month for you chance to win at STAMPlorations. 

So the next time you're making something and just don't quite like it - GESSO to the rescue! 

I'm also going to link this creation up to:
Craft Stamper Magazine - Anything Goes 
The colors of my creation were inspired by ColourQ
Try it on Tuesday - Spots Dots & Dashes
 

Thanks for flying by! Hope you liked my creation today!