TOTW #4: A little Dab'll do ya!

Okay, so now I'm doing acronyms...going to hell in a handbasket...TOTW= Technique of the Week!

As you can tell, there's a lot of animal themes in my work at times...when you don't have kids, this is the closest thing, I guess. I'm going to do a few posts on Ranger's Adirondack(r) Acrylic Paint Dabbers. They are truly the bomb. I've never really been a great painter with the bottles, brushes, the dreaded water jar of brushes, etc., so this is a dream for me.

The paint is similar, but not the same as other Acrylic Paints...there's something special with the formulation that allows it to go through the dabber. Now...what's a dabber? If you push down on a new dabber, you'll feel there's a button thingie...this is the valve that, when depressed, allows the paint to flow, but when not depressed, stops the paint from dripping out all over the place. Coooool, huh!? When using them for the first time, prime the dabbers (a.k.a. get the paint going). Don't hammer....no hammers allowed! When you turn the bottle over, give it a little squeeze and PRESS down...no hammering...think about it-when "hammering" away, all you're doing is making it "open/close/open/close/open/close"...if the dabber had a voice it would be saying, "Make up your mind!?!?!? Do you want the paint to come out or not!?" Since we want the paint to come out, a constant press...and voila!-it'll be on the Craft Sheet in no time and you'll be good to go.

Now, if you've not used the dabbers in a while, do not despair. Sometimes people think they are "dry", but they're not...the paint on the dabber just has to "rewet" again so the foamwill let more paint from the bottle to come through. There are a few ways to do this: keep the dabbers stored upside down, or spritz some water on the Craft Sheet and rub the dabber across the water. As the paint "rejuvenates", when the valve is depressed it will again allow for paint to flow! Be patient, it works! Well, enough of that...check out Ranger's website for more info...there's lotsa good stuff on it!

As for my "Meowy" book, I made this at a Simply Cropping weekend in Absecon last year with Jen Starr and her friends. I had never been to one and she talked me into it. I was at a bit of a loss as to what to bring, so I decided to JUST concentrate on the book and to learn what to do with the dabbers. The chipboard book is from an awesome company, Maya Road. Because I had so much lumpy stuff on each page, I cut off the binding and punched holes into it and used binder rings to keep it together. I made the cover to look like my cat Minnie, my "Holstein" cat. I first dabbed the whole thing with Snow Cap White, then used a paint brush and painted the detail with Pitch Black. The chipboard letters are also from Maya Road. I dabbed them with Brights Raspberry, Sunshine Yellow, Pool and Sunset Orange (for those that don't know the Coordinating Colors, click here!) The diamond pattern is one of Teresa Collins' Foam Stamps she did with Junkitz, but any stamp will work. I stamped in the corresponding Lights colors (Pink Sherbet, Lemonade, Aqua and Peach Bellini). I love the look of this, simple but effective. The color does the talkin'!

The first page of the book was of my Pearly girl. I used Lettuce for the background then did a dry swipe with the coordinating colors (Willow and Citrus), creating a sanded or worn effect.

The dotted circle stamps are from Art Gone Wild and the alphabet from Club Scrap. These are rubber stamps, but look how great they stamped!!! I dab first, then just lightly "swipe" across the stamp to evenly distribute the paint. I don't want to much or it will "mush" the detail of the stamp image.

The nested flowers are again from Maya Road and were painted with various colors of the dabbers (for the teeny weeny flower centers, I held the chipboard with tweezers). When dry, I nested the pieces together and used Glossy Accents as an adhesive...it's the BEST! My trick: use your finger to evenly place a light coat on the back, so when you place it down, it won't squish out from underneath...I guarantee you'll be happy with the results!

I know I'm giving lots of info, but I always think knowledge is power. I want everyone to have a great result with these paints, as I do every time. I love this book and everyone enjoys looking at it (or at least that's what they tell me!). I'll post some more pages tomorrow with additional tips and techniques.

Enjoy the Day...Paint Away!

R.