Wings and heart, Faux Encaustic Mixed Media - Tando and DecoArt

I thoroughly enjoyed making a series of these long tags for Di at Tando Creative to take to one of her Hochanda shows. I think this ended up as my favourite as well. It's definitely a shabby mixed media piece and I love the look of the heart with it's extremely distressed edges and crackle front and of course the depth achieved with the faux encaustic technique using the DecoArt modeling paste. I am sharing this on the Tando blog today as part of our Love and Hearts week.

1. Seal substrate lightly with gesso using nearly a dry brush so that some areas of the greyboard are still exposed.

2. Dip, drip and dry using media fluid acrylic washes. I used raw sienna, cobalt blue, titan buff, titanium white dark grey value 3.

3. Rub distress ink (Iced Spruce) pad all over the surface and rub with a dry piece of kitchen towel until it's dry

4. Stamp with chalk paint.

5. Collect together embellishments and alter with paint and mediums. I soaked the greyboard items with spritzes of water and pulled at the edges to make them shabby and distressed.

6. Cover the board with clear modeling paste and add some to the back of the embellishments that are going to be included in the faux encaustic layer and settle them into place. The modeling paste acts as a fantastic glue.

Leave to dry for a whole day or night.

7. Paint the hearts, dry them and paint over a layer of clear crackle glaze and leave to dry.

8. Now alter any final embellishments that are going to be added on.

9. When the modelling paste is dry dribble some quinacridone gold around the cogs, splatter with some white fluid acrylic paint, add some writing and add some remnant rubs.

10. Stick the hearts to each other and rub in some white antiquing cream, buffing it off when it is almost dry so you can see the cracks. Add the tiny star brad and some rusty wire

11. Cover with another thin layer of clear modeling paste. Layer in the arrows and heart, again add some modeling paste to the back of them before sticking onto the tag. Put to one side to dry.

12. Assemble all the last pieces to finish your tag.

"The beauty is in the detail."

A word band along yhe bottom, in fact it is a bracelet word band but perfect for a mixed media thin tag. I covered it with titanium white paint, let it dry for a little wipe and wiped it clean leaving the paint in the recesses, then I used some metallic lustres and quinacridone gold paint n the edges.

The stars are some of Di's chipboard pieces, soaked, roughed up, painted and stamped.

I love thr dribbles of rust (watery quin gold) running down the tag and pooling in random spaces. I also added a remnant rub and yes this does indeed make me happy.

I thought when I took this photo that actually the 'skin' on the hearts looks like skeleton leaves - must remember that for another time.

The quote around the tag says -

' Our wings are small but the ripples of the heart are infinite.'

Amit Ray

Perfect. :o) 

xxx

Rusty Faceted Heart

I love combining the shabby neutral look with rusty items and created this card with that in mind. I am also sharing it over on the Country View Crafts project blog today.

To me there's nothing nicer than creams, whites and browns together and to help achieve the look I layered together (from the bottom) card , patterned paper, faux shabby floorboards created with paints and inks and a deckled frame on the top.

The flowers are a mix of the new wildflowers stems with the new funky florals by Tim Holtz. The wildflower in the background was cut from media paper and acrylic watercoloured and distressed whilst the funky florals were cut from a piece of left over cardwhere I had experimented with layering acrylic paints to achieve the shabby look.

The faceted heart was also cut from a left over rust effect piece of card that has been lying in my bits box for ages - this box can be a mine of fabulous inspiration sometimes when an oddment and a die just fit together so perfectly.

The die cuts the multi-faceted shape with score lines which need to be folded and pushed into shape to get the design. You can see the wonderful height and dimension and as a card it is best given to the recipient by hand as it wouldn't survive the post in just an envelope.

I love the way the neutral palette becomes shabby with the textures and the scuffed floorboards, I must make some more pieces to be ready to use for more new creations.

Here you can see the top of the heart and how the rust enhances the contrast in the colour palette.

The same here with the lower part of the heart.

 I'm looking forward to experimenting more with this shape to see how else I can use it perhaps on media boards, canvas boards, small shadowboxes - who knows?

Thanks for stopping by and ......

xxx

Tando colour theme - media board

I am sharing this project on the Tando Creative blog today where we are starting a colour theme.
The colour palette attracted me and I had no idea what I was going to make when I started.
But this is what appeared.

These colours and the image reminded me that Spring is on it's way, they are fresh and bright without being too vivid and one thing I did know was that I needed to mix and blend some of the DecoArt acrylic paints to get the range and effects I wanted. If you look closely although my board is not an exact representation of the photo there are some similarities. The greens are all in the background and I have some darker areas that are similar in colour to those behind and under the flowers and I also have some blooms represented but that's where any similarities end.

I chose (in order from left to right) paynes grey, dark grey & viridian mixed, titan buff, napthol red & titan buff, napthol red acrylic paints and picked up a Tando media board to work on.

Process steps

Begin by sealing the media board with white gesso and squidge it on your craft mat to get the textures started. Dry.

