Intuitive Painting - Journal

Hello again. I'm back today with the beginning of my art journal ( the cover post can be found here). The new intuitive painting challenge over on the Mixed Media Place blog caught my eye. I' m very curious where this journal will take me, how it pans out.

So I wanted to use the phrase "Can't see the wood for the trees", it's something I had knocking around my head recently. The colours I chose were suitably organic using just 5 colours, and I found it rather intriguing to see what could be created using limited materials.

 I was feeling quite emboldened to just get the paints and inks out and just go with this, I think there's certainly a sense of freedom in there.

I use a large flat brush for bold strokes and a small stiff brush for the trees, highlighting areas with white and a black fineliner pen.


I hope this has got some of your creativity flowing and inspired!

February Prima Product Pick

Hi everyone. A new month means a new set of challenges over on the Prima blog and we have a hint of Spring in the air with February's PPP.

I've created this mixed media card  added a touch of grunge to this pretty palette by mixing gesso and Color Blooms over my card base along with stencil and inky details.

 Those Prima flowers are just popping beautifully!

A fun little tip; you can create this really fun effect with the flowers from the Sunset range by giving them a gentle blast with a heat gun. It gives a really interesting and different way to use the flowers. The butterfly is from Finn's new Don't Forget To Fly stamp set.

Art Basics Soft Matte Gel keeps pearls and mica flakes adding some interesting depth.

Prima Products: 12x12 Bedtime Story - Mother Goose 847067 , 6x7.5 Cling Stamp - Don't Forget to Fly - 962005 , 6x7.5 Cling Stamp-Tea on the Deck 962043 , Epiphany -Vision 578824 , Del Mar - Arabian 577568 , Sunset - Evening 577827 , Art Ingredients - Mica Flakes - Mulberry 961725 , Art Basics - Soft Matte Gel (8.5 fl. oz.) 961428 , Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - White (8.5 fl. oz.) 961442 , Color Bloom - Sparkling Pastels Iris 573744 , Color Bloom - Sultry Shimmer Pressed Petal 573881 , 6X6 Stencils - Lace 580032

 Have a great day,

Altered Wind Chime - Prima Mixed Media stamps

Good evening lovelies! I have a little recipe over on the Prima blog today showcasing their wonderful new mixed media stamps.

Customise your very own wind chime with shrink plastic embellishments! I stamped onto shrink plastic with Prima's new mixed-media cling stamps using Staz-On permanent ink.
Apply heat to the plastic with a heat gun. This will magically shrink the plastic down! (just be careful not to overheat the plastic.)

Add your new embellies to a wood star, adding the beautiful, stamped elements to the bottom of the chime. Remember when using shrink plastic that any holes need to punched twice the size before heating, otherwise they'll shrink too much and be tiny!

I've painted the star with a splash of Chalkboard Paint and decorated with a Prima vellum butterfly, Art Ingredients glass glitter and finished the shrink plastic disc with a highlight of white gesso on the under side.

Prima Products: 580117 Mixed Media Stamp, 580100 Mixed Media Stamp, 580216 Mixed-Media Stamp- Brush Strokes, 580384 Butterfly Stickers: Set 2, 578657 Cigar Box Secrets - Belicosa, 961091 Mechanicals - Bottle Caps, 577209 Chalkboard Paint - Golden Olive, 961626 Art Ingredients: Glass Glitter - Sterling. Other: Wood star, metal chimes, shrink plastic, permanent black ink, hooks, links.

Hopes & Troubles - New Kasia K TCW Stencils

Hello! Hope you're all having a good weekend. I have a very special post for you today. My lovely friend Kasia Krzymińska  asked me to showcase her new stencils from The Crafter's Workshop and today she is running me as a "Featured Artist" on her blog, along with this layout I created with the stencils. And while you're over on her blog you can find a few little snippets about me on there... ;)

Aren't the stencils just fabulous?

I've used Kasia's stencils in a variety of ways, building up patterns and textures with ink, modeling paste and pencils to show the different effects you can get. I've used the TCW553 Stone Ring as the focal point and layered the TCW549 Oblong stencil around it creating symmetry.

I've picked out words from the "Thoughts" stencil for the title,  using contrasting sized stencils, Art Basics Modeling Paste and inks.

The pencil details add some contrast, along with doodling.

Finished off with some grungy flowers and messy inks.

