Something Christmassy - DecoArt Media Team

Well I'm back after a very lean few months where life and lack of mojo took over. But I'm very happy that today I have a project over on the DecoArt Media Blog with a fabulous Christmas theme.

A Christmas Triptych that is made up of three cheap Ikea frames ......

..... and lots of die-cuts and embellishments that fit together well.

The frames have been crackled using the wonderful DecoArt clear crackle glaze ....

.... and there is a tutorial for making this starry background.

I'd love it if you were able to pop over to the DecoArt Media Blog to see all the details.

Thanks for stopping by here.

hugs Brenda xxx


Updated with DecoArt version

Christmas Triptych Decoration

by: Brenda Brown
November 28, 2019

 

Christmas is just around the corner and I am in full festive mood making preparations for the holiday season. I love decorating my house both inside and out and the whole of the downstairs gets decorations added on shelves and tables, windowsills and walls and in every room! Over the years I have made several pieces of artwork as seasonal home décor, this project is going to add to my collection.

Items needed :

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Prussian Blue Hue
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Payne's Grey
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Quinacridone Red
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Phthalo Green-Blue
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Raw Umber
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Sap Green
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Burnt Umber
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Titan Buff
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Hansa Yellow Medium
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Cadmium Red Hue
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Titanium White
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Metallic Silver
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Metallic Gold
• DecoArt Media Antiquing Creams - Raw Umber
• DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products - Crackle Glaze - Clear
• DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products - Gesso - White
• DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products - Modeling Paste - White
• Snow-Tex 4oz - Snow-Tex
• Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint 2oz - Whisper
• Die-cuts
• Resin Santa
• Deer and doll
• Bottlebrush trees
• Paper dolls
• Natural elements
• Frames
• Embellishments

Instructions :

I bought 3 frames from a well know Swedish store and changed the backboards around to make the best use of the depth for a shadowbox effect.

To start me off I gathered the mainstay of embellishments I wanted in the shadowbox, die-cuts, resin Santa and doll, paper dolls and bottle brush trees. The deer, snowflakes and natural elements came at the end when I was assembling the frames … my mantra is “The beauty is in the detail."

Step 1: Take some card for the background, give it a coat of white Gesso, heat dry and then apply a coat of Matte Decou-Page sealer. This acts as a resist and lets the next steps watery paint layers move about more freely on the substrate.

Dip the card in some watery DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Prussian Blue wash, spritz with a little water and heat dry. Repeat this step several times to cover the card and to get overlays of the colour. Also, repeat with a watery wash of Burnt Umber and heat dry.

Step 2: Mix a little Prussian Blue and some Titan Buff with a little water to get a more opaque and thicker wash and dip and dry again. This time one dip might just do it.

Step 3: Now mix the Prussian Blue with Titanium White and water to get another thicker wash and dip and dry again. This should be lighter in colour than the previous step.

Step 4: Apply Chalky Finish in Whisper through a stencil. I tried using a household sponge…..

…. and a blending tool and blending foam.

Both give different results and I like them both. You might have your own preference with it.

Step 5: Mix some Soft Touch Varnish with a tiny amount of Paynes Grey and Burnt Umber paints and add some water to make it more a wash of varnish than a thick coat. This will take the starkness of colour off of the Chalky Finish paint and seal the background at the same time.

Step 6: Now take the tree die-cuts. Stipple a coat of Sap Green, Phthalo Green-Blue, Hansa Yellow Medium and Titan Buff blending them on the card to get variations of colours. Heat dry and then give them some washes of Raw Umber and burnt umber before stippling a little Titanium White randomly over the top to look like snow. Then give them a dusting of glitter.

Step 7: Take the bottlebrush trees. With a paintbrush drip watery washes of the green paints, we have already used into the branches, heat dry and then gently brush over some white Gesso with a stiff paintbrush.

Step 8: Give the sleigh some washes of Cadmium Red and Quinacridone Magenta. Heat dry. Splatter with White and dry again before giving a wash of Magenta mixed with Burnt Umber. Again dust with glitter and add some Snow-Tex to the top of the sleigh and runners.

Step 9: Paint Santa and the little girl with the media acrylic paints and let dry. Give a very light wash of Raw Umber so that it settles in some of the cracks and heat dry carefully. Be gentle with the heat gun as these are resin models and will become moldable if made too hot. Give them a dusting of glitter to make them look frosty.

Step 10: Finger rub lightly with white gesso - rather like dry brushing and then finger paint light washes of Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Hansa Yellow Medium and Silver before adding Titanium White for the snow and add a dusting of glitter.

Step 11: Take the frames and with a palette knife and white Modeling Paste create a little texture, I paid particular attention to the corners as they had been stapled and I didn’t want them to show. When it’s dry paint over a coat of gesso and again when dry paint a coat of clear Crackle Glaze. Use Antiquing Cream to enhance the crackles when it’s dry and finish with a coat of varnish.

Step 12: Now assemble the box frames and add embellishments to complete the look to your satisfaction.

I hope you have fun with all your preparations for Christmas especially if you enjoy making your own seasonal pieces of home décor.

I know that all of you in the US will be celebrating Thanksgiving today, it’s not a national day for us here in the UK but schools and churches have services and give thanks for the Harvest in the autumn. It’s still an important time of year for us.

Enjoy your celebrations as you gather family and friends together to give thanks for all the blessings of the harvest and the preceding year.

