Gesso Resist with Poinsettias

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.    It's Monday morning here and the sun is starting to shine :)

I've had much more time in my craft 'studio' over the past month as the weather gets colder.   I also left a part-time job to free up precious time and energy for creativity.    I was fortunate to work at a fabulous stamping, paper crafting shop for the past year but it was time to let it go.

I have another Christmas card to show today again using the fun 'Gesso Resist' technique by Eileen Godwin. (links to her tutorials and blog are included in my post here).

I'm joining in at the Allsorts Challenge blog, as the theme is "Anything Christmas". 

I used white acrylic paint as the resist and blended favourite colours of Distress Inks over top.   The Poinsettia stencil is by Tim Holtz and the flower dies are by Crealies, Uno & Set of 3 #13.   The little holly berry spray is by Memory Box.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

More Inspiration from Tamara Laporte

Happy Weekend everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have another practice page that I drew and painted while following Tamara Laporte's of Willowing Arts self study web course called Fabulous Faces.  I'm having so much fun playing and looking forward to starting Life book 2017 (weekly art journal lessons) on January 1st.  

I hope to keep up the practice to develop my own style.   I am also sketching faces but I won't show everything.

This is a mixed media piece with a simple background with stenciling and painting.   

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend,
Shirleyx

Gesso Resist Backgrounds

Hello everyone,

I hope you are doing well.   It was warm with summer temperatures on Friday and by Sunday it was below freezing, snowing and very windy.   It's still cold this week but it will get warmer soon. No wonder a lot of us (including myself) are fighting colds.

I was very intrigued with backgrounds that my talented teamie Eileen Godwin created and showed on a recent Facebook post.  Her tutorial (titled Masterboard backgrounds) can be found on Pinterest Part One here and Part Two here.   It's well worth your time to take a look at her blog if you don't already follow her as she posts lots of gorgeous designs here.

I followed Eileen's video tutorial to create the background.   (I used a stencil with white heavy acrylic paint instead of Gesso) and then blended Distress Inks over top.   I like the 'ghost' effect.    I also sprayed the entire card with Glimmermist when finished.

Design by Ryn Products:  Japanese Anemone stencil and Circle Cluster Set.

Flowers dies are by Crealies (Set of 3 No. 17 and Uno No.17) cut from a piece of Gelli print and the Flourish is by Creative Expressions.

And below is a small card that I made with the left over background.

I also used Design by Ryn's Spiral Branch set to stamp and emboss over the background and very faintly stamped with Water Droplets as well (I stamped with archival ink and then wiped over top to lighten which worked well on the semi glossy side of the paper).  The sentiment is by Impression Obsession.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. blog friends.
Shirleyx

Inspired by Tamara Laporte

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well. I have something completely different to show you today and not a Christmas design!

I drew and painted this page while following a self-study mixed media course by Tamara Laporte of Willowing Arts.  The short course, "The Happy Traveller"  is part of her Life Book 2016.  It was up on her web site as a free sampler for a short while, but I see it's gone now.    I've signed up for several courses including the Life Book 2017 which I'm very much looking forward to.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Playing with Brushos again

Hello and Happy Weekend, I hope all is well.

I was recently playing with Brushos again and created a couple of easy Christmas cards and matching tags.

First I sprayed clear Goosebumps and dried with my heat gun.  Next I embossed the main images with white before sprinkling the Brusho powders and spritzing with water.  I also stamped the flourish in the background after drying.

Chocolate Baroque stamps above:  Winter Birds and Snowflake Flourish

The tags above were created from left over background. 

And below is the 2nd card that is pretty much the same.  These are flat for easy mailing.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by
Shirley

A Wish for Christmas

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.      The sun is shining here this morning.  

I've been enjoying quality time in my craft room and still in Christmas card mode.   I had a lot of fun creating the card below using Tim Holtz products. 

The background started with Distress Inks on an acrylic plate, spritzed with water and then 'smooshed' the plate onto mixed media card stock.    I added layers using stencils, Distress Inks & gold and white acrylic paints.    I also stamped with a little star cluster by Crealies and spattered white paint over top of it all.

The flowers were coloured with Distress Inks, spritzed with water, crushed, molded and finally I spattered gold paint on them.   I added white Prills to the centers.  I also splattered gold paint onto the 'greens'.  I painted the Wish die cut with gold paint and edged a little with Distress Ink.

Sizzix Tim Holtz Dies:  Holiday Greens, Tattered Poinsettia, Vintage Tidings
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stencils:  Dot Fade, Holly Bough and Poinsettia
Crealie Stamp:  Stars Bits & Pieces #48

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Triple Quick Poinsettias

Hello everyone and welcome to November.    It's amazing how time flies and suddenly it's dark and chilly in the mornings.

I've seen several Christmas cards on blogs recently featuring beautiful Penny Black watercolour style stamped images.   They inspired me to use a similar style Poinsettia stamp, also by Penny Black, to create these quick cards.
 
Penny Black Stamps:   Winter Glow 2808L (Poinsettia) and 3900H Christmas Flourish (Merry Christmas).  I've had both of these stamps for a long time, they've survived several 'craft stash downsizings'.

I coloured directly onto the stamp with Tom Bow markers, spritzed lightly with water and stamped on water colour paper.  I also added stickles to the flower centers and heated a little silver Frantage power around the background (heated behind the card stock).   The matting is dark blue and dark purple not black as they appear in the photos.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley