Create with your own imagination... (by Corinne, GDT this month)

Hi Everyone and happy Wednesday!

I'm glad to guest design this month for Rubber Dance, as I have been invited to do it by Bibi after my last win, thank you again very much to all of you. Today, I'm going to share how I created the booklet you saw at the beginning of the month and its content, I hope you will enjoy this blog post, I'm thrilled to offer you a complete tutorial of it. 

In case some of you don't know me, here just a few words to start :)
I am 
Corinne Rollet aka Coco(folies) on craftyblogland, living in France in a small village of Brittany. I'm a more than happy mixed media crafter (full-timeyippeeeee), teaching classes and workshops in my local area mainly. This is the way of life I chose two years ago...  quitting my regular job (well-paid, but very boring :-D) to live my passion. I love sharing my techniques and meeting other crafty ladies. 
I have been also a proud designer for Crafty Individuals rubberstamps brand for several years now, and in the past a proud designer for Tando Creative and Katzelkraft too. 
I'm also the wife of a very patient man lol, and a mum of 5, from 27 to 10(x2) who make me really mad! But this is another story :) 😄

Just before the holidays, I was lucky enough to receive several new wonderful stamps from the shop, to guest design with them. And wow, I LOVED them all, so really wanted to feature them at the best!!
But time was missing to think deeply about what to do with them at first... So when preparing my survival craft kit lol before taking the road, I took with me only these precious stamps plus my watercolours paints as I wanted to practice a bit with them, brushes, a small tube of Gesso, a few stencils, some good oldies like black and brown archival inks fitting with everything and my precision scissors, and of course smooth quality watercolor paper. I had no plans, just wanted to have a bit of fun creating instinctively with my stuff, and trying to use some elements found into the places I would visit.

Here my make, a booklet totally made from scratch during my hols. Created with only very basic envelopes, watercolours, and bits and bobs found during my walks or visits. I hope you you will love it as much as me, and as the stamps deserve. 
Enjoy my tutorial!


On the cover: Merry Magpie and a few stamps from Textured Flowers.

Here's how it started


After climbing a vulcano, I bought a set of four beautifully illustrated animal postcards, in black and white. Decided it would be my starting point, Eureka!! :D



I took out four envelopes from a pack of simple envelopes.
I adhered to one another but taking the care to leave the openings, to insert some of the original postcards or future treasures maybe.

I stamped with my Archival inks (Potting Soil, Jet Black) the lovely Mama Owl and super cute Handsome Hedgehog on my watercolour paper and fussy cut them out. Then I had a lovely time watercoloring them in natural tones (blues, brown/red and grey mainly). 
At this stage, I had no precise idea of what to do with all that.
   

Looking at the postcards, printed on heavy glossy paper... 
I tried to watercolor them a bit; I was quite happy with the result, the colours looked bright and the paper resisted to the water! 
Therefore I decided to integrate my stamped animals with the ones sketched, thinking it could end up with a beautiful association. And that is indeed :-)

So I simply - very quickly - colored all the postcard images chosen to become the backgrounds with my watercolor paints (with the help of a few pencils too), just a little. If you try this too, be careful, don't insist too much to not damage the paper as such glossy paper supports a bit of water sometimes but not too much!

Here the result for one of my postcards 😊


Next step, I applyed Gesso over parts of a TH stencil... 


Once dry, I played with some blue paint watered down, as you can see below.


... and with orange, grey and black shades - sometimes with dripping - on the following pages. I must confess that I have been widely inspired by the combo of colours chosen this month for the October challenge, and also the one coming soon haha! 😍


After the appropriate drying time it was easy to decorate my envelopes with just a few strips of washi tapes and my four postcards. I chose to either directly glue them or slide them inside the openings, as it can be seen thereafter. 


The little dotted circles on the right page are from Textured Houses.



Next spread and postcard, featuring big mushrooms that I love!! 


