A few years ago, my favorite art form was dollmaking. I’ve always loved dolls and being able to design my own dolls was so much fun for me that I created a line of my own art doll patterns. I taught classes for doll clubs and various stores, and was one of the first online dollmaking teachers – even before digital cameras and online video. I know, it sounds like the dark ages. 😉
I loved teaching, but my students were always so unsure about making faces that they liked for their dolls. That’s when Fun Faces Rubber Stamps came into existence. It’s funny how necessity is truly the mother of invention. I’d tried and tried to find existing rubber stamps that could work for my dolls, but nothing really worked. I even tried to get other designers to create what I was looking for, but that didn’t happen either. One day after complaining loud and long about my continual disappointments, someone asked, “Why in the world don’t you just make your own stamps?” That’s when I smacked my own forehead and got to work finding a company that would make MY images as stamps and Fun Faces Rubber Stamps were born.
All these years later, I’ve used Fun Faces Rubber Stamps on fabric, paper, clay and anything else that is “stampable”! During this episode of Drama-free Friday LIVE, I decided to revisit some postcards that I created several years ago. (You’ll see them as you scroll down the page.)
The process I used for the notecards started with watercolor paper and diluted acrylic paint for the backgrounds. While that dried, I scraped a coat of Gesso followed by Light Pink Acrylic Paint over a sheet of text paper. From the painted text paper, I cut out all the flesh colored shapes. For the clothing, hair, shoes and hats and accessories, I used scraps of my handmade papers and fabrics. (This is exactly why I can’t bring myself to throw away my scraps. You never know when I might NEED them! 🙂)
I stamped the faces very lightly with Archival Sienna or Sepia ink which is permanent when dry. Each face is detailed with Pigma Pens and Prismacolor Pencils. I added a few fibers as hair for one of the faces as well as a hat complete with a hat band and paper feather. I get lost in my own little world when I begin creating these little gals! Earrings are easy to make with a simple star-shaped hole punch. All other details are added with Gelly Roll gel pens.
The girls are assembled on the watercolor backgrounds with my old standby Aleene’s Tacky Glue. Pen borders and doodles complete the card fronts. To attach them to a Pre-Folded Card Base, I prefer Scor Tape because the sturdy watercolor paper needs a little extra holding power.
If you’d like to have a set of Fun Faces Rubber Stamps, don’t wait! We are in the very final quantities of these stamps.
Notecards made during Drama-free Friday LIVE
4″ x 6″ Postcards
Join me every Drama-free Friday at 2pm Eastern. I love to chat with you as we create something fun. Feel free to tweet photos of what you've been creating @BarbOwenDesigns. I love to share your creativity with my followers.
Until next time ~
Remember to Get Creative today! It's Easy!!
Barb
