Eileen Hull and Crescent Collaborate!

This month the Eileen Hull Design Team are collaborating with Crescent to bring you a month of blog posts to inspire you to create!

For today's post I am using the Crescent Photo Mat Art Board and the RENDЯ Paper (HERE is a video showing clearly how fantastic the RENDЯ Paper takes various mediums).

1. Photo Mat Art Board - it is possible to use any mediums on this product, ink it, watercolour washes, stamping, glue, draw, embellish, use with photographs and is a perfect combination with the
   RENDЯ Paper.
2. RENDЯ Paper - The magic of Crescent's RENDЯ Paper is that no matter how much you ink, marker, stamp, spray or paint or whatever medium you use there is no show-through or bleed through; absolutely perfect for mixed media.

I decided to create a travel gardening journal. I visit many gardens and love to take photos so I thought I would make this journal to keep a record of my visits and to also create journal pages inspired by my visits, particularly using colour, various mediums and Eileen Hull's flower dies.

1 I began with the Photo Mat Art Board (this one is 8" in width and 10" in length). I spritzed the Board with water before applying any paint.
2 Brayer over the Mat Art Board with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Paint, using only a light touch.
3 Continue to brayer the paint until the Mat Art Board is covered with one layer of colour.
4 Brayer Picked Raspberry Distress Paint over the Mat Board to give a second layer of colour and then dry with a heat tool.

1 Any paint that was remaining on my craft sheet I mopped up with a piece of the RENDЯ Paper to use at a later date on a second piece of artwork.
2 Take a piece of the RENDЯ Paper from the pad.
3 Brayer over the RENDЯ Paper with Squeezed Lemonade and Ripe Persimmon Distress Paint.
4 Continue to add layers of the paint until you are happy with the coverage. It does not matter how many layers of paint you add there is no show-through on the reverse.

1 Turn the RENDЯ Paper over the the reverse side and then apply Squeezed Lemonade and Ripe Persimmon Distress Paint directly onto the paper.
2 Brayer the two colours of paint together over the paper.
3 Take the Tim Holtz Stripes Layering Stencil and apply Pciked Raspberry Distress Ink directly to the stencil.
4 Repeat the same process with Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink; applying the ink directly to the stencil.

1 Spritz the inked stencil with water.
2 Place the inked stencil face down onto the Mat Art Board and then dab the back of the stencil with kitchen towel to ensure good contact between the stencil and the Mat Art Board.
3 Dry the ink with a heat tool. Repeat this process several times to add random stencilling to the background and dry once again with a heat tool.
4 Apply Texture Paste over the Stripes Layering Stencil to add a further layer of interest and texture to the design.

1 Add Texture Paste over the Stripes Layering Stencil randomly around the Mat Art Board and then allow to dry completely.
2 Die Cut the RENDЯ Paper we coloured in the previous steps; die cutting using Eileen Hull's Flower, Heart and Soul Die. Die cut a circle from the decorated RENDЯ Paper.
3 Cut away the petals from the die cut flower (as for this design we are only using the petals to create a different flower).
4 Cut the die cut circle in half and add shading to the two semi circles with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

1 Add shading to the edges of each petal using Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink using a piece of Cut 'n' Dry Foam to apply the ink.
2 Add a second layer of colour to the edges, in this case Fired Brick Distress Ink.
3 Scribble Distress Crayons onto the background of the Mat Art Board.
4 Blend the Distress Crayons with a finger to blend.

I used Eileen Hull's Twist and Style Craft Tool to create my stems from rusty tin wire. I also added delicate splatters of paint for added interest along with delicate background stamping using Tim Holtz Ledger Script Stamp and Monarch Orange Archival Ink. I love how all the layer are visible! I also added coordinated vintage ribbon coloured with Distress Inks, tied to the book rings.

I added a sentiment to the aperture of the Mat Art Board which I thought was perfect for my travel gardening journal. The background piece in the aperture is a piece of the RENDЯ Paper brayered with layers of paint.

I added a touch more shading to the tops of my faux Echinacea flowers along with some delicate random stamping.

