Nature ATC

ccswaps has an upcoming "Nature" themed ATC swap. Wanted a background similar to the one I did with Brayered Gesso Resist Backgrounds, but on a smaller scale. Started with very dark green matte card stock, placed under portion of stencil wanted to use and lightly sponged on white gesso. Helps to get most of the gesso off the sponge before sponging onto the stencil covered stencil (remember to wash stencil immediately). Let dry.
Instead of using a brayer, I used DTP (direct to paper) with a small rainbow pad and rubbed in the inks with my finger. I choose pink, as spring will soon be here and we are starting to see lots of pink buds in the gardens.

Wanted to create a "mystical garden fairy" over my piece. (I confess, I love the bit with the fairies painting the seasons in Disney's Fantasia) Inked up the pieces with VersaMark ink and covered with Opals Franklin (similar to UTEE) and melted in a craft only electric fry pan. Added two more layers of Opals.

While the Opals were still hot/melted, inked my stamp with VersaMark ink and firmly pressed into the melted opals. When the Opals hardened/cooled removed the stamp and colored the raised areas with silver Encore! ink. Seems "mystical" to me.

Layered the piece on silver paper and added a small silver dragonfly in the corner.