My letters forming my 'Collect this' and some leaves or branch die-cuts added for further interest and a bit of dimension come from my stuff. To tell the truth, I found them only when back home :) Just watercolored them a bit as needed using the same paints than for the booklet, and glued them here or there for a beautiful finishing touch! 😄




Here the two next pages and postcards...
 





This last postcard was glued in place.


Look! Isn't Mama Owl wonderful, so full of life in these colours?... :)


Below, you can see the process for the cover. I used some scraps and free samples of watercolor papers to do it!




Finally, to decorate it, Merry Magpie was the perfect stamps set to me!! To go with it, chose two real feathers found during my walks and a beautiful doily bought in the village of the Puy en Velay. This French village has been well know for ages for its exquisite laces and doilies, don't hesitate to visit it if you can, it is a wonderful place, very inspiring too!

 


And there we are, all done. I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial, this is the most fun and cute little book I've ever made. It just shows that you don't always have to buy a lot of expensive stuff... Just beautiful stamps like the ones I used, a few pencils or paints, and that's all you need, really. 

I'd love sharing and entering my booklet and tutorial into the Mini Albums Makers challenge, and also if i'm allowed to do it, into
Craft Stamper Challenge: Anything Goes.


Have a creative month with Rubber Dance, and don't forget the coming challenge in two days... you will see that my make today suits well the theme! :)

Thank you very much for looking today! xxx

Rubber Dance Stamps
Merry Magpie
Mama Owl 
Funny Fungi 
Handsome Hedgehog
Textured Flowers
Textured Houses

Comments

Crafty Claire said…
Wow what a stunning project! Beautiful colours and textures xxx
nefertiti said…
Really gorgeous project!!!!All is fabulous!.
Great work !!!!
Hugs
Sylvie
Craftyfield said…
I'll have to come back when I have more time but so far... Wow! Fantastic project, fantastic ideas and perfect execution!
Marjeta said…
Simply stunning. Combination post cards and images rocks. Love your color combo and teksture you added.

Marjeta
Bibi Lindahl said…
WOW!!! This is fantastic, Coco!! Love how you've used our challenge colours, and the stamps combined with the postcards tured out really nice! The envelopes are such a fun idea. There are so many lovely details here, I will be going back and forth looking at the photos over and over again. Thank you SO MUCH for making this stunning project and tut for us! ♥ ♥ ♥

