Artist Trading Post Exchange - Anything Goes Mixed Media Style

Morning everyone. Today sees the launch of the new challenge blog for the Artist Trading Post called the Artist Trading Post Exchange and I'm thrilled to be on this amazing team! A new challenge will be set every fortnight and we'd love you to join us!

The Artist Trading Post Exchange ask that you follow the theme set each fortnight and work in a mixed media style - if you want to know more details click here to take you to the blog.

Artist Trading Post will provide a £10 voucher for the winner so even more incentive to link up with our first challenge.

For our first challenge we are offering the theme Anything Goes - my favourite! There are virtually no restrictions as long as you work in a mixed media style and avoid using digi stamps.

For my Anything Goes project I have decided to make a wall hanging using chipboard, acrylic spray paints, pencil,  a stencil, modelling paste, gilding wax, stamps and some ribbon.

Here's what I made along with some information about how I achieved the end result:

A two tiered wall hanging made with a chipboard substrate.

I started with a piece of watercolour paper which I had used to absorb the excess paint off the stencil used in another project.

The stencil was replaced on the design and some acrylic paint misters were used to add further colour.

Watercolour pencils are used to add colour to the unpainted areas of the design. The colours are blended with a waterbrush.

Matte medium is carefully applied over the surface to seal the design. The watercolour paper is then adhered to the chipboard which has been cut to size. Don't worry if the watercolour pencil areas move slightly - you can add more later on top of the matte medium which can then be sealed with a suitable spray sealant.

Stamp the chosen design (I've used a Tim Holtz plate) onto the surface using Archival Ink. Use the inked areas as a guide and paint the design using black acrylic paint of choice. The stamp chosen is too small for the space so I simply extended the image to the edges of the chipboard.

Add more stamping with Acrylic paint until desired effect is achieved.

Black modelling paste is applied through the same stencil as used previously and left to dry.

Use a black pencil to add detail where chosen. 

Metallic lustre is applied over the dry modelling paste using a paint brush. If I try to use my fingers it goes everywhere but the place I want it to go!

The hanging section at the base is created from watercolour paper applied to chipboard. The background is sprayed with a mixture of the same acrylic sprays as used earlier. The large letters are mapped out using a die cut stencil and pencils. The small letters are die cut from card which is coloured with the same pencils. The stencilling is done using black modelling paste and some metallic lustre.

Eyelets are applied to top section with a crop- o -dile. I didn't have the right colour eyelets so I coloured these to match the project with alcohol inks. You could also use paint but be careful because it can chip off.

The lower section of the project is joined to the top section using some black grosgrain ribbon (from a chocolate box!).

Some further images to show full details:

All the edges of the chipboard are finished with black acrylic paint applied with a piece of cut n dry foam.

The small dots of modelling paste were achieved by using a leaf stencil which just happens to have this design. Sequin waste can also be used by I felt the circles should be small so they don't attract all the attention.

 Now you've had a look at what I've been up to, why not hop over to the ATP Exchange and see what the rest of the talented team have come up with! We'd love you to join us for this new adventure too so why not make something using the theme Anything Goes and link up with us. Can't wait to see what you make!

A wealth of art and mixed media products on offer here!

Thank you so much for spending time reading about my latest project.

Go Rust-ic! . . . . . With Our Creative Corner

Hello everyone, today sees the start of a new challenge at Our Creative Corner. Our host this month is the hugely talented Laura and here's how she introduces her challenge:

I really love Autumn and find it very inspiring with all those textures and colours we see in nature right now.  So I decided to bring those textures and colours into a challenge here and see all that rustic creativity at Our Creative Corner!

 We want to see a huge variety of items, so make anything you like - but add some RUST!

Now you can take this Rust-ic creativity to any level you like - You can use just use some rusty autumnal colours or you can really go for it and work with gorgeous, rough textured, grungy, real or faux rust. 

So.....How 'rusty' are you?....

How happy was I when I saw this challenge?! I love all things rusty as many of you know and I don't need any excuse to play with rust again. This is a wonderfully open challenge and if textured grungy rust is not your thing then go for using those beautiful autumnal shades that are just starting to appear in UK or wonderfully rustic country piece in shades of rust and neutrals. My very talented teamies will be showing their inspiration too, so why not hop over to Our Creative Corner and see what they've got to show you?

Here's what I made for Laura's challenge this month:

When I first saw the Spellbinders embossing folder which I used to create this tag, I just couldn't get this line from Sting's song out of my head. I added it as a sentiment because this bird fits the song perfectly.

Dies and embossing folder from Spellbinders are used for the tag base and the layers on top. In addition, tattered floral flower strip is used for the flowers.

This was one of those projects which I just started one day and then left to come back to and complete. Therefore, I don't have any photos of the early stages - sorry. The paints and mediums in the photo were all used to develop the embossed tag.

The tag base was embossed with the folder and given two coats of gesso. When dry, the DecoArt media line acrylics shown in the image earlier were used to colour the tag. Finally, the surface was antiqued with DecoArt Antiquing Cream. This was followed by adding DecoArt Crackle Glaze to chosen areas and leaving to dry. Quinacridone Gold was then added over the glaze to fill the cracks.

The top of the tag is decorated using part of a piece of Spellbinders lattice die cut. The small piece has been given a rusty coating using one of Andy Skinner's techniques which he teaches in online classes - sorry I can't share!

The sentiment was made on a label maker then grunged up with inks. The line comes from Sting's track called 'When We Dance'. It's a beautiful song but so sad as the subject is lost love. Click here to listen to the track.

