Tuesday 29 December 2015

DecoArt Winter Wonderland Challenge


 
 
Good morning all, hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and are looking forward to everything the new year will bring !!
 
It’s my turn today to take part in the DecoArt Winter Wonderland Challenge and what a fabulous challenge it is, using purple & blue hues to create a winter inspired piece. It’s cold here in London at the moment so it wasn’t too difficult to get inspiration for my design.


 

Step 1
I used two canvas boards for by substrate, 10x8 and 6x8 inches in diameter and covered the boards in the following media line colours using my fingers to mix the colours together….

Phthalo Turquoise

Cerulean Blue

Dioxazine Purple

Translucent White

Antiquing Cream – Patina Green

 


Step 2


Using the Media Line Modelling Paste and the following DecoArt Stencils, I added detail to each of the canvas boards with a palette knife…..

 

Large Stencil – French Living

Small Stencil – Doily

 


Step 3

Next I used the Media Line Crackle Paste and randomly spread this on to my smaller canvas board using my palette knife, putting it on in different thicknesses to allow for different degrees of crackle. This needs to be allowed to dry naturally and not with a heat gun.

 


Step 4

Using a brown distress pad and blending tool (vintage photo) I then went around the edge of both of my canvas boards and also rubbed a small amount over the raised stencil designs in places.

 


Step 5

Moving on and using the following Metallic Lustre Paste colours I went around both canvas boards and randomly added the luscious colours with my fingers to the edges and also onto the raised stencil designs……

 

Metallic Lustre – Majestic Purple

Metallic Lustre- Brilliant Turquoise

Metallic Lustre- Silver Spark



Step 6

I found this set of 6 plastic heart Christmas tree ornaments at a local supermarket for just a couple of pounds and thought they would be perfect for altering and knew one of them would be great for this project.

 


Step 7

I had some vintage tissue sewing patterns that I decided to use for collaging onto my heart, as I really liked the colour of the heart in the first place I did allow some of that colour to show through, however I could have just added more layers or used book paper if I wanted to completely cover it up.

 


Step 8

Next I took some more of the Media Line colours as listed below and added random colours to my heart in this layers still allowing the pattern of the tissue paper to shine through. I did this step using my fingers (I do love to get painty fingers, weird I know!!)…….

 

Metallic Silver

Quinacradone Magenta

Interference – Violet

 


Step 9

For the next step I have gone back in with my fabulous Metallic Lustres again, adding more colour to my heart randomly rubbing the colours over the heart with my fingers.

 


Step 10

I had some thin 22 gauge silver wire lying around on my table so decided to wrap some of this around my heart to give some additional interest, securing at the back with a dab of hot glue

 


Step 11

I have a huge collection costume jewellery, brooches, earrings, rings etc that I buy specifically for braking up and using for projects. This piece was a cheap brooch but has a nice vintage feel to it with a bit of sparkle so I removed the pin on the back and then attached to the heart with a large dollop of matte medium. Put to one side and allow to dry.

 


Step 12

Next I took one of the Tim Holtz Christmas Flash Cards, distressed all the edges, screwed it up, opened it out again and then inked the edges and across the card with the brown distress pad (vintage photo)

 


Step 13

Next I took my collaged heart and added some brown distress inking to that to make it look more aged.

 


Step 14

Using my hot glue gun I decided I wanted to create some icicles along the top of my small canvas board and also along the top of the flash card, this was so easy to do (I found it easiest to start at the bottom of the icicle and move the glue gun up towards the top of the board/card)

 


Step 15

Now it was time to start putting all the pieces together, I glued my small canvas board to the larger one making it central and then using matte medium glued my heart to the centre of my small canvas adding some fibres I found in my stash,  allowing to dry thoroughly.

 

Step 16 

I attached my flash card to the bottom of the small canvas board as well as some jewels and a metal piece I found in my stash using the matte medium and again let dry into place

 


Step 17

For the finishing touches I used some glitter glue and added it between the icicles and randomly on the rest of the small canvas board to give it some sparkle and glued on some small pearls.

