A red photo block

I have an old calendar block that had a Christmas image glued onto the top of it, so I removed it and am making some photo blocks to use as photo birthday months for the family.

Process steps

Paint all the sides with your chosen colour - I mixed pyrrole red, bunt umber and a tiny amount of black.

Dip, drip and dry four of the sides with a couple of different watery washes to create some texture.

Cover one of the sides with stamped tissue paper.

Stamp a large image straight onto another side using black archival ink.

Use a snippet of stamped tissue paper, a stamp and some stencilling on the third side.

Add more random stencilling in two colours and a stamp on the fourth side.

Adhere the photos to the two blank squares and leave them to fully dry.

When dry sand the edges back to the wood, blend brown distress ink over and seal with a coat of soft touch varnish.

I've actually added four photos and got two more blank blocks to decorate and add another 6 photos to cover all the immediate family.

xxx

A curio box scenario - Power Down

I have created a little diorama with the Tim Holtz new Curio Box die and sme of Andy Skinner's transfer sheet images. There's rather a retro/vintage vibe with the old vehicles and vintage photo and although it took me a while to make with the thinking and decision making time, it would be much quicker if I were to repeat it.

I have posted this on the Country View Crafts Project Blog with more details and photos. If you would like to see more details please pop over to take a look.

xxx

Retro Adventure for Andy Skinner

Today I have a vintage media board over on Andy's blog.

Here's just a snippet from one corner. It's in my shabby vintage collage style and I included some of Andy's products in the making.

I'd love it if you could pop over to take a look at the photos and details I've added.

xxx

New Year New Decade 2020 - 10 years old

Yes it's January 1st 2020 and a little later this month I will be celebrating 10 years of blogging.

Where have all those creative years gone? I've learned so much and I found a new passion in my life but as circumstances changed over the past 2 year some of that disappeared but I'm back at my desk just playing with some gesso, paints and inks and created this little wooden block just for fun.

I'm looking forward to a new creative and inspiring 2020.

Process steps

Paint a light coat of gesso - almost a dry brush technique and leave some of the wood exposed.

Apply a wash of raw umber and wipe back allowing the colour to seep into the wood.

Stipple sponge some more white gesso.

Rub in ground espresso along the edges and corners - wipe back with a wet cloth.

Again sponge some more white gesso just in the central areas.

Dip and dry the sides in prussian blue and burnt umber washes.

Sand all over and re-ink the edges.

Take a stencil and apply white chalk paint to create the pattern.

Paint over a coat of decoupage to seal the block and watch the sealer pick up some of the distress ink to age the look even more.

Supplies

DecoArt - Americana Premium white gesso, 

DecoArt Media paints - raw umber, prussian blue, burnt umber

Ground Espresso distress ink 

DecoArt everlasting chalky finish paint

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.

Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey with new Andy Skinner stamp

It's Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey and at last I have been inspired to make something. I have been copying over all the tags made by the amazing Creative Guides and just looking at what they have been producing inspired me to take a couple of hours at my work desk and see if I could get motivated. This is the result - a really grungy tag using one of Andy Skinner's new stamps and a small part of one of his new transfer sheets!

Process steps

1. Cover a tag with text papers and glue both the underside and topside of them using decoupage sealer/glue. Take a stencil and mix some white modeling paste with white gesso and  spread it through using a palette knife. 

2. Take some dark colours and paint and rub them over the background and dry.

3. Take white crackle paint and drag some through the stencilled textures with a palette knife. 

4. Paint, rub and spritz the same paints adding quinacridone gold to the mix and layer several washes until you are happy with the results.

5. Stamp the Plague Doctor onto an oddment of left over paper/card, tear and paint then adhere to a small rectangle of grungy background.

6. Gather some elements together to create your design and finish with a rubbing from a transfer sheet to add the word.

There we have a finished tag, the first project I have made in 6 weeks! I don't think I have ever been away from my desk for so long in all the time I have been blogging and that's 9 1/2 years!!!

I hope I can keep some momentum going now but I don't think I am going to be a prolific as I was with creating art but who knows?

I hope you can pop over to the AVJ blog to see he amazing line up we have for you to take a look at. 

A huge thank you to the wonderful Team who have kept me going and inspired me to get myself into gear today.

Thank you to you too for being here.

Have a great weekend.

xxx