PS: Glad to hear you get to work with your passion full-time! Sometimes we just have to take the leap and live our dreams ...
M@miogée said…
C'est magnifique !
Oh Coco, your booklet is so beautiful! The combination With the stamps and postcards was a brilliant idea. Thank you so much for the tutoria!
It was very nice to read a little about you too. Always nice to get to know each other a little better. I especially liked the fact that you have cut off a dull job and instead have gone for the dream.
I wish you a wonderful and creative weekend.
Hugs, Anita xx
Susanne Rose said…
AMAZING work Corinne! I adore this mini book and I am totally inspired to make my own. Thank you so much for this tutorial. I love it!
Ink Art Designs said…
Wow Corinne - this is an ingenious idea! It really is amazing what you have made with the bare minimum and a few great stamps. Great tutorial too.
Dot x
So, so beautiful, Coco - you can really tell how much this was a labour of love during your holiday - and infused with holiday relaxation and beauty and playfulness. I love the colour palette, and wonderful combinations of images - the postcards and the stamps play so nicely together!
Alison x
And thank you so much for sharing it with us at the Mini Album Makers Challenge!
Ax
Lynda said…
Fabulous design! How did you attach the cover to the envelopes? TFS!
What a beatiful art journal. The images you chose and paired with the watercolors are gorgeous. Thanks for joining the challenge at Mini Album Makers blog.
SewPaperPaint said…
What a splendid work of art from humble envelopes! Your color palette, stencil work, ephemera and stamped images are in perfect harmony. I love the very natural vibe these doodle stamps have taken on in your album. We are thrilled that you shared the details and joined our challenge at Mini Album Makers! So glad you found the time. Hugs, Autumn
Redanne said…
This is such a wonderful way to use envelopes Coco - and also all those bits and bobs you had too! Your colour choices are beautiful and I love the front cover! Thanks so much for joining in with us this month at Mini Album Makers.. Anne xx
Cocofolies said…
A big and warm THANK YOU to you all, thank you SO MUCH for so many lovely comments!!! I had so much joy creating this, watercoloring quietly and carefully all the images with love, loving them all really equally, and finally assembling everything in a way that looked good for me and full of sense.
It was a pleasure to be with you for a month Bibi ♥
Also with you ladies in the team! :) ♥
xxxx
Cocofolies said…
You're welcome Alison! I didn't forget the challenge, but I wasn't sure at first that I was allowed to enter into it as it was GDT post... Thank you for telling me, just after I took the decision to share this booklet with you all at the Mini Album Makers Challenge without asking the permission to Bibi... Thinking it is good for Rubberdance too anyway :) Xx
Cocofolies said…
Merci Mamiogée !!! ♥
Cocofolies said…
Hi Linda. At first, thank you very much!!
In answer to your question, I just adhered with matte gel medium the watercolored panel (the one you can see at the end, I cut it very approximately to the size of a standard envelope, but with open spaces to see part of the envelope beneath) to the top of my envelopes booklet. That's all! The result is still perfect, no worries about that way of glueing papers. But you could also use any other white or transparent glue xx
Cocofolies said…
Thank you dear Bibi, so happy if you like my make for you, featuring some of the gorgeous stamps received!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
It was to my great pleasure. I'm very busy at the moment, but of course, would not have forgotten my promise to do my best and this true GDT commitment. I will play as much as I can with your stamps in the future as I love them, and on the blog too :) xxx
xxx
mamypassion said…
c'est magnifique Coco, j'adore beau boulot, et félicitations
bisous marie-claude
Fliss said…
Wow! A totally amazing creation Coco! So much detail in there and the bird theme is so lovely. Beautifully coloured too.
Fliss x
Oh my word Coco, I’m just blown away by your creation, the colours,details,composition.....everything!! It’s a real pleasure to have you here too :)
Hugs
Donna xx
Bibi Lindahl said…
You were thinking right ;-) Thanks for sharing! xx
Cocofolies said…
Thank you so much again to you too, Fliss and Donna!
I wish you a lovely weekend, creative and crafty as much as possible!! :-)
Hugs to you all Coco xx
Jackie PN said…
Absolutely GORGEOUS! artwork! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Jackie xx
OMG!! Super gorgeous and stunning booklet, Coco!! I love every bit of it!! I would have love to see it in person :)
Lys said…
Je découvre enfin ce bel album! J'aime ta créativité et ta démonstration qu'on peut faire des merveilles avec des matériaux très simples. Une belle ode à la nature avec de magnifiques tampons et une mise en scène épatante!
Cocofolies said…
Thank you Jackie!! I'm so happy you love it too, thanks again! xx
Cocofolies said…
Thank you my dear Shilpa!!! Would love showing you this booklet in person too if we were nearer! :) <3
Cocofolies said…
Merci Lys!!!
Super gentil ce petit mot, je savais bien qu'il te plairait cet album... :) Bises
ionabunny said…
This is gorgeous. So many fun and beautiful details. I love how you combined the postcards and stamps. Hugz
Gloria Stengel said…
Stunning water coloring, and great mixed media techniques. This is an awesome journal! Thanks for sharing with us at Mini Album Makers Challenge Blog!
Sue said…
Wow, what can I say Coco! What an amazing project. The way you've combined the postcards with the stamping is perfect. I'm truely blown away by this xx
Inna Bronnikova said…
A wonderful way to use envelopes! Stunning work! Thank you so much for playing along at Mini Album Makers.

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