Ta Da I Tried It Thursday!...

... Today is my first Ta Da Thursday. I decided I would share & demo all of my messes  projects that I do on a regular basis.  I have tried a lot of quick projects & recipes because of Pinterest.  (You can click on the word Pinterest to view & follow my boards) I can't promise I will do this every Thursday but I will "try". :)

I am working on 2 mixed media/collage projects for 2 friends.  I might share these projects at a later date.  I don't do a lot of mixed media/collage but I love it. I had forgotten how it sets you free & really turns the light on in your right brain, your creativity really gets turned up a notch.  Because I don't do a lot of mixed media or journaling I don't have a lot of stamps.  So this week I tried the Styrofoam Faux Lino Carving I had in my Crafty Cravings Board.  After a great supper of take-out Chinese Chicken & Eggplant from our local favorite, I cut out & washed the lid of my Styrofoam container.  BTW I hate eating food that have been in those containers, I always take it out of those before I store it in the frig. I used to wish they would use paper cartons, now forget about it, gimme that Styrofoam.   Here is the "Pin" that was the inspiration for me to try it...

I drew a little portrait. You can see I messed up on her eyes. This taught me that there are no do-overs on this foam. If you want a clean cut, then I suggest you draw your image on thin paper & trace onto the foam. If it isn't deep that's ok you can always go over it & make it deeper. Obviously  I didn't take care to wash the stamp between colors, just went crazy stamping. 

You can see  by the print in the upper left corner in pink how you can paint only a portion of the stamp, even get fancy and add several colors. (those eyes! haha) Humm... if I took my time, a new world of possibilities... 

After printing this, honestly I dug through the garbage to get my son's carton to try writing on it. Thankfully it wasn't buried or I'd be calling in another order! haha  I knew it would print backwards but does anyone really read the printing anyway? Next time I will slant my writing to the left so that it will print out slanted to the right more like the stamps that you purchase. 

I didn't use ink. I used acrylic paint (Americana craft paint) for this experiment & old Bristol vellum coated paper that I used for charcoals.  I think you would definitely get a smoother print with ink & different papers. The acrylic paint picks up the grainy texture of the Styrofoam so most likely it would with ink as well...

So all in all I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I didn't feel like it was a waste of time to try it. It's definitely easier to carve than lino.  Also I think in a pinch that Styrofoam could work nicely as a quick stencil as well if you pressed the foam to flatten it out.  I plan to make some stamps for mixed media, journaling or collage with Styrofoam... Hum... a good excuse to eat out. I need another doggie bag!

If you try this I'd love to see it!  Is there something new you have tried lately? 

Create a Great Day!