E-Team Special Mission: Be Thankful!

Happy Friday, and welcome to the latest eclectic Paperie E-Team Blog Hop! This time, our theme is "Be Thankful," and our mission is to make anything BUT a card! 

I decided to create a Gratitude Journal, using a Maya Road binder and Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints. I even (gulp!) did a little drawing, which scares the bejeebers out of me but ended up being kind of fun, even if my Grateful Girl does look like a slightly misshapen refugee from The Archies! 

As with every E-Team Blog Hop, the always generous Daisy from eclectic Paperie has great some prizes up for grabs, and to be eligible to win, all you need to do is leave a comment at each artist's blog. You have from today through this Sunday, October 16 to make the rounds. Daisy will randomly choose three winners from among all the comments, and each will receive $20 eclectic Paperie Gift Voucher! Woot!

Remember to visit the eclectic Paperie blog and leave a comment there, too. Daisy will give away a very awesome box full of eP goodies like paper, embellishments, stamps… and more!

All winners will be announced on the eclectic Paperie blog on Monday, October 17.

The eclectic Paperie E-Team is:

Daisy Sparks, our Fearless Leader

Broni Holcombe

Linda Duke 

Linda Ledbetter (That's me!)

Sherry Cheever

Starla Nelson

(Our co-conspirators, Latrice Murphy and Micki Harper, are sitting this one out, but please stop by their blogs to see all the other wonderful things they've been up to!)

Recipe for a Gratitude Journal:

Ingredients:

• Maya Road 5 x 5" Chipboard Binder
• Ranger Nonstick Craft Mat
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio White Gesso
• Soft Pencil and eraser
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints: Modern Red, Sable Brown, Traditional Tan, Painterly Pink, Smidge of Blue, Dash of Red, Purple Palette, Landscape Green, Altered Orange, Sky Blue, Charcoal Black
• Bubble Wrap and Baby Wipes (to apply paint)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Alpha Parts: Ransom
• Ranger Adirondack Paint Dabbers: Red Pepper, Copper
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments, Regal (crown)
• Pitt Artist Pen (Black)
• Ranger Inkssentials Opaque White Pen
• Paper Flowers

Recipe:
1. Begin by applying a quick coat of Claudine Hellmuth Studio White Gesso to the chipboard binder. The gesso will assure that the paint color stays true, and help it adhere better to the chipboard.

2. Using a soft graphite pencil, sketch a happy, grateful little face right onto the gesso. Don't worry-- you can erase and start over as many times as you need to (I did, like forty million times...). Don't stress over this! Just make a smiley cartoon if you're a lousy drawer like me!

3. Mix your skin tone. I used more or less equal parts of Studio Traditional Tan and Painterly Pink for my girl. If you're looking for a deeper tone, start with this base combo, then stir in Sable Brown until you get the color you want. Studio Paints blend together beautifully, in fact, you can download a mixing chart from Claudine's website.

4. Fill in the face and neck area using a small paintbrush. Another cool feature of the Studio paints is their translucent property. You'll be able to see your pencil sketch through the paint, so you can easily ink it in later.

5. Paint her hair and blouse. I used Sable Brown for the hair, and Modern Red for the clothing. A fine detail brush makes this an easy task. Again, if you're not a painter, don't sweat it. Just have fun, relax, and loosed the death grip on the paintbrush. ;-)

6. Choose or mix a background color and apply it with a large, flat paintbrush. I wanted a royal purple, so I goofed around with a combination of Smidge of Blue, Dash of Red and Purple Palette until I had the tone I was looking for. Paint carefully around your Grateful Girl, but don't worry if you overlap the colors a bit. We're going to outline her later, anyway!

7. Here's where it gets random and fun. Smear some paint onto your nonstick craft sheet and use miscellaneous household objects to stamp the color onto your journal. I used bubble wrap and wadded up baby wipes to apply Landscape Green, Altered Orange and Sky Blue colors. You could also use actual stamps for this step! Finally, dry brush Charcoal Black paint around the edges of the journal. This easy border makes such a huge difference in how the finished piece looks!

8. Gently twist the letters off the Alpha Parts set, then use scissors to trim the connector away if necessary. Paint the letters with Red Pepper Adirondack Dabber, allow them the dry, then paint over this with a Copper Adirondack Dabber.

9. Use a black, fine-point Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen to ink the face, following the faint pencil lines beneath the paint. These pens will work right on top of paint without smearing it. Use an opaque white pen to add details to the clothing, and a tiny paintbrush to give her some lipstick. Lastly, glue a little paper flower into her hair.

10. Now, add your finishing touches. Your letters should be dry, so glue them on, then add any additional bling you wish! I used more paper flowers and a little Idea-ology crown.


Thanks so much for hopping on by, and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Hugs,
Linda