Under Summer Skies

Hi everyone and welcome. It's Jenny here, back to share more ideas for using Kay Carley's wonderful designs for PaperArtsy and the little bottles of magic that are Infusions. To start I have a tutorial to share showing how to create a home decor panel.

The main idea for this tutorial is to show how you can take a simple pot of white gesso and make magic with PaperArtsy Infusions. In case you've not used them before, Infusions are water soluble particles of dye colour pigment mixed with Walnut Crystals. They can be used to add colour directly onto card/paper and fabric and they can be mixed with other mediums to add a huge range of bright to vintage hues.

For this framed panel I started by mixing a little 'In the Navy' Infusions with the white gesso and a drop of water, mixing thoroughly before painting it all over the panel and frame. They don't need prepping of course because you are using gesso already so that's a real time saver! I've found the less water you use in the mix the brighter the colour you get as the Walnut Crystals are not activated so much. If you want a more muted, vintage look add a little more water - the range of shades is endless!

To add a little highlighting I dry brushed the frame with white paint for that shabby chic look so popular for home decor pieces.

I used the same 'In the Navy' Infusions diluted with water to stain a small piece of tissue. If the colour is too strong blot it before drying. You may be able to see below that the powders are not just blue - there's a little fuchsia in their too.

I used a little collage medium to stick the dyed tissue into the middle of the panel. You can also use matte clear gesso to seal the whole panel at this stage.

To add a dimensional tree to the panel I mixed a combination of 'Slime' and 'Olive Tree' Infusions into some texture paste and spread it through Kay Carley's PaperArtsy Stencil PS061. Use both sides of the stencil to get the trees and branches to go in different directions.

I used a mix of the same colour Infusions with more of the white gesso to make a matching paint that could be used to stamp curly fronds from Kay Carley's PaperArtsy Stamp Set EKC06 below the tree image.

You'll see below how I mixed more Infusions and white gesso to create more coloured paints for the house shapes (a simple rectangle and triangle) with the 'Raspberry' and 'Violetta' shades chosen this time.

To add some fun detail and a border to the 'house' I used the little PaperArtsy JOFY JM05 Stamp with white embossing powder, adding a little to the edges too.

To finish the panel you'll see from the close up photos below that I've included some white lace below the 'house', some gold Liquid Pearls detailing to the house itself, the words stamped onto a strip painted with more of that 'In the Navy'/white gesso mix and some dragonflies from Kay Carley's PaperArtsy Stamp Set EKC06 on vellum.

Now the idea of mixing Infusions powders with white gesso to create a rainbow of colours got me thinking about maybe starting to tackle a much larger project, and I thought it would be good to share that with you (even though it's incomplete for now) as it may give you some ideas for projects of your own.

Having cut a long strip of paper about 18cm tall I painted the background in the same way as the panel above with a mix of 'In the Navy' Infusions and white gesso. With that dry I used the tree stencil and a mix of 'Olive Tree' Infusions with white gesso to stencil all the way along the paper strip.

I used the same mix to stamp some of those curly grasses and seed heads onto the base of the paper strip.

This whole process was repeated, this time with a mix of 'Slime' Infusions and white gesso. Flip the stencil over to make the second layer of trees point in the opposite direction.

Having cut more of those house shapes (again, simple rectangles and triangles) I played with more white gesso/Infusions combinations. You can see from the photo below the colours achieved. Remember, the more water you add the more muted the shades. Once done I added the white embossed stamping and edging seen in the panel.

With the addition of more vellum dragonflies you can see how the border panel is coming together below. I'm thinking of adding hand stitching, maybe some sequins and sparkle to finish. What would you add?

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's projects and feel inspired to give that technique of mixing Infusions with white gesso a go yourselves. The stamps, stencil, Infusions and white gesso are all available in the Marte store along with lots more PaperArtsy sets so make sure to check them out.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons)

Aall & Create Stencil Fun Art Journal - by Claudia

Hi, servus, ciao à tutti! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Claudia here today to share with you another project done with Aall & Create stencils and stamps (and my beloved DecoArt media fluid acrylic paints of course).