The flowers are made from die cut card which was embossed then given the same rusty finish as the other elements on the tag. Rusty wire has been twisted and used in the centre of the flowers.

Another Spellbinder's die cut given the Skinner rusty finish. The leaves are some skeleton leaves I've had for ages. They were given a couple of coats of paint to subdue their original bright colour.

I really love this little bird! I love him even more with his rusty finish. If you haven't used the Spellbinder folders before (which I had not) I can honestly say they are fab! Wonderful deep emboss which lends itself to all kinds of techniques.

The section at the base of the tag is made of metal and used to be part of an old photo frame which broke. I saved it because I hoped it may come in handy at some point! This has been given the same rust technique as before.

For the top of the tag I twirled some rusty wire and added tiny rusty bells.

The final step was to give the tag a coat of Ultra Matte Varnish to tone down any gloss areas caused by paint, crackle glaze etc.

I hope you like my rusty offering. I really do have to tell myself off from time to time because I like adding rust to anything - thanks Laura for giving me the opportunity to do it without guilt!

So now it's up to you! Remember to head over to Our Creative Corner and check out the inspiration from the rest of the team. Do have a quick check of the rules whilst you're there too. You have the chance to win a prize from our generous sponsor for this month which is:

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

You could be chosen as one of our top three or even be in our spotlight! You have to enter to get one of those chances so get creating your Rust-ic creations!

Your turn!!

Artist Trading Post Exchange Blog - Soooo Excited!

Hello everyone. I've been sitting on this news for some time but I can now reveal all. I am super thrilled to be part of a new design team for a new challenge blog called the Artist Trading Post Exchange (ATP Exchange for short!). The blog is attached to a wonderful crafty emporium called Artist Trading Post which I'm sure many of you have heard of. If you haven't heard of them, it's worth popping over and looking at all the goodies they have on offer!

Throughout this week, the DT are being introduced and it's my turn today along with the super talented Yvonne from Meggysway. Why not pop over and see what Yvonne gets up to? The other ladies on the team would love a visit too I'm sure.

We go live on Thursday 2nd October and then fortnightly after that. The challenge blog is essentially a mixed media style blog so if that's your idea of fun - and it's certainly mine!! - please join us for our launch. You will be able to read the 'terms and conditions' for participating when the blog opens.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Sponsor Spotlight At Our Creative Corner. . . .

Good morning. I'm back again with a little sneak peek of my latest project. The lovely people at Tando are our Sponsors this month at Our Creative Corner. 

I've used one of their kits for my spotlight and I do hope you'll pop over to have a look at the full project.

Picture Inspiration At Our Creative Corner

Good morning everyone. Today sees the start of a new challenge at Our Creative Corner and our host is the wonderfully talented Claudia.

Claudia has provided some image inspiration this month. You are asked to create a project using themes, colour, textures, images etc from the selection of photographs.

Here's what our wonderful host would like you to do:

It is an "anything goes" challenge - as long as there are visible influences from the inspirational image! You can use only one or more of the images from the photographic collage as inspirational source. You can go for a colour scheme you saw, a texture or shape, a theme you associate with the collage (in whole or partially). As long as you explain in your posts how your creation is linked to the inspirational image you can go for whatever it sparks in you. 

I decided to choose the central picture of the leaves as my main inspiration. I also like the colours from the some of the other photos - green, neutrals and browns - so these are included on my project.

Here's what I made:

An altered gift box.

Some knotted chunky string to finish the lower edge of the box.

The box before alteration.

The box was given two coats of gesso. The second layer involved some tinting base mixed with a few drops of acrylic paint. This is used as a base coat to save using expensive paint as an undercoat. The final coat involved mixing the three colours above to achieve the desired shade and applying a decent coat.

The body of the box was then altered using a 'torn paper' finish developed by Andy Skinner which I just had to try. If you'd like to see his video on this technique, click here. 

These are the colours and the stamps I used for my torn paper finish. I forgot to show the light coloured paint but it is another DecoArt Media acrylic colour called buff. I used stazon ink to ensure the stamping remained unsmudged.

Once all the layers were fully dry, I sanded the edges to give a shabby look to the box. This has the effect of revealing some of the hidden layers of paint which is a look I rather like.

Some of the leaves were stamped onto card and coloured with acrylic paints. Others were made using Transfer Artist Paper and fabric. The paper has a special coating on one side. The image is stamped onto the coated side and left to dry. It can then be gently coloured with paints, inks, stains etc. If using pencils, I would urge extreme caution as it is very easy to damage the coating on the paper. Once dry, the design is ironed onto cotton fabric - just follow the instructions on the packet.

The leaf on the right is made using the transfer paper. Once ironed onto the fabric it was cut out. At this stage you could add extra stamping, stitching or colour to enhance the leaf. I've left mine plain on this occasion.
The leaf on the left was stamped onto card and coloured with media acrylic paint. Crackle glaze was then applied and left to dry. The final step was to add some DecoArt antiquing cream to show the crackled areas.

The leaf at the top right was stamped using acrylic paint and then coloured with other acrylic colours. Finally a coat of Ultra Matte Varnish was added.

Some rusty wire was added around the stems of the leaves.

I've had these skeleton leaves forever and decided to paint some with acrylic and added them to my collection on the box.

More rusty wire amongst the leaves.

 I hope you like my altered box and how I interpreted Claudia's image inspiration. Remember to check out the projects made by the other DT members over at Our Creative Corner - are you in for a treat! Just check out the few rules we have for our challenge and then it's your turn to create. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

You may be lucky enough to win the prize provided by our generous sponsor:

Click the image to go and have a look at the wonderful products on offer.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.