Shabby mixed media board

Welcome everyone - today I am sharing a project over at Country View Crafts Project Blog. I recently bought myself some small 5 x 7 inch canvas boards and have been enjoying working on this size .... so much so I have decided I will make these as little birthday card gifts for my friends this year and this is the first.

 These are my teaser photos (click on them and they will enlarge further) and I'm hoping you will pop over to see the finished article and further details as to how I put it together.

 There's a shabby mixed media background and lots of flowers and embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by. I am looking forward to the weekend as Tim is in town - well Birmingham actually. He is here to attend the Stitches trade fair and is doing workshops on the saturday and guess who has been lucky enough to get a place? Yay roll on Saturday and then I will hopefully get to see him demo over the next couple of days. Andy will also be there with the new DecoArt products and his own stamps and stencils so I will be able to go and chat to him too.

Take care and live in the moment.

hugs Brenda xxx


Update - copied over from CVC

I have a couple of friends birthdays coming up so I thought I would make a different and more special 'card' for their happy day. I don't know about you but I put a lot of effort into making friends cards so why not make one that they can actually keep rather than throw or put sway after the big day. This was to be a wall hanging card which at the end changed my mind and I will add Tim's mini easel on the back so that will definitely mean they can keep it out on their shelf for longer.

I started with a 5 x 7 inch canvas board and layered it with gesso using a brush, palette knife and plastic card to add texture and coverage.

When dry I added some text texture using Tim's typo stencil and DecoArt modeling paste and when that was dry I used his harlequin stencil and some glassy gel from my supplies.

I felt a shabby colour palette would be popular with one of my friends so chose titanium white, titan buff, green gold, hansa yellow, sap green, prussian blue and quinacridone red media fluid acrylics (see shop list below) and the white shimmer mister to mix up the soft palette I wanted. Mixing the greens, cream, white and blue I created watery colours and let them drip and misted them with water to get the mottled effects.

The board then went through a whole process of me experimenting with layers until I was finally happy with the results .... adding more drips of paint and drying them ....

.... adding text stamping using olive archival ink ....

 .... spritzing white paint with the shimmer mister and drying it ......

.... adding some brown distress inks to create shadows round the letters .....

.... spritzing the distress ink to create more drippage ....

.... taking out some of the brown and adding in more of the green because I thought it took away from the shabby feel I was trying to create ....

 

... and then spritzing with the white mister again and using a piece of cut and dry with white gesso and rubbing over the raised letters to bring them up whiter.

Now feeling happy with the background I set about collecting the embellishments. Paper flowers, a wooden frame, a metal wing, a metal butterfly all painted with gesso. A word band painted with bundled sage distress paint and before it was completely dry I wiped across the surface leaving the lettering slightly green. Lace, leaves, cheesecloth and other little bits (and more came later).

Some close ups of the finished piece - a wordband with some lace and tiny flowers ......

... a shabby bow and a prima mini watch with one of Tim's photos in it (it must have come from one of the 6 x 6 pads to be so small), the little red pear is from my supplies ....

.... I finished by dabbing over some glossy accents and adding some glitter glass for added sparkle but as always it is very difficult to photograph .....

..... and here is a mini bottle I added that had been coated in gesso then decoart white crackle paste and when dry a little bundled sage distress ink rubbed on.

I hope you like my birthday board - I was going to add Tim's mini easel on the back but my Big Shot has had to go back to Sizzix to be looked at, but I will cut one from white mountboard and add to the back then it can easily stand on a shelf.

There is still time to take part in our CVC challenge of make your own backgrounds and maybe I have inspired you to have a go at this shabby mixed media style.

Enjoy the rest of the week into the weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx

DecoArt Antiquing Cream - Titanium white DecoArt Mixed Media Fluid Acrylic 1oz - Titan Buff Decoart-mixed-media-fluid-acrylic-1oz---quinacridone-red DecoArt Mixed Media Fluid Acrylic 1oz - Sap Green DecoArt Mixed Media Fluid Acrylic 1oz - Hansa Yellow Light DecoArt Mixed Media Fluid Acrylic 1oz - Green Gold DecoArt Mixed Media Mister 2oz - White Shimmer Tim Holtz Layering stencil - Harlequin Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Typo DecoArt Mixed Media - White Gesso DecoArt white modeling paste Tim Holtz Distress paint - Bundled sage Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Ruler Ribbon Idea-ology Crinkle Ribbon Paper flowers - All 7Gypsies Apothecary Bottles - clear Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Findings Word Bands Ranger Multi Medium Matte - 1oz DecoArt white crackle paste Tim Holtz Distress glitter - Rock candy American seam binding - White Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Ruler Ribbon

InLinkz.com

Wanderlust 2016

At last I'm underway at Wanderlust 2016 and sharing my first journal pages. I've decided to make my own journal so I can change the substrates when it is appropriate, so for these two I am using Daler and Rowney mixed media paper which is a good weight at 250 gms. Obviously as this is a current on-line workshop I won't be showing you the techniques as courtesy to Kasia and Jamie who are organising it, but if you are interested in joining the details can be found here.
 

In the first video Kasia shares an exploration of how she approaches her journalling taking us through steps and techniques she uses and encouraging us to try out new ideas and products. My finished pages are nothing like hers really and at times I have gone completely off piste but I am happy with this first outcome.

Along the way Kasia also encouraged us to think of one word that represents us at the moment and as I was tearing up some dictionary paper to use three words just appeared - Effort, Collaboration and Collective, so I have used the first two on my pages and you can see the text that is still showing through in the depths of the layers. What is also special is that the pages I use are from a dictionary that I bought second hand when I was at college training to be a teacher. I feel I am adding another part of me and my life to my art.

I have used decoart media acrylic paints, gesso, cosmic shimmer/distress stains/colour wash sprays and white ink ....

... and Tim's typo stencil with ground espresso DI.

The chipboard pieces give the focal points and I chose to use a bird and a star as they represent me flying free with these classes and shining brightly with self-determination, having time to explore without the constraints of other crafty expectations and commitments, giving myself time and permission to work with spontaneity, lack of inhibition and thinking outside of the box.

The flourished line and the frame also represent that new learning is forever on-going like a continuous line that never ends as is the unbroken circle that goes on for ever.

The B is me.

I don't often add my own journalling to pages but have added six of my own quotes that just came to me as I sat and thought about my two words. They read - 

Giving up is not an option.

I always endeavour to do my best.

The intention is to be the best I can.

In a partnership you achieve more.

To work with others in harmony.

Participate, co-operate and associate.

I look at these sayings in retrospect and really wonder where they came from!!!!

This has been an enlightening first step along the Wanderlust journey and made me feel very happy that I am and can give some time to me for developing my art.

Thanks for reading and sharing in this new adventure.

hugs Brenda xxx