(for larger views click on the images)

I know - the bright colourful look is not too typical for me, but as I used the Aall & Create stencils #9 and #28 on my Gelli Plate the painterly look is no longer a surprise.

This little art journal was done using Eileen Hull's "Passport" die and as that is a BigZ die it also cut through my one and a half millimetres greyboard! Yay! 

I prepped my die cut covers with a thorough layer of white Gesso on all sides and while these dried I took out my Gelli Plate, some DecoArt media fluid acrylics and cut to size deli paper (but you can as well use tissue paper as that behaves quite the same). 

The picture above shows how I apply the paint - in little drops directly from the bottle - before I use a brayer to spread and mix the paints on the plate. Then I place a stencil onto the plate, put a sheet of deli paper on top and rub that with my flat hand until the paint has transferred from the plate onto the paper. I also take prints from the wet paint on the stencil itself - this way no paint gets wasted.

The picture below shows one of these prints taken directly from the stencil. All I needed to do is spritz the stencil with the left over paint on it with a bit of water before I pulled that print.

I thoroughly enjoyed my gel plate printing session and only stopped once I had a nice little collection of about ten to fifteen prints with various designs.

Next I went in with black archival stamping ink and Aall & Create stamp sets #26 and #60 and stamped directly onto some of the dry printed deli paper sheets.

I used the gorgeous stars from this stamp set on some of the dots in the print shown in the background.

This way I got a nice collection of stamped gel plate prints that I was going to cut into strips and little scraps and collage onto my prepared journal covers.

I especially love the dots patterns in various colour mixes! But also the stamped images on the colourful Gelli Plate backgrounds look great!

I glued the three parts of the journal cover together first, so I could collage strips and scraps from my prepared stamped gel plate prints across the whole cover and spine in one go.

The picture below shows some already cut strips from the prints. This way I could play with them - layering and moving them around on the cover to find the best spots to glue them in.

I used DecoArt "Paper" Decou-Page glue and a soft brush to collage the printed deli paper in place. This glue is quite liquid-y which helps avoiding any tearing when gluing the deli paper pieces onto the covers.

Using a piece of Cut'n Dry foam I blended the journal's edges with black archival stamping ink.

Once the outside covers had dried, I also added one of the more subtle Gelli prints from my session to the covers' insides.

Then I finished the cover up by outlining some of the circles and edges with my black Stabilo All Aquarellable pencil, smudging the drawn lines with a wet brush afterwards...

...and I also added some doodling here and there using a black Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen.

The binding is actually quite simple. To not completely cover up the beautiful spine on the outside I separately threaded three pieces of thin rough yarn in a way that they go from outside to inside on the upper holes and then change to the outside again at the adjacent lower holes. Then they go to the inside again around the very top and bottom edges of the spine and are tied into a knot in the very centres of each signature (hope that makes sense). By doing so the binding thread only is visible in the short outer sections of the spine at the top and bottom.

The image of the finished journal below should make the threading of the binding easier to understand ;)

I hope you like my colourful little art journal! Everything you need to create one of these yourself is available in the Marte Online Store!

A little collage of some detail shots: 

...and once more the finished art journal: 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

ICS#20.09 Hearts tag by Marcella

Hi everyone,

this is my simple TAG  for this month.

I used a Manila paper tag and with the StazOn Black Cherry I applied a stencil with the theme of hearts.

I created a new layer with a piece of gauze and then a further stencil with the Prima Marketing modeling paste.

I used the Pistachio oxide distress spray, Pistachio stain spray and the Chipped Sapphire and Stormy Sky distress paint to create the spread.

I cut a typewriter with Canson Mixed Media 200gr cardboard. Subsequently, with distress ink Black Soot and Walnut Stain I colored the typewriter and finished with a black gel pen.

I always colored the Canson Mixed Media card with distressed ink Fired Brick and distress oxide Candied Apple and distress paint Candied Apple and then a punch of hearts with Tim Holtz's Heartfelt punch.

I distressed the hearts, the book page clipping and the tag itself with the Walnut Stain distress ink and I glued them with the 3in1 Beacon on the tag

I finished the tag with a colored cotton ribbon with the same colors as the tag.

And this is the end result!

   Marcella