pretty background

Greetings!

Not sure where this journal page is going but the background came out so pretty I wanted to share it with you before some of it gets covered up!

(click on pictures to enlarge and clarify)

Started off with Tim Holtz Distress Paint in spiced marmalade and wild honey. Then added Gel Medium through a Studio 490 brick wall stencil to create a resist.

 Then more Tim Holtz Distress Paint in broken china and picked raspberry. I squirted them with water and where they ran together they made a gorgeous purple. Because the oranges were all ready dry underneath, they didn't mix with them - awesome paint!

I pounced around on the wet paint a bit with some bubble wrap. Aren't these paints so pretty? You can get them at the eclectic Paperie online store (I've linked them up for you). 
When I find out what this spread is going to be and finish it I'll show you!
Scroll down for pictures of my Quinn doing some creating too!

Here's my sweetie putting number stickers on a background she painted. She loves to crank things out on the sizzix then run them through the xyron. She likes to paint too. She wants me to put a girl on the background and she's already picked the patterned paper out of the scrap box for her shirt, pants, and underwear! She said: "And make red hair just like mine, MomMom!" Love crafting with my girl!

I'll update pics for you when her project is finished too!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, 

I appreciate your comments!

butterfly

Greetings! (June 12, 2013)
Welcome to my re-post of this project!
I am participating in Seth Apter's
Buried Treasure Blog Hop

Click here to be taken to Seth's blog 
where you will find the list 
of all the participating artists!

This project was created for the e-team picks challenge at eclectic Paperie in May, the hostess was Julie and she challenged us to us gel medium. 
I hope you are inspired by this canvas I created:

(Click on photo to enlarge and clarify - the pictures really do look a lot better when you click on them and then you can skip all my babble too!) 

There are many layers of Tim Holtz Distress Paint to start off with on this 8"x10" canvas. On top of the paint are bits of Melange Tissue Paper, Remanant Rubs, Basic Grey Rub-Ons, stamps, Basics acrylic paint Dylusions White Linen Ink Spray, Staz On Ink, and more Distress Paint. The stencils I've used are Mini Peacock Pattern and Mini Herringbone by The Crafter's Workshop, Dylusions Letter Jumble 5x8, and punchenella. Shading is done with Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush Pen in Cold Gray III.
So where is my Gel Medium? I used Golden Extra Heavy Gel and mixed it with Perfect Pearls Pigments in Sunflower Sparkle to create a beautiful paint which I applied through the Peacock Pattern stencil. Gel medium is clear when dry so the color integrity of any product you add to it is not compromised. The extra heavy gel is nice and thick so it makes applying it through a stencil a pleasure.

Below, you can see where I colored the Gel Medium with Tim Holtz Distress Paint in seedless preserves and applied it through the Herringbone stencil. 

The butterfly was unfinished wood purchased at Michael's. I colored it with Faber Castell Pitt Artists Pens. These pens contain India Ink which beautifully colors the bare wood. The body of the butterfly has a layer of Ranger Crackle Accents and the antennae are colored with Ranger black Enamel Accents. The gold highlighting is done with an American Crafts Metallic Gel Pen.

There is lots of inspiration to be found in the linked projects on this post at eclectic Paperie so have a look!
Most of the products I've used are available at the awesome eclectic Paperie online store and I've linked them up for your shopping ease!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, 

I truly appreciate your comments! 

If you have a moment, poke around a bit and be sure to click on the "Mixed Media Art for Sale" tab at the top to see if there is one of my pieces that you would like to have in your home!

Spring Whimsy Canvas

Greetings!

Spring is in full glory here in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The birds in the nest on my front door wreath have hatched and are ready to fly any day now. It's warm and the dandelions didn't even bother to stay yellow for a day but went right to seed - and there are lots of them! Everything is so green, lush and beautiful - it is an awesome, amazing world our God has created for us to enjoy.

