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)