Halloween Triptych

I am up on the DecoArt Media Blog today with a Halloween Triptych made from Tando media boards and embellishments.

The raven is from a stamp but I have made him very textural and I've used Andy Skinner stamps too.

If you'd like to see all the details then please pop over to take a look. There's all the process steps and photos to go with them that you can look through and have fun with if you fancy making something similar.

Have a great Halloween month making your own decorations and spooky projects.

hugs Brenda xxx

Updated from the DecoArt blog

  

Halloween is the perfect season to use some of the Andy Skinner stamps and I have combined them with some fabulous small greyboard shapes from Tando Creative to create this Halloween Triptych. Items needed :

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Prussian Blue Hue

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Payne's Grey

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Quinacridone Gold

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Burnt Umber

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Titan Buff

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Raw Umber

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Carbon Black

• DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products - Gesso - Black

• DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products - Modeling Paste - White

• DecoArt Media Varnishes - Gloss Varnish

• Americana Decou-Page (Glue-Sealer-Finish) 8oz - Americana Decou-Page Matte

• Andy Skinner Stencils 12x3 - Shedded

• Metallic Lustre 1oz - Iced Espresso

• Metallic Lustre 1oz - Orange Flicker

• Assorted Brushes

• Tando Mammoth Mechanical

• Tando Minis Halloween Mix

• Tando Spiders Grab Bag

• Tando Cogs Grab Bag

• Tando Media Boards

• Stamps - Andy Skinner Birds and Bones, Unexplained, Toxic

Instructions :Take three media boards and paint them with black gesso.

Using Andy Skinner's stencil apply black modeling paste - it doesn't have to be an all over coverage.

Find a piece of leftover painty card that will fit in with your planned colour combinations and stamp 

some words.

Layout your design so that you know where everything will go and adhere the chipboard pieces and 

some metal spacer beads to add more interest.

Make up a spray of fairly watery Titan Buff and spray over the chipboards and the background.

Spritz water around the chipboard pieces and dab on raw umber, let it drip around and then heat dry.

Spritz the chipboards with water and randomly dab on some Burnt Sienna and dry.

Spritz with water again and this time randomly add dabs of Paynes Grey and dry. You van see how 

the color is beginning to build up n all three boards.

Spritz around the metal elements and the chipboards and add dabs of both Raw Umber and previous 

colours if they're needed and dry.

Spritz lightly all over with water and dabble Quinacridone Gold in a couple of areas on each board 

and dry.

Take Iced Espresso and Orange Flicker lustres and paint over some of the chipboards and metal beads 

and if necessary dabble on some Paynes Grey. Raw Umber and Quinacridone Gold to create well 

mixed, dripped and metallic grungy effects and dry. Spray with the Titan Buff and add a wash of Quinacridone Gold

Using Titan Buff rub over the top cog and stamp over the oval and rectangle chipboards.

To create the raven daub embossing ink onto some card large enough to take the raven stamp, heat 

emboss with black EP, when cool repeat with clear ultra thick EP and repeat again with black and 

brown EPs sprinkled together. On this last round whilst it still hot stamp the raven having inked him 

up with versafine black pigment ink. Leave the stamp to cool in the embossing before removing it. 

Add some paint to the body and wings to subtly bring out the features.

Adhere the bird and words onto the boards and mix up a dirty glaze - I have a tutorial on my blog for 

this which can be found here - and paint it over everything on the three boards to seal and unify 

them.

Take a piece of leftover greyboard and make a panel for the back.

I hope you enjoy the grungy style and even if you don’t like to use Halloween images the steps 

and techniques will work with whatever you have.

Thanks for joining me today. Happy crafting.

DecoArt Mixed Media Team project #1

Hi Everyone - have you missed me? I have been on holiday for a couple of weeks so my posts were scheduled whilst I was away. Having found the sun in Lanzarote I would still love to be back there but I have been waiting for this post to go live and I'm really happy to be home, looking forward to creating and blogging again.

Those who know me will appreciate the excitement I felt to be asked by Andy Skinner to be a member of the DecoArt Mixed Media Team and the excitement continues with the publication of my first project on the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog.

Here's a sneak peek and if you click the link above you will be transported over to see it in full with all the details of how I put my layered frame together.

As you can see it's a piece of altered art with lots of techniques and painty layers to create all the effects. I wanted to do something that was a bit different and where I could use the inspiration I have gathered from Andy but still make it my own.

If you manage to take a look please let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xx

As the evenings draw in there is a stirring in the basement

Ha, not yet Halloween but I’ve started something to get me thinking about the spooky and creepy side of things.

Today I have a triptych for you, made using the Tim Holtz arch die, cutting two out and then only partially cutting the third, extending it and finishing it off with my TH scissors which glide through this mountboard so easily. You can see on the middle one where I didn't cut right the way down, it’s showing the marks, but as I was covering them with papers it didn’t matter.

Using the Laboratorie papers I cut three pieces, inked the edges and adhered to the arches, I then sanded the edges and added some embossing powders for effect.

The added elements consist of Tim Holtz dies, some tissue tape, ideaology and my own chatty words for Halloween.

The apothecary bottle was embossed with silver EP with black paint over and most of it rubbed off before it dried.

The three panels are connected on the back with a strip of hessian.

Have fun making your Halloween projects this year.


“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” 
― Walt Disney Company

hugs Brenda xxx