 

 


I used a lot of techniques on this project that were completely new to me but I am absolutely thrilled with the result and will definitely be using them again.


What a great challenge DecoArt….., if you want to enter with a chance to win a fabulous prize then please follow the link below, create a project of any kind following the rules and you could be receiving yourself a lovely new year surprise !!!


Thanks for stopping by

 

Bright and painty hugs

Tracy

xxx

 

 

 

 

Monday 21 December 2015

Guest Designer &Tutorial for Ranger Ink !!!

Hi everyone
I am so excited today to be a featured guest designer for Ranger Ink.....yes you heard me right....me.....guest designer....Ranger Ink !!!

I can hardly believe it myself !!!

I've created a tutorial over on there blog for this fabulous butterfly canvas... Go check it out and leave me some lovely feedback, click on the link below to take you to their site.....






Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
Xx

Sunday 15 November 2015

Playtime with Alcohol Inks !!!

Good morning
Tracy here with today's post for the 'A Sprinkle of Imagination' design team....

Sometimes you need to just let go and play with no preconceived idea, refresh your inspiration and be free. 

My favourite way to do this is to get out my trusty alcohol inks and alcohol gloss card......


I love the random patterns that alcohol inks make when you drop them onto a multitude of surfaces but the gloss card really does enable the inks to spread and create completely abstract results....
 
 

Using a straw to blow the ink around can create some fabulous effects....


Once I have a completed piece and allowed it to dry I love to sit and mindlessly doodle over my alcohol ink patterns with black and white gel pens, I love how every single piece is different and no two will ever be the same...


If you do this technique on white ceramic tiles all you need to do is wipe the tile over with alcohol blending solution and then start to drip the colours onto the tile. The colours spread instantly and you can drop colours inside of colours to create some great effects. They would make a fabulous gift as a set of multi coloured coasters !!!



Come on get out your alcohol inks, dust them off and play.....you'll have a blast but be warned...it's addictive !!!

Thank you for stopping by

Things I used today:

Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
X

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Discover Imperfection !!

Good morning, Im here with a quick post today for the 'A Sprinkle of Imagination' design team. You can click on any of the links to be directed to the products used on their website. 


One of the most common phrases I hear when teaching is 'I can't do that' !!!
As adults we are so obsessed with our art being perfect that we forget to enjoy the process......
But when we let go of perfection amazing things happen......




If we just enjoy the process and fall in love with the colours and not think about the end result then we can truly enjoy our art. 

For this journal page I used the yummy dylusions paints in Fresh lime, London blue, Vibrant turquoise, Bubblegum pink and Lemon Zest for my background and just scraped them on with a palette knife keeping the layers thin so they would be ideal for painting on.




I love the way my beautiful fairy flower girl emerged onto the page, I sketched her out and then began to paint in the features using a mix of Dina Wakely heavy body white, magenta, turquoise and umber paints, and Golden's nickel azo yellow. I finished all the details with Inktense coloured pencils and White Posca pen.




So next time you think you can't create something beautiful, let go of your fears, throw down the colours and discover and embrace imperfection   

Thanks for stopping by
Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
Xx



Sunday 13 September 2015

Another fabulous day !!!

Morning lovely ones !!

I'm sitting here with cup of tea in hand getting myself ready for another day of teaching in the North of England...

I had the absolute privilege yesterday to host a canvas workshop at 'Art from the Heart' 

A truly lovely bunch of talented ladies and of course the gorgeous Ella came to join me for the day in the studio where we created a 16x16 wall hanging canvas. 

My original canvas advertised for the class was this 'beauty' (even if I do say so myself !!!)......


We had a brilliant morning creating our backgrounds for our canvasses, lots of painty fun using various stamps, stencils and of course plenty of finger painting.......

This was my finished background for yesterday's canvas, loads of fun just playing !!!!!!


And this was my finished piece, I love how it turned out. 