A big thank you to Kasia for the opportunity to work with your new stencils :)

The Way I Feel - Journal Cover

Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing well. For today's post I have something of a rarity for me - a journal book cover. I find I often shy away from them, on the basis that in my head they seem very time consuming - even if that isn't actually the case in reality. I've been inspired by the "Wings" challenge over on the Mixed Media Place blog - and I'm so pleased I went with it!



I have a soft spot for the studs on the spin of the book, which were one of those awesome random finds...

So I started by painting a plain art journal with with Art Extravagance Copper crackle paste, layering it on thickly for some heavy crackle action. Once dry I used Art Extravagance Graphite texture paste with an ancient Donna Downey irregular circle mask, then adding Silks Acrylic Glaze (African Jade), mists and india inks to create a grungy patina look.

The wings behind the photo are a combination of Prima's new vellum butterfiles and Finnabair's "Don't Forget to Fly" stamp set which I stamped onto sheet music and cut out.

I decided I wanted to add my love of birds nests onto the project somewhere and had the idea to cut a Prima nest in half, filling with twine. I've love how tactile this is!

The main embellishments are a clustering of old washers, along with some Prima metals (Finnabair, Invild Bolme) adhering them to the album with 3D gloss gel. I've added pencil highlights and some subtle stamping to lift things.

So there we have it. Now the next step is to fill it up....

See you soon,

New Prima: The Archivist

Hello! Hope you are all well and enjoying all the CHA goings on this weekend. I've got another new project to show you today featuring another new collection, The Archivist. You can check out the full line and wonderful inspiration on the Prima blog.

The new Archivist journaling pads and Tags & Tickets are perfect for cards! I created this card combining all three items, which are perfect for layering.  The flowers, wooden icons, and cloche add stunning dimension to any project.

This collection is just divine! Steampunky, vintage and slightly masculine...

I've layered some of the Tags & Tickets along with some cogs I snipped out of one the 12x12 sheets (see details below), adding this adorable cloche and softening things off with flowers.

I've altered one of the Wood Icons by adding some white paint over the middle and stamping over when dry. The flowers have also had a slight makeover with some ink splats and some brads for centres. Loving this collection sooo much!

Prima Products: 990312 Memory Hardware - La Vie Antique Cloches, 579524 Tags & Tickets - The Archivist, 579333 Brads - The Archivist, 579159 Cling Stamps - The Archivist, 579265 Clear Stamps - The Archivist, 579586 Wood Icons - The Archivist, 578978 3x4 Journaling Pad - The Archivist, 579036 4X6 Journaling Pad - The Archivist, 990213 12x12 The Archivist-F & W, 579395 SIIC - The Archivist, 580438 Archivist- Ansel, 580452 Archivist- Florent, 580490 Archivist-Posterity, 573836 Color Bloom - Vintage Metal Tea Stain

Hugs,

CHA CHA CHA Time! Prima Timeless Memories

Hi everyone! It's nearly CHA time and the Prima blog has been a hub of activity with new product lines and samples. Today we are unveiling Timless Memories, which is one of my favourite new additions.

I created this mini box from an old electrical light fitting, painting it in Chalkboard paint and adding these perfect Timeless Memories frames. I wanted to use the metals in a variety of ways to show what you can do if you, pardon the pun, think outside the box!

The metal embellishments are simply divine!

Here I've used the new Art Ingredients micro beads with modeling paste and embossing crystals for texture under the frame.

The back of the light box was painted with Chalkboard paints, adding stamped details and the "Recalled Numbers" stickers for decoration. These are just perfect for adding to ANYTHING!!

I painted the metal bird for some contrast giving it a patina - style look. 

Prima Products: 579401 SIIC - Timeless Memories, 579883 Metal Trinkets - Recalled Numbers, 579852 Metal Trinkets - Retrospect Alphas, 579869 Metal Trinkets - Reminisce Alphas, 579791 Metal Trinkets - Archived, 579838 Metal Trinkets - Remembrance, 962562 Art Ingredients: Micro Beads -Silver, 990305 Memory Hardware - Louviers Antique Chain, 577216 Chalkboard Paint - Egg Blue, 577148 Chalkboard Paint - Sand, 577193 Chalkboard Paint - Charcoal, 960223 Sunrise Sunset Wood Icons in a Box - Borders, 580216 4x6 Cling Stamp - Brush Strokes

Please hop over to the Prima  blog for the full reveal!

Laters,