I spent all morning gardening, and was shattered, but thought I would have another look in the Craft Stamper Magazine to see if something would spark off my mojo and get me enthusiastic again.
There on the front page in the right hand corner something caught my eye. It is on page 54 and 55.
As per usual I have had to improvise - but it cheered me up doing so. The only thing I had on the list were beet mats - real ones - that my friend Kath has sent me to alter. I had already painted them with Gesso to hide the advertising, so I was up and running.
I won't go through all Jo's techniques etc - you can read those for yourselves - but here is my effort.
I didn't have those gorgeous stamps so used a couple which I did have.
I didn't have glimmer mists, so using Ecoline inks I made up a lime green and pretty blue in misters.
I did have raffia - from flower arranging - so used that to wrap around the beer mat.
I didn't have the printed acetate circles that Jo used - so made one myself which was perfect until I glued it onto the mat.
I placed a coffee mug on acetate and drew around it with a pen, then did the squiggly bit free hand. BUT when I glued it down using Tim Holtz clear glue (forgotten the name momentarily), it reacted to the ink and went all messy. In hindsight it would have been better to have the inked side of the circle uppermost!
As Jo was going for the 'grungey' look with hers, I figured the circle could be grungey too. Besides, it had taken so long to do the mat - which I was pleased with, I wasn't in the mood to start again.
I had another go at the next beer mat, and was pleased with how it turned out.
Outside the sky had turned black and the natural light was going, so instead of making four mats, I used these two to make a little shopping list book.
This book does look better in daylight - and the colours are richer than my rushed photos portray
I cut up some scrap photocopy paper I had, a bit more than I had intended, so the book is really chunky now. But I will be tearing pages out as I go.
So what's my verdict on Jo's article.
Well
It is a great technique, fun to do, and one I will definitely be doing again. If I had taken the time to prepare, think of a design, etc my attempt would have been a lot better. And if you have the 'proper' supplies listed - then it will be a doddle!
But - my motive today was just to do something as a distraction - and I am pleased with how it turned out - but I can do very much better if I tried.
Thanks for the inspiration Jo