The flower petals were bent a little to give movement and shape to the flower. I also used two of the petals as leaves.

The black splatters of paint and scratchy lines added with an old credit/store card give further interest to the design.

I added three layers of petals to give a 3d like appearance to each faux Echinacea flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x 
 
 

A Vintage Journey - Texture

Welcome to a new challenge with A Vintage Journey. This month our challenge is "Embossing Pastes/Textures" hosted by Astrid.

This is what Astrid had to say about her challenge:

"Use any kind of texture paste (home made, crackle, coloured or plain) on your projects. There is an endless variety available, so play, have fun and apply it to your heart's content. Use it through stencils, randomly or in whatever way you want, but remember it should be in one of the vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journalling; industrial or steampunk styles that we favour. Put on your mixed media hat and create some magic! " 

Once I saw Astrid's challenge I knew I wanted to decorate a piece of mdf but did not really have anything in mind, not until I found this mdf snowman that is!

1. Apply Texture Paste over your substrate; I applied using an old credit/store card to apply varying thickness in texture.

2 Dry the Texture Paste lightly with a heat tool.

3 Spritz a text stamp ( in this case Tim Holtz Ledger Script stamp) with water.

4 Press the stamply very lightly into the texture paste. Repeat these four steps to cover the whole substrate with stamping.

1 Apply texture paste to the hat along with two wooden trees, which I pressed into the wet Texture Paste.

2 Add a wooden bird house and bird for added interest; adding texture paste randomly to the birdhouse.

3 Die cut two snowflakes from white card using Tim Holtz Sizzix Die and then press each one into the texture paste and then allow to dry completely.

3 Paint the first layer of paint which in this case is DecoArt Prussian Blue Hue.

4 Allow the first layer of paint to dry or dry with a heat tool.

I added layers of dry brushing; a technique from Andy Skinner, diluting the Prussian Blue Hue each time I dry brushed; adding DecoArt Media Tinting Base to the blue to lighten each time.

I added DecoArt SnowWriter to the base of my snowman and to the rim of the hat along with touches of snow randomly added to some of the dimensional pieces. I also added small wooden trees to the base which I also painted with DecoArt Media Prussian Blue Hue. I also included some twigs from my garden for added texture and interest along with some mini pine cones. A ChitChat sticker has also been added.

To add further to the layers and texture I also included one coat of Crackle Glaze which I applied randomly to my work and then applied Raw Umber Antiquing Cream.

I added rusty buttons which I painted with touches of DecoArt Media Burnt Umber Fluid Acrylic along with touches of Carbon Black, dried with my heat tool and then added touches of Quinacridone Gold, applying with my finger. I then added touches of the snow to the edges. I also applied touches of the snow to the snowflakes again applying with my finger.

The nose was given the same treatment as the buttons and I added two mini pine cones to the top of his hat and added natural twine around his neck.

I love how all the layers are visible along with all the added texture.

Our sponsor this month is Country View Crafts who are offering a £20 Gift Voucher to the randomly drawn winner. I hope you will create a little texture of your own this month and join in our challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream!

I have been playing with the Ice Cream Shoppe stamp set this time around from Artistic Outpost. All stamps are available from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I decided to create invites this time around which I thought would be perfect for a birthday party.  I began by die cutting three Recipe Cards from white card using Eileen Hull's die. The background has been coloured with Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks. I applied each colour to a piece of recycled plastic packaging, spritzed with water and then dabbed the ink onto the background and then dried with a heat tool. Repeated the same process with the second colour and dried once again. I repeated this until I was happy with the coverage of colour.

I added a touch of background stamping using the Ephemera Backgrounds stamp and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

I printed off computer generated text which I die cut using one of Tim Holtz Thinlits Labels adding a touch of colour with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I also used part of the sentiment to add Ice Cream three times to each of the invites.

I stamped the ice cream cone with Black Archival Ink onto each of the invites. I also thought that these would make great recipe cards. You could add a homemade ice cream recipe to the back.

For added interest I included painted circles and scratchy lines using Picked Raspberry Distress Paint. I added Black Soot Distress Ink to the edges for definition.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x