Author: Scraps

Imagine That: Wisteria Art Journal

In The Studio

This is going to be a busy week for Imagine over here, as I have my next project–a Wisteria-themed art journal page–going live today and we’ve got a blog hop coming up on Wednesday and Thursday you’ll want to come back for!

Wisteria is one of my favorite flowers and, this year, when they bloomed in the back yard I plucked a single cluster and pressed it in the pages of my art journal. After a couple of weeks, the little flowers were completely dry and I ready to be used for… something!

Head on over to the Imagine blog to see how this page came to be!

Imagine That – Behind the Garden Wall

In The Studio

For my next project for Imagine I decided to see how VersaFine Clair did with a gel plate and create a monoprint.

You never know exactly what’s going to happen with gel prints–I had one idea in mind and, per the usual, ended up somewhere rather different. But, once again, I don’t mind!

Instead of one monoprint, I technically created two, then layered them after chopping a hole in the first one to show this little bunny (a chipboard piece I’d used as a mask and then incorporated into the final piece) behind/through the brick wall.

As far as the VersaFine Clair, well, it did wonderfully on the gel plate. It gave an interesting, almost textural coverage on the paper and the natural translucency of the ink is definitely an asset when doing a multi-layer print.

To see just how this composition came to be, hop on over to the Imagine blog!

Imagine That: A Tale of Two Backgrounds

In The Studio

Y’all know I’m always up for happy accidents and long ago gave up the idea that things must turn out like I pictured in order to be acceptable. My next project for Imagine falls squarely in that category.

I started out with the idea of doing a marbled background and, well, maybe one of them is pretty close, but the other turned out more like a camo pattern and, hey, I don’t hate it.

In fact, it was a really cool example (I think) of not just happy accidents but how you can do the same things with the same materials and end up with two totally different results.

And I used both backgrounds to make very different cards–one with a more feminine slant and the other more masculine. And I love when I come across techniques that are this versatile.

So head over to the Imagine blog and check out how I came up with these two backgrounds at once and see if it doesn’t spark some happy accidents of your own!

Imagine That: “Painting with VersaFine Clair”

In The Studio

My love affair with VersaFine Clair continues!

This time I decided to see what the ink could do outside of (or in addition to, I should say) your basic stamping.

I’d had some experience using it with Fantastix while at Creativation and I loved the dry-brush effect it gave. But what about making it more fluid?

Since VersaFine Clair is an oil-based ink, diluting with water wasn’t going to yield the results I was looking for. To see exactly how I solved this dilemma and created the scene above, check out the video over on the Imagine Blog!

My New Favorite Thing: Gose (Rhymes with Rosa…)

Sips, Tuesday Revews-Day

It’s been a while since I’ve done a bevvies post, but that’s about to change: I have a new favorite thing and I just have to share about it!

It all started with a trip to Thomasville’s new watering hole: Hubs and Hops in the old Bacchus location on W Jackson…

Where I and my companion each ordered tasting flights…

Now I’ve become quite the fan of the tasting flights at Sweet Grass Dairy and have been broadening my craft beer horizons over the last several months to very pleasant results. I’ve learned that I’ll love anything that’s a Nitro; that my preferences are still all over the place as I adore both the lighter, fruitier beers as well as the heavier stouts; and that craft beers don’t give me the headache I usually get after a beer or two from the more traditional offerings. Go figure, right?

But there was something on Hubs and Hops’ menu that I was curious about, as were my companions, so we decided to order a pint of the Gose for the table…

The server was a little fuzzy on just what a gose was, so we ended up looking it up: it’s a sour beer of German origin that’s a little lemony and salty. I adored it! (So it was no hardship when my tablemates took a hard pass on it!)

A couple weeks later we were at AJ Moonspin and low and behold they had a gose on tap as well, so I had to give it another go to see if it was the three mini-beers I’d had prior that were confusing my taste buds or not.

Nope! I still loved it! So much so that I went hunting for it at Three Oaks Liquor this weekend to get some for home and–after confusing the first guy at the counter when I asked if they carried it–another guy was super helpful and pointed out the four brands they carried and which one seemed to get the highest marks (Westbrook Brewing Co), though I plan to go back and grab a couple others when I finish these.

Basically, it’s what I thought a Shandy would taste like back when I was introduced to them 4 years ago and ended up disappointed at the overall lack of flavor. (And when I said that to the liquor store gent he was like, oh, you really do like the sour… yup!)

Apparently the sour comes mainly from coriander and the salt–while usually added in the modern brews–goes back to the original brew however many centuries ago in Germany where there was a considerable amount of salt deposits in the ground, and therefore the groundwater was a smidgen on the salty side so the resulting beer was as well. The style died out somewhere between WWI and WWII, was revived mid-centuryish and faded back again, only to be revisted again during the current craft beer trend.

I don’t know how long gose will stay readily available, I can certainly understand that many would not cotton to it, but I’ll be happily consuming it while it lasts! If you like sour and salty, definitely seek some out and give it a go. Let me know what you think, too, I’m always curious!