Groovy

Hello everyone,

Today I had finally time to play ! Yay... I have been so busy lately; I cannot imagine how I used to cope with everything when I still worked !!! I guess that is always the case when once you are home all day.
Anyway, I got my Deco Art paints out today and I have been wanting to so something with an Andy Skinner stencil that I must have had for a year.. I think it turned out, well, really groovy !!!

I started with a piece of Mixed Media paper. I used my gelli plate to create a background with lots of colours: Cobalt Teal hue, Yellow Light Green, Cadmium Orange Hue, Primary Yellow and Primary Magenta. I used Titanium White and Carbon Black to block out the people and to stencil the stars. I also splattered some thinned down white on the  whole page. To get some texture in my background I used foam stamps that I bought in a toy shop and a coaster from Ikea. 

Once I was happy I used the two masks that are part of this stencil set from Andy Skinner which is called "Hippy Chic". 

I laid them onto my project and sponged around them with black paint. I kept rotating them to get a different perspective. I then filled in the gaps between the peeps with a brush. When everything had dried I used a white gel pen to go around the figures. 

Lastly I added the stars which are in the same stencil set and some splatters. 

The sentiment is made with rubber stamps. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today ! 

Do small things..

Hello everyone,

and welcome to this blogpost where I am showcasing the wonderful 100 Proof Press Stamps. As you might already know, Sara from 100 Proof Press asked me if I was interested in doing some design  work for her and of course I had to say yes ! Her stamps are wonderful ! I already had some in my collection but for today's art journal I used one of my new ones :

And here's how I made it :

I wasn't sure about what colours I wanted to use so I sat down with some lovely DecoArt Media paints and my gelli plate 

Apart from sometimes stamps and stencils I use these 'tools' on my gelli plate. 

First layer of paint....

And this is how it looked when finished. I decided to try some cooler colours too. 

Again first layer... 

And the finished article; I decided to use this one... 

Next stamping the background. I tried to do it with paint but it gave me a very faint impression so I repeated the process with white embossing powder. 

Remember to wash your stamps straight away after using paint as it is really difficult to get off once it dries... 

I also added some model paste through a stencil..

Here is the almost finished background; I really like how it turned out. I added some script stamping in grey archival ink too. 

I added some starbursts in black for contrast. 

The bird was coloured with Copic Markers and cut out. I thought he didn't stand out enough so I added a die cut heart underneath him.. I added some lines to the outside of the heart with a black marker. 

The last thing I did is add the words. This is a Mother Teresa quote, I stamped it and cut it into strips, adhered it to the page and doodled around them. 

Here's a close up of the lovely bird. 

and a close-up of the embossing and model paste. 

And this is the finished page again... 

I have used the following 100 Proof Press Stamps:

3281 Silhouette star large

6519 Do small things 

6592 Large birdie

5809 Profit and loss sheet

6591 Stylish numbers

Thank you so much for stopping by today ! 

Capture the moment

Hello everyone,

and welcome to September ! September already... where did summer go?

It is time for a new challenge over at the Country View Challenges Blog and Jennie has chosen the theme 'Travel'. I struggled a little with this as I didn't want to go down the plane, train and automobile route. I settled for an art journal piece with a camera because we all take photos on our travels to keep the memories alive.
I have made a little photo tutorial so you can see how this came together. I will start with the finished piece:

And here is how I made it :

I started with a piece of Mixed Media paper approx. size A5.

With a stencil and a pallet knife I added some model paste.

This is what that looked like.

Next I took out my paints....

And painted the page with it. I added a bit of Quinacridone yellow over the top of the pink and orange. It made it a little warmer. 

Next, some antiquing cream. Not to make it old and worn but to accentuate the texture of the modeling paste. 

Like this... 

Next stamps. I used Visible Image Stamps for this. This camera stamp is fabulously detailed and VI stamps stamp like a dream....

After adding some background stamping I took my trusty paint pen and added....

splatters.... 

I then stamped the camera and got totally carried away with adding shading to it with coloured pencils. Needless to say I didn't take any more photos... apart from the finished piece :

I changed my mind about the quote because I didn't like it on the white paper so I stamped it straight on the page and added some white pen to accentuate it. I also added some thread behind the camera which is adhered on the page with dimensional tape. 

That was it ! I hope you will play along with us.. you have all month ! 

Thank you so much for stopping by today ! 

Beach

Hello everyone,

and welcome to my blog. Over at the Country View Crafts Challenge blog it is time for another challenge. This time the theme is 'Hot summer days' and it was chosen by the lovely Jane. You can find her blog HERE.

I have made an art journal page using all my Deco Arts Goodies...

I'll start with the finished product and then explain how I made it with some photos... So sit down, get a drink and enjoy !

This is how it looks. I love this stamp. It is by Stampotique and is called Beach Beauty. 

I started with Texture Sand Paste and 2 colours of acrylic paint. I mixed them up and added them at the bottom of my Mixed Media paper to depict a sandy beach ! 

I think it looks pretty good ! 

I knew stamping on this would be really difficult so I stamped the bottom of the Beach Beauty onto the sand. The image was grey so I took some black Deco Art Fluid Acrylic to paint the shadows. Now it all looks black. This will all make sense later.....

Next I used white and two shades of turquoise to paint the sea/sky; you decided !! 

...and this is the result... 

Next it is time for stencilling. I took this Andy Skinner stencil and chose the word beach to go at the top of my page using black paint.. 

This is how it looks with the stencil still on. I did put some tape on the sides to keep it in place. I also used a little piece of paper at the bottom (because the word was at the bottom of the stencil and you might get paint where you don't want it). 

This is how that looks.

I thought the blue looked a bit bare so I decided to use another stencil; this time with the darkest turquoise paint. I used it very thinly with a blending tool. 

This is how that looks... 

I then thought the word 'beach' was a little stark, so I got out my white paint pen and doodled in and around the letters... later I added a thin black line around the white... 

Next I stamped the Beauty with Memento ink and coloured her with Copic Markers. Memento is Copic friendly. If you use Archival or StaZon it will bleed....

Here she is in all her glory... 

I then cut her out, losing all the shading at the bottom. Here is why I stamped her on the page before....

Now it all fits together... 

I forgot to take a photo, but I did use a text stamp to make the background more interesting. I also used Titanium White Fluid acrylic and a bottle cap to make some circles... 

And here she is again, all complete.

I hope you'll play along with us this month !!! 

Thank you so much for stopping by ! 

Stand out !

Hello everyone,

and welcome to another Stampotique Designers' Challenge. Today's hostess is Sam and she chose the theme 'repeat yourself'. This is what she said:

"I recently read that the human eye likes things that are repeated, so for this week's challenge I'm inviting you to use some sort of repetition on your creations. A stamp stamped more than once or even you own doodling. It's up to you but most importantly have fun!" 

I decided to make an art journal and this is it :

The base of this art journal is a gelli print. I added some stamping and stencilling and then stamped Heart Throb and the dog. I coloured 1 of the Heart Throbs and the dog with Copic Markers. he rest of the Heart Throbs was stamped on gessoed book text and I only added a little bit of shade with a grey pencil. I then cut them all out and adhered them to the page on top of some washi tape.  

Next I made the sentiment on my typewriter, cut it into strips and adhered them to the page too. 

That finished the page. 

I used the following stamps :

Vintage bill

Barcode

Amonite

Heart Throb

Dog cube

Thank you so much for stopping by ! 

Why not join us this week and you might win a $30 voucher to spend it the shop HERE. 

Just remember : NO Digi's and only one entry per person per challenge ! 

Good Luck !!!