"The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;

where morning dawns, where evening fades,

you call forth songs of joy."

Psalm 65:8

I had so much fun coloring the little wooden embellishments by Prima on the altered jar project (seen here) that I wanted to color some more! The cute little box they come in contains lots of pieces and they just seemed so springy and whimsical I was inspired to create this canvas to feature them on:

(click on pictures to enlarge and clarify)

I started with a base of sheet music paper. It is from a child's lesson book and is called "Little Spring Song".
After coloring the paper with Gelato in blues and greens, I decided I wanted more coverage and went over it with Tim Holtz Distress Paint. A bit of texture was added with Staz-On ink applied through punchenella and a little stamping with the Unity Stamp Company "She Script" stamp.

The My Mind's Eye "Remarkable" paper collection was perfect for all of the elements on my project. I free hand cut all the pieces and inked the edges with Staz-On in Stone Gray. Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Fired Brick perfectly matches the papers so I colored a piece of chip from my stash to use for a roof.

I decided the papers that make up the tree were in need of another layer so I put Distress Crackle on the trunk. In playing with Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste, I discovered it can be colored with Gelato without changing the viscosity of the paste - love that! I mixed the embossing paste with two yellow colors of Gelato and applied it through the Crafter's Workshop mini Chicken Wire Reversed stencil on to the tree top.

"Santa's Sleighful" is the name of the font I used to type the verse - this is one of my favorite fonts and is perfect for this project despite it's winter name! 
After adhering all of the paper pieces with Mod Podge I shaded around them with Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in Cold Grey III. Next came coloring the little wooden embellishments by Prima with Faber Castell pens. The India Ink in these markers is perfect for coloring the wood. The last step was to add the sun. I mixed up another batch of embossing paste with Gelato and applied it through the Crafter's Workshop Mini Zinnia stencil.

eclectic Paperie carries the products I've used on my canvas and they are linked for you in this post - so shop away!

I am very pleased with this piece

 - it is springy and whimsical and praises the Lord - 

and that's all good!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, 

if you have a moment I'd love to hear what you think!
If you'd like to purchase this or any of my other pieces, click on the "Mixed Media Art for Sale" tab above.

Altered milk bottle

Greetings!

The "Get Altered" challenge is up at eclectic Paperie 

and the challenge is to alter a glass jar or bottle.

I chose this milk bottle from my stash. 
The embossing on it says "A bottle of milk is a bottle of health" ~I like that!

I mixed Perfect Pearls powder in green patina with Gel Medium and spread it on the lower two thirds of the bottle with my fingers. It gives it a nice sheer sheen. 
After painting and embellishing here is my altered bottle:

(Click on pictures to enlarge and clarify)

The flowers and birds are wood embellishments by Prima Marketing. I colored them with Faber Castell Markers. These markers are India Ink and are my absolute favorite to work with. They are blendable while wet but then dry permanent and the colors are just gorgeous. The centers have a dot of Perfect Pearls in Butterscotch. The stems are American Crafts twine and the leaves are off of a plastic child's bracelet. 

The top is embellished with a cut apart green silk flower. The flourishes are cut from My Mind's Eye paper in the "remarkable" collection with the Tim Holtz Alterations Elegant Flourishes die and the edges are distressed with Distress Ink in forest moss. Some hardware store twine is wound around the neck and the top is finished off with washi tape from the Indie Collection by My Mind's Eye. The birdcage is cut from chipboard with the Tim Holtz Alterations Caged Bird die. I painted it with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in brushed pewter then applied Distress Crackle Paint in clear rock candy.

I am entering my altered bottle in the "May take the challenge with Mou" at Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft where the challenge is to be inspired by a garden.
I hope you are inspired to alter a glass jar or bottle yourself and link it up with us at eclectic Paperie!
There are lots of great products in the shop and ideas on the blog - I've linked them up for you!

Thanks for stopping by today.

I'd surely appreciate it if you have a moment 

to leave me a comment!