Today ... A Work In Progress - Part 2

Hi everyone,

I'm back with part 2 of my "word of the year" project.  This is where I go up to last time, and you can find Part 1 here.

So here we go... first up I stamped and heat embossed the word "today" (this is an old Technique Tuesday set - I love it because the letters are outline and huge). I then painted inside the letters with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Gold paint.

Holding the sheet up, I then sprayed quite a lot of Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain at the top of the page - I let it drip down the page about halfway, before laying it back down on my table. I left it for a few moments and then blotted off the excess liquid.

Next I wanted to add some texture. I stenciled the dotty circles using Ranger's Texture Paste, and the chickenwire with Dreamweaver Translucent Embossing Paste. I knew the Dreamweaver paste would go completely see through when it was dry, whereas Ranger's paste would stay fairly white (but still show hints of the colour underneath).

I painted some of the Crazing Distress Collage Medium over the circle stencils and onto blank areas too. I then went a little crazy with Tim Holtz's splatter tool and PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Little Black Dress paint. I {heart} the effect.

I added some Distress Crayons over the circle stenciled areas, and blended the colours in with a wet wipe. I think it was probably a bit too wet, as the colours merged into one to give an overall purple effect. But I still like it. In the picture below you can see the Crazing Collage Medium - I may still go over this again with the crayons  and work them in with a damp finger instead..

My final steps for this part was to add some spots with some white paint and the wooden end of a paintbrush, and ...

... some squiggles with my favourite Sharpie Extra Fine White Paint Pen.

Here's another close up ...

That's it for now ... but there will be more to come ... look out for Part 3 coming soon.

Enjoy!

Today ... A Work In Progress - Part 1

Hi everyone,

At the start of this year I decided not to set New Years resolutions (after all, I never stick to them!), and instead I chose a word to focus on for 2016.  My word is TODAY.

I've found that it's really helped me to focus on what I want to do - every morning I will think "what do I want to achieve today?" and change that answer into a statement (or two) - "Today I will ...".

In January I brought myself an IKEA Ribba frame - one of the big ones with room for a 12"x12" picture - with every intention of creating something for it to represent my word of the year. Well weeks have passed, and it seemed like such a big project that I never could find time for. Until today. I've decided to start it - afterall, I don't need to finish it in one day do I?  So this is Part 1 of my journey - I have no idea how it's going to turn out - but what's the worse that could happen eh?

I started with a sheet of PaperArtsy 12"x12" Heavy Smoothy, and added some pieces of scrap patterned paper. I then covered it with a layer of Dina Wakely Clear Gesso.

Next I wanted some colour and pattern ... so I stenciled some circles and a sun-ray with Archival Ink Pads - and also the year. (I don't mind if the year can't be seen at the end of the project - but I felt it was important to include it).

Now for some colour. I scrapped various PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints over the page (Caribbean Sea, Chalk, Limelight, Tango and Bougainvillea).

I then added more Chalk with a brayer to knock the brightness back (just a tad).

I stencilled some text in random areas, and painted thicker areas of Chalk to add more "white space".

I then sanded pretty much everything. I wanted some of the patterned papers to peek back through the layers, and I love the effect of this text piece with a resist effect on it (I think it was a Prima paper).

And that's it for Part 1. Hope you'll join my for the next installment...

Enjoy!

March Workshop #2

March Workshop #1

A Touch Of Sparkle

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a while ... but things have been a tad busy with the Stitches Trade Show, Stamperama and lots of other stuff going on.

Today though, I would like to share with you a card I've made with some WOW goodies.

The background was stamped with the WOW Tropical stamp, and heat embossed using WOW Flourescent Blue Regular Embossing Powder. I then coloured the flowers in using Copic Ciao's (Aqua - BG15, Cool Shadow - BG10, Pale Lilac - V12, Lavender - V06, Mimosa Yellow - YG00).

I cut the stamped piece down and matted it onto to some co-ordinating cardstock, before gluing it all to my card base. The greeting is from the WOW Pick'n'Mix stamp set, embossed in the same powder, and then hand cut into a flag shape.

Once everything was stuck down, I added a touch of sparkle with Crystal Stickles.

Enjoy!