Summer Coneflower

Hi there!

I simply LOVE this Aall & Create “Roadway Vistas” die set and have been playing around with mixed media on the main panel.

First of all, I glued on some old paper snippets, then dry brushed over them with white gesso. Next I brushed on various Distress Inks, followed by scraping modelling paste through a dotty stencil. I added more ink once the modelling paste was dry. Flicked some watered down orange and buff titanium acrylic paint splatters on.

Then it was a question of deciding how to embellish the lumpy, bumpy surface! So I found some printed PaperArtsy tissue paper and wetted round the edge of some text, pulled it out of the sheet and glued to the panel. I stamped, coloured and cut out the PaperArtsy coneflower so I could glue it on. Finally I added a little shading and grounded the flower. Added the whole thing to a 5” x 7” Kraft card.

5x7 sized Kraft card

Details:

• Aall & Create “Roadway Vistas” die set
• PaperArtsy tissue paper
• PaperArtsy “Coneflowers Edition” stamp set EAB49 
• Distress Inks; Inktense pencils; modelling paste through dotty stencil; Sakura Brush pen to ground flower with; shading done with a Stabilo All pencil and a water brush.
• Snippet strips of paper used as a first layer on the substrate - although you can barely see them unless you look up close at the panel IRL!!!

Taking this card over to the WE LOVE STAMPING July Challenge where the theme is SUMMERTIME. As coneflowers are summer flowers, it fits the bill.

Something a little different . . .

Hi there!

Today I have a couple of things to share with you.

First, I made an art journal page having watched THIS VIDEO:

Double page spread in my Dylusions A4 sized art journal.

Then I used the same method to make a card, by shortening the length of the figure so it would fit!

5 x 7 card

Card Details:

• Various acrylic paints were randomly applied to the 300gsm white card in different layers and some were wiped off through stencils.
• Once the paints were dry, I stamped all sorts of grungy stamps over the pages using VFC Nocturne ink.
• While the ink was drying, I drew a figure on a piece of cardboard packaging and cut it out. Once the ink was dry, the mask was placed on the painted & stamped surface facing to the left while I added white paint around it. The mask was flipped over to face the other way while I added more white paint around it!
• Once the white paint was dry, I outlined the figures with a white gel pen, just to tidy them up.
• I ran a gold calligraphy pen around the edges of the main panel before gluing it to the card front.

Both card making AND art journaling make me happy, not to mention all that stamping and getting messy with acrylic paints in the process . . . so, I'm running along to the current ALLSORTS CHALLENGE 825 to join in with their WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY theme (entering just the journal spread).

Autumnal ATC

Here's an autumnal ATC I made last night so I could join in with Week 797 of the ALLSORTS CHALLENGE where they want to see you using Autumn Colours (or you can choose the Anything Goes option).

Artist Trading Card measuring 2.5" x 3.5"

Card Info:

• Magazine snippet glued to piece of packaging measuring 2 3/8" x 3 3/8".
• Using my finger I applied orange and blue acrylic paint to the magazine paper, mixing those colours in places to create green.
• Once the paints were dry, I stamped over the top with various stamps by PaperArtsy; Kaisercraft and IndigoBlu using black Ranger Archival ink.
• I rubbed some white gesso over the top so that the leaves would stand out from the background.
• A white snippet of card was used to die cut the stem using the "Hidden Leaves" set by Sizzix. It was smeared with paints left over on my non-stick craft sheet from creating the background. 
• Black splatters were stamped on the die cut stem using a stamp from SU's "Gorgeous Grunge" set (discontinued) and black archival ink. 
• Shadows were created by using a black Stabilo All pencil and a waterbrush..
• Finally I stamped the  word "Flourish" onto a white snippet, cut it out with scissors and glued it on. The word is from Aall & Create's stamp set #628 "Spread a Little Happiness".
• Then everything was glued onto a white snippet of 300gsm card measuring 2.5" x 3.5" for the correct ATC size.

Autumn Leaves for Allsorts!

Hi Friends!

I have an autumnal card for you today, just right for adding to the ALLSORTS CHALLENGE (#748) this week!

A6 sized card

The above card started out like this:

Home made texture paste added!

. . .  because I was messing about with some texture/modelling paste I made with talc, PVA glue and white acrylic paint (although you could add ANY colour of acrylic paint to the talc and glue)! Anyway, I scraped the homemade paste* through a pretty stencil and left it to dry.

Next, I added a variety of Distress Oxide inks, which was NOT very successful colour-wise. So I got a baby wipe out in a vain attempt to mop up some of the mess, but a happy accident occurred and I liked what the baby wipe did to the overall colour.  Then I sprayed some water onto the card front so that the Oxides reacted with it! Once dry I stamped some splatters over the top. See below:

Distress Oxides, baby wipe &
water + some ink splatters!

Wondered what to do with the card front after that - but as luck would have it, I'd used some autumnal colours on a recent gel print, so I die-cut some leaves from it, plus a branch for the leaves to hang from and glued them on. I also added the word "moments" using first, second and third generation stamping.

Die cuts and words added.

However, the leaves looked a bit lost on the card front . . . so, to remedy that, I decided to add a brown shadow using the same Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink I'd used for the words. The shadows really help the leaves to pop. Success!

Finished result (with the shadow added).

Unless you're a card maker, you would never know how much work went into this would you?!

