A little book of tags.

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Quiancridone Magenta, Gold Green, Carbon Black, Gold, Medium Grey, Cobalt Turquoise

Decoart Media Mediums: Modelling paste, Gesso, Tinting Base, Multi Medium

Tando Creative:  Tags, mini people, mini houses, washers

Stencils and stamps by Andy Skinner

Ahhh, tags! How do I love thee?!

Seriously I LOVE tags of all sizes and substrates. I'm not fussy - if it's tag shaped I love it. These gorgeous chunky little grey board tags and shapes are from Tando Creative, and are lovely and sturdy for painting and adding mixed media.

Here's a few step photos so you can see how I put it together. I'm using one of my favourite DecoArt colour combos. These paints are so, so heavily pigmented you can get outstanding colour, and colour makes me happy :-) 

I began by painting in patches, using the tinting base along with colour:

I used the Toxic stamp set and  the Bubbles stencil by Andy Skinner, to add pattern to the background:

And then some more, bold stamping using the Unexplained stamp set. I also used one of my favourite stencils by Kasia Avery - Corncob Etching, to add a touch of black:

I just adore the DecoArt Metallic gold. It has amazing coverage and really adds a touch of bling. I did some junk stamping, but also painted all the edges with gold, as well as adding a few splats with a fine brush. These paints splat particularly well because they are so fluid, and also because they are so pigmented:

I used Modelling paste on the washers with my fingers to give a rough texture and then painted them gold, before adding a few more cute little additions:

Weathered Wood medium over a base of Quinacridone Magenta, then a top of layer of Cobalt Turquoise gives this fabulous crackle effect:

And just a coup,e of close-ups of the texture and pattern I created. This little mini person has wings, which are really petals I took from a foliage set!

Byeeeee for now!

Creating mini books

DecoArt Fluid Acrylics: Cobalt Teal Hue, Hansa Yellow MEdium, Vermillion, 

Quinacridone Red, Quinacridone Magenta, Carbon Black, Metallic Gold

DecoArt: Tinting Base

I love anything in miniature, I really do.  Lately I have been playing around with the Sizzix matchbook die, because to me it just *asks* for book pages to be added as an insert.

I used the fabulous DecoArt fluid acrylics on a Gel Press gel plate to make this one:

And here's a few steps along the way. I began with the yellow:

Then I added the Cobalt Teal Hue:

Some Vermillion:

And here's my favourite step ...adding the reds and pinks! This is when the colours really start to pop!

Quinacridone Red:

And finally Quinacridone Magenta:

To create the large white circles I brayered Tinting Base on the Gel Plate, and then placed a stencil on top. That way the print only picks up the circles when  it on top.

Ta-dah!

And then I made a few more ;-)

If any of you are coming along to my class at Art from the Heart preview day (24th June) then have a guess what we'll be making ??!!!

Art Journal Collage

Images by Tumblefish Studio at Mischief Circus

Fantastical Steampunk

I had another great day teaching art journaling to my regular art journal group at Art from the Heart at the weekend, and after quite a few requests to return to collage that is what we did! Collage is really how I began my whole journey into mixed media and art journaling back in about ... 2008, so this felt a bit like going back to my roots.

We used images by Crowabout Studio B and Tumblefish Studio (by kind permission) as I have ALWAYS loved their images.  The images are available from the shoppe at Mischief Circus and once you have them you can download, resize, print as many times as you like.

Just a little word of advice ... if you haven't used this kind of collage image before then please be aware that the images are usually offered  in two formats. PNG images are aimed at digital collage artists who want to build collages on their computers. If you want to do cut'n'stick collage then you are probably better looking for the JPEGs, sometimes known as printables. 

Images by Crowabout Studio B at Mischief Circus

Mini Fly Kit

This is how my backgrounds looked before I added anything ... just a simple paint, then brayer, then stencilled background:

Then I started to layer images on the page:

And finally, once the images were in place I added more detail by stamping, stencilling, and doodling.

Really I haven't done any collage for ages, and it was so much fun!

Byeee for now!