Journal 52, 2015, Week 3: Conversation Starters

This week at Journal 52, Chelle's prompt was Conversation Starters. For the first time in a VERY long time, the prompt didn't bring anything to mind.  Usually, it doesn't take me long to know what I want to make, because something has sparked the flame.  Not this time, though.

So, I went into my craft room and proceeded to turn on the heater.  Then I did a bit of cleaning up my table, which had become a dumping ground for any and everything, including a letter I got two days ago.

After I segregated everything on my table, I decided to use as many of these disparate scraps as I could.  I also wanted to use some lovely pieces my friend Patty sent me when I won one of her recent giveaways.  Of course, I was also fueled by my commitment to use items I had not used in a long time, or ones I wanted to learn new ways to play with.  So I got out my crayon markers and my soft pastels.

When I did, I realized what I wanted to make.  That's when I put my security envelope away and brought out two of my rubber stamps.  Me! The gal who doesn't like to stamp!

My friend Chris asked the name of this stamp when she saw it in my stamp drawer on Wednesday.  It's by Inkadinkado, but the stamp has no name.  The little sign at the top reads "By Susan Winget."  That's all I can tell you, because there is nothing else on the stamp, but a bar code.  So much for naming stamps, right?

But to prove I've never used it, I turned it over, to show the rubber side.

Now it was time to put all these pieces together and show my completed Conversation Starter.

I began by coloring the background using my red, orange, and yellow pastels.  I cut the heart smaller and used the cut out part as a stencil to add my lavender pigment ink to the circle that looks like it fits on a scientific instrument.   I then used the cut heart as a mask and drew a red crayon marker around the inked heart.   After attaching the circle to the used file folder, I added the cigar band.

I found a use for a colored dictionary definition that had been hanging around since Halloween, and a punched circle I added a few green dots to.  I was trying to find a way to tie in all these different colors.  I loved that the definition was for "craft."

Next came my feeble attempt at stamping and starting the conversation between the two birds.  I KNEW I should have printed this conversation on my computer, because I couldn't get the Zig extra-fine tip pen to write properly, and when I tried to go over my writing, I made it even worse.

In case you can't read it, it's a conversation between the two birds facing each other on the right side of the branch.

Bird 1: Why does she sing?
Bird 2: I think she has a boyfriend.

And of course, the birds were talking about this beauty, who I tried to color a bit using my red crayon marker.  I wasn't sure if I could use these markers on my rubber stamps, and didn't want to mess this beautiful bird up the first time I stamped it.  I added leftover bits and pieces of hand painted or dyed paper, including a piece of heavy plastic-y measuring tape, to which I added a red bead. 

Below that was another colored paper to which I added a real feather and a clear circular facet.  Below that, I placed the cigar band. 

Finally, I added the week number, which I found in my dictionary scrap. In hindsight, I probably should have circled the number so it was easier to read.

The final detail was to punch the three holes in the used file folder so I can add it to my 3-ring binder.

Thanks for looking.  I hope you enjoyed my Conversation Starter as much as I did making it.  Sometimes it's good to clean off your work table!