Please take a look at my lovely blogpal VAL'S leafy card for another idea on using these dies.

*There are a number of YT videos on making your own paste, but I most liked Chrissie Stokes's version. However, I didn't measure anything, I just put a dollop of glue and some acrylic paint into a pot and added talc until I was happy with the consistency!!! I kept the remaining paste in a small jar that would otherwise have gone out into my recycling bin! Making your own paste is WAY cheaper than buying it already done for you and is LOADS of fun. Plus it smells nice and so will your craft room afterwards!

Sunday Snippets

Hello Playmates

I've a really grungy layered ATC to share with you today!

ATC measuring 2½" x 3½"

The snippets I picked out to use.

I used the gelli print flower and one of the purple pieces shown in the above photo, plus a couple of white snippets that aren’t pictured.

I cut one of the purple snippets so that it was slightly larger than the 2¼" x 3¼" white snippet that I used for all the stamping  and stencilling. Another white snippet measuring 2½" x 3½" was used for the ATC base.

Materials:

• Distress Oxide inks in Speckled Egg and Wilted Violet colours were used for the background stamping and stencilling.
• Versafine Clair Nocturne ink for the grungy stamps and script.
• The circles and die-cut flower were outlined with a black pen.
• Glossy Accents was used on the circle just below the sentiment.
• Finished off with a Tim Holtz "Small Talk" Ideology sticker.

As you can see, there are still plenty of purple snippets left to use up! *Sigh*

The results of the big prize draw have been posted in the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND - run along to find out who won it and see who's been showcased! If you're early enough on Sunday morning, we have toasted crumpets and copious amounts of tea or coffee available, not to mention the odd Pain au Chocolat in the Sunday Morning Breakfast Club! 

Orange & Blue Mixed Media Square

Hi there  - thanks for coming over to see what I've been up to! 

Today I'm sharing a mixed media square which  started off as a plain white piece of 300gsm card. Now it's been glammed up with paper strips, acrylic paint, stamps, stencils, embossed tissue paper and a paper butterfly cut from some patterned paper. I love the contrasting orange and blue colours!

All the details of how this was made are on my MIXED MEDIA PAGE in a tab at the top of this blog.

Here's hoping 2023 is a good year. I wish you all the best.  

From run-off sheet to gift!

Hi Friends

This is a bit picture heavy . . . so you might want to grab a cuppa!

The photo below shows the "run-off" sheet left over from a gelli printing session. It's where I "cleaned off" my brayer and some stencils. I thought it was just too lovely to throw away and it proved a GREAT starting place to add MORE gesso, paint, stencilling etc! It's probably around A3 in size.

I cut a 7" x 7" piece from the sheet and added more stencilling in dark blue, as well as some gesso rings via a pot lid!

The 7" square piece that I cut off.

Below are 2 of the remaining snippets - I'll play with them another day (although I've already added gesso to the right hand piece)!

Snippets for another day!

Next, I folded the sheet in a specific way (see later video link) to create two pockets, suitable for small gifts and made a little tag with an off-cut of one of the above snippets (the bottom bit if you look closely)!

Here is the filled gift pocket

Front

Back

See HERE for a YouTube video on how to fold a paper square into the above. Because my run-off sheet is only pretty on one side, I chose to fold my pockets so that they faced the inside of the holder, rather than the outside as per the video.

My fold measurements, for a 7" square piece of paper were:

1. With the Triangle fold lined up to the LEFT of the scoreboard - score at ¾".
2. With the Triangle fold lined up at the TOP of the scoreboard - score at 3¼", flip the triangle over and score again at 3¼" (this will become clear if you watch the video!).

Mixed Media Art

Hi Friends

I recently attended a Mixed Media Workshop (Floss Workshop Art) and had loads of fun. Here's one of the things I made.

The final result

There are 5 more pictures of the process to see - so feel free to skip to the end if you don't want to see each stage!

Step 1: Tear up old pages, sheet music, ephemera, then
 glue on with Mod Podge.

Step 2: Add Gesso around the edges of the strips 
and randomly around the piece.

Step 3: Spray on some colour, then wipe some of it off
so that you don't lose all the detail.

Step 4:  Add acrylic paint through some stencils.
Step 5: Glue on some punched-out leaves then
add black gesso around them. Add highlights with a white gel pen.

Step 6: Finally, I added a little stamping to the top,
then mounted my art onto a larger piece of black card.

The 2½ hour class went by in a flash. As well as making the above, I also made a bookmark and learnt how to make an ugly page in my art journal a lot more pleasing to the eye! RE-sult!

A Little Zine!

Hi Peeps

I recently attended a mixed media workshop with Floss Nicholls of Floss Workshop Art.

Floss has lots of fabulous ideas and inspiration and I was lucky enough to attend one of her Zine Workshops. Zines are little handmade booklets. 

We used the gelli plate and lots of paint, stencils and stamping. It was GREAT FUN and very inspiring. The two hours just flew by! When I got home I added some doodling, washi tape and more stencilling!

I still need to make a couple of tags to go inside the two pockets that are available.

Here are some pictures of my finished Zine:

The front cover

Pages 1 & 2

Pages 3 & 4

Pages 5 & 6

The back cover - where I used Floss's logo
as a memento of the workshop.

Floss is lovely and I hope to attend more of her workshops at a later date.