Mix white modeling paste with paynes grey media fluid acrylic and apply through a stencil. Dry.

Mix dark grey and viridian and create some watery wash and drip areas. Dry.

Paint the little hearts with paynes grey, napthol red and titan buff, blending the colours together on the hearts as you paint them.

Brayer a light layer of titan buff, dry and spritz with water and splatter some paynes grey watery wash. Dry.

Use a very small text stamp to create some random writing; sand and ink the edges with brown distress ink.. Create your own word tile - I use computer generated sayings and mount them on a strip of greyboard. Add some pinky red flowers and the heart then you're finished.

I really fell in love with the finished piece. Each layer worked well and the pops of red really pull my eyes in.

Thanks for stopping by and ...........

Supplies
DecoArt Media Fluid ACrylic - Paynes Grey, Viridian, Dark Grey Value 6, Titan Buff, Napthol Red.
DecoArt mediums - White Gesso, White Modeling Paste
Stencil - France Papillon Rusted Rivets Small (from Tando Creative)
Tando Creative media board, mini hearts
Archival Ink - Peat Moss.
Distress ink - Ground Espresso.

Your Heart's Desire - vintage shabby mixed media board

I have worked on a large board 25 x 30 cms using DecoArt Media paints and mediums and Tim Holtz idea'ology amongst other bits and pieces. I love the vintage shabby effects and how it all went together. This is my sample for this month's theme at A Vintage Journey called Your Heart's Desire and where Annie is host and since February is the month of love she wants to see hearts as the main focus of the project. I think I've met the challenge!!!

I'm looking to include this in my Workshop list this year so no tutorial or step outs today I'm afraid.

The main heart is made of chipboard, textured and painted.

I created a lovely shabby coloured background panel  ......

..... over which sits a frame and other elements that build the composition.

There's some gorgeous crackle as a border to frame the whole design .....

 .... and one pop of red with this cute little heart that sits on a shelf with a quote chip and a happy  couple from the paper dolls set

 I hope you find time to listen to your heart and hopefully some time to join in our linky with a heart project you  might be making in February.

There's more inspiration over at A Vintage Journey, if you have a moment to pop over to see what some of the other members of the team have made.

Thanks for stopping by and 

Frames for Tando

I am sharing this project over on the Tando blog today, it's one of Di's mini printer trays and I've used it to encapsulate some butterfly images .....

 .... which makes them look as though they are floating in frames.

Process steps
Glue two of the frame pieces together and leave one single and paint all of the pieces with a coat of primitive chalky finish paint.

Cut a cellophane bag (still with two pieces together) to fit the inside of the double frame and glue it down.

Open the cellophane up so that you have lifted the top piece and you're working in the middle of it. Glue on some butterflies. (mine are free images downloaded from the internet).

 Then lay the top piece of cellophane back down adhering it to the outside of the frame and then glue the single top frame over it. You have now encapsulated the butterflies inside the cellophane which makes them look as though they are floating in the frames and are totally protected.

Dip all the pieces in some watery quinacridone gold and add some tissue tape to the outside of the cover.

Stamp alphabet/numbers with black archival ink and scrape gesso randomly down the front and inside left covers.

Create a darker edge to 'frame' the piece by first dabing some watery burnt umber round the edges and spritz with water - heat dry. Then mix some burnt umber with paynes grey and slide the brush around the edges.

Dabble a little burnt umber randomly on the frame, leave to dry naturally - using a heat gun could melt the cellophane!. When dry scrape some white gesso over with a tine palette knife.

Glue the layered frames onto the back cover and add some words on the inside cover .....

..... - mine are computer generated.

Create a butterfly panel as the focus on the front cover, I simply used scraps of patterned papers and butterfly from a Tim Holtz ephemera pack. I added another computer generated saying.

There we have the outside covers ......

..... and the inside ones.

The theme this week over on the Tando blog is frames and I am really happy with my sample and interpretation.

Thanks for stopping by and .....

xxx

Supplies

Mini Printer Tray with cover 

DecoArt fluid media acrylic paints - quinacridone gold, burnt umber, paynes grey

DecoArt media mediums - white gesso, matte medium

DecoArt chalky finish paint - Primitive

Butterfly images

Stamped, bought or computer generated quotes/sayings.

Natural Elements Journal page for DecoArt with lots of layers

The first page in my Natural Elements journal is live today on the DecoArt Media blog. I am soooo happy to be a part of the team again this year and to be able to continue to blog for them using my most favourite go to paints and mediums. We have two new members to the team too so there will be lots of projects, inspiration, ideas and techniques being shared again this year so do bookmark it for your reading list.

I have already made the cover for this journal, in fact it was made at the same time as this page, if you missed it take a peek here, you'll see it has a completely different look, but that is what experimentation is all about isn't it.

If you pop over to the media blog please leave a quick comment so I know you've visited, thanks.

Have a great end to the week and then a wonderful weekend.

xxx