Birds in branches - Matthew 13:32

Greetings!

Today I've a new canvas to share with you. 

(click on photos to enlarge and enhance)

The blue background started with lots of Tim Holtz Distress Paint in "broken china" and "salty ocean" which I sprayed with water and just let it run all over and mix together till I was happy with the color. Then "picket fence" and "picked raspberry" Distress Paint were applied with random stamps. The brick wall is "vintage photo" and "fired brick" Distress Paint mixed with Golden extra heavy gel medium applied through the Wendy Vecchi Brick Wall stencil with Liquitex paint in "unbleached titanium" for the "grout". 

The tree is made from Glidden paint chips cut with a Sizzlits die called "branches with leaves". After die cutting I dipped them in melted Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. The trunk is also paint chips - torn, painted with Distress Paint and then coated with Inkssentials Crackle Accents.

The die cut branches and leaves behaved just as I expected when I put them in the hot UTEE, curling and bending - look at the dimension - exactly what I was trying to achieve!

The birds are chipboard by FabScraps coated with gesso then painted with Silks Acrylic Glaze.  You can see the thick, shiny coating of enamel on the leaves pretty well in this picture too:

Many of the products I've used are available at the eclecticPaperie online shop, I've linked them for you for easy shopping. Be sure to poke around the store and the eclecticPaperie blog, you'll find lots of great ideas and cool things to buy!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I appreciate your comments!

eTeam Picks challenge - dream big canvas

Greetings!

It's my turn to host the eTeam Picks Challenge

at eclectic Paperie!

The eTeam Picks Challenge is held on the third Thursday of each month and each challenge is an opportunity for you to be inspired by one of eclectic Paperie's design team member's creations, to share your work, and to be entered into the challenge prize drawing!

The eTeam Picks Challenge is all about inspiration and having fun! During each challenge one of the eTeam members will share a topic, word, technique, sketch, or product that will become the foundation for your creation.  This challenge is all about mixing it up and just enjoying the creative process so feel free to share a home decor project, journal page, card, scrapbook page, mini album…. Anything goes!  We want to see your work and hear about your inspiration.  All of those who play along with our challenge will be entered into a prize drawing for a $15.00 gift certificate to the eclectic Paperie store.

My challenge to you is to 

Use Papers from your Kitchen 

in a Collage

  

In my collage I've used a napkin and tea bag tags and sleeves -  

can you find them?

(click on pictures to enlarge and enhance)

I've created an 8"x10" collage on canvas. The background is made up of miscellaneous ephemera including scraps of designer paper, maps, book paper and the sleeves that Tazo tea bags come in. The stamps used are Stampers Anonymous Easter Blueprint and Unity She Script. The Crafters Workshop Quatrefoil stencil was used to apply Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Black Embossing Paste. Washi tape is by Recollections and My Minds Eye and the green frame is by K&Co. Tim Holtz Distress Paint was used as a wash to unify the background papers and Faber Castell Markers were used to color in the butterfly stamp on the background as well as to do all of the shading. Rub-ons used are by Kaiser Craft, K&Co, and Ideology Remnant Rubs.

The girls face is book paper painted over with Golden paint in Titan Buff and her cheeks are Claudine Helmuth Studio Pink paint. Her dress is two different styles of Tazo tea bag tags. Her hair is individual butterflies cut from a paper napkin, outlined in gold metallic gel pen by American Crafts and glazed with Ranger Crackle Accents.

Trying to capture the dimension and the crackle finish for you:

The other day the sun was shining in on this canvas and the crackle finish on the butterflies 

was glistening so beautifully, I had to take a picture

Here are the edges of the canvas:

 I hope my work has inspired you! 

Now it's your turn to join in on the fun!

Here are a few things to keep in mind for this challenge…

• You do not have to use products sold in the eclectic Paperie online store…but we do love it when you do! Please be sure to follow the challenge which is to use papers from you kitchen on a collage project.

• Share a direct link to your creation, not just your blog, using the Linky Tools feature at the end of the post on the eclectic Paperie blog. 

• When uploading to any online galleries, please use any of the following keywords; eP, eclectic Paperie or eTeam Picks Challenge.  Link your creations to the eP blog.

• If you’d like to be considered as one of our featured projects and be entered into our prize drawing, please be sure to add your link by midnight Eastern time July 31st.  

The challenge at Simon Says Stamps is "Green" this week, your project can be the color green or be environmentally green - I think my canvas qualifies both ways so I am linking up with them! Perhaps you'd like to join that challenge as well as eclectic Paperie's too!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love your comments!

Hope to see your project posted over at eclectic Paperie! 

eP "Bring it" challenge

Greetings!

The eclectic Paperie "Get Altered" Challenge is being hosted by fellow team member Mary Ann who primarily creates scrapbook layouts but has recently been dabbling in mixed media. 

She is challenging us to 

"Bring It (mixed media) to a Scrapbook Layout"

Well, it's been a while since I've created a scrapbook layout so for me this really was a double challenge! I went looking for a sketch to use since I was always successful producing layouts that way and found this cool one by DeeDee Catron at UmWow Studios. It is for the July sketch challenge which I am entering

The polaroid style frames around my pictures are chipboard from the UmWow Studio store. On my background I've used Tim Holtz Distress Stain to make splotches in the color "broken china" and Ranger Perfect Pearls mists in "blue raspberry". These splotches are reading very bright in this picture, they are actually the same color as the base paper. I saw a technique on Ronda Palazzari's blog by Denise Morrison to use modeling paste on a transparency and wanted to try it out. The dark red paint you see in the herringbone and chicken wire patterns is Liquitex "cadmium red deep hue" paint mixed with Golden Heavy Gel Medium applied through The Crafter's Workshop stencils on to clear plastic cut from packaging. I am super happy with how this came out!

The designer papers I used are by My Minds Eye from the 6x6 "Remarkable" collection. The base piece is also MME from the "Good Day Sunshine" collection and the white paper is Canson 150lb illustration paper. I used this because I knew I would be using wet mediums on it. The word "fun" and the chipboard dots are by Crate Paper from the "wildflower" collection. The word Knoebels (which is the amusement park we were at) is Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type. In the upper left corner, the flourishes are a Sizzlits die and the date stamps are by Close To My Heart.

I apologize that I am a bit late to the party with this one as the challenge ends on July 17th but if you have a little time to "Bring It" to a layout I hope you'll join in the fun by linking your project at the eclectic Paperie blog here.

Thank you for stopping by today!

I appreciate your comments!

Happy 4th USA!

Greetings!

Today I am re-sharing a project I made last July.

I pinned this awesome flag on my "Techniques I want to try" Pinterest board, and sure enough I got around to trying it! Stephanie Ackerman made this one (I just love her work - you should poke around her blog!) This is Stephanie's:

Here is my version done on a 6" x 6" canvas:

I mixed Tim Holtz Distress Stains in Barn Door and Faded Jeans with ModPodge and applied it to sheets of vintage book paper. While that was drying I covered a 6"x6" canvas with vintage book paper and did lots of stamping and inking through punchenella with StazOn inks on it.

After the colored papers were dry I tore them in to the strips and block I needed and added them to the canvas. The stars were punched with a punch by Stampin' Up. A little doodling defines the stars and stripes. Once you mix Distress Stain with Mod Podge and let it dry, it is no longer water reactive so a final coat of Mod Podge to seal the canvas can be added and the Distress Stain does not move!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

I appreciate your comments!

Have a wonderful 4th of July holiday!