And of course let's not forget those talented artists that were there yesterday....they created some pretty awesome canvases, I love to encorouge people to go with there own ideas and not just copy my sample and these girls definately went with the flow.....and not forgetting 'speedy' Mel who worked so fast that she got a 2nd awesome canvas finished whilst the rest of us were still titivating !!!!


These ladies made my 'job' so easy and I want to thank them for a truly amazing day, I'm looking forward to seeing what today's class creates !!

Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
X



Friday 28 August 2015

Creativity Overload !!!!


Morning everyone....

Just a quick one from me today, I've been lucky enough to spend a fabulous weekend in the north of England spending 3 days taking some fabulous workshops with two amazing teachers.... Birgit Koopsen and France Papillon....no I am not kidding you....how lucky am I !!!

I spent the whole weekend learning lots of new techniques and using lots of new products that took me way out of my comfort zone....but that's what it's all about isn't it ???


Playing with deli paper and liquitex paints we had a great time in Birgit's class creating canvases in the most amazing colours...


I had an amazing time learning from Birgit and then travelled across to Harrogate to take two more amazing classes with the very talented France Papillon !!!

We created a brilliant tag book with dylusions sprays and stamps and then bound it all together to create our book. It was amazing to see how different everyone's was when complete....


The second lesson of the day as to make a vintage style book.....very very out of my comfort zone and certainly not in my usually colour pallet but was an amazing lesson with a very talented lady....


I loved my creative weekend away. Fabulous classes with a great bunch of ladies... What an inspiration...would definately recommend it if you get the chance !!

Thank you for stopping by

Bright and painty hugs
Tracy

Friday 21 August 2015

Serenity !!

Good morning beautiful people, Tracy here with today's postfix the 'A Sprinkle of Imagination ' Design Team...

I love creating beautiful characters in my journal and this little lady is no exception (even if I do say so myself !!!)



I started by using some Finnabair modelling paste and put this on with a palette knife keeping it quite rough to add some texture to my page....


I began adding some of the golden acrylic colours to my background in Yellow Ochre, Titan Buff, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna and Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold and then stencilled using large dylusions stencils.....

I then sketched out my girl keeping the outline and shape simple and started to detail her with the paints, adding a sweet face with rosy cheeks


Then I wanted to add some shadows to my page. I used the darker paint colours to surround my figure and love how it makes her stand out from the page and gives a real 3D appearance. 




Finally I added my word with a black fine liner pen and painted up to the edges of th letters with my shadow colours to give some interest. 

I enjoyed playing with these paints and love the way the modelling paste adds so much texture to my page

Thank you for stopping by and visiting today

Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
Xxx

Sunday 16 August 2015

PCB Design Team Post - Postcard Love

Hi there beautiful friends

I'm here today with a post for 'Premium Craft Brands' 

I love creating postcards, there's something extremely satisfying about creating these little works of art and I like how fast they can be to design.....


I started this postcard by using my distress ink pads in picked raspberry, mustard seed, and peacock feathers using a distress ink tool to rub in to the card and blend the colours together. 

I then emphasised the colours with my PanPastels in magenta, diarylide yellow and turquoise and then stencilled with a Dylusions flower stencil and a Dina Wakley letter stencil and my pans. 




I then stamped one of Dina's faces stamps and coloured with my pans. 

To finish my postcard I went over the top of the stamp with my sewing machine to add detail to her hair and then stitched around the edges of the postcard. 

Thanks for stopping by today

Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
Xxx

Sunday 9 August 2015

Nature Knows Best !!

Good morning friends

Tracy here today with a post for the 'Premium Crafts Brands' Design Team

I recently taught a class using NeocolorII watersoluble crayons showing how they can be used in Art journalling. Whilst I love how the neocolours look in my journal I'm always looking for ways to add that little something extra.....

Well my PanPastels provided that something extra to this page......


I used yellow, orange and magenta to emphasise the colours in my flowers and although you can't see it in the photos they have a lovely shimmer to them that catches the light....


I added the words....

'Be free and be beautiful'

&

'Nature knows best so do not question'



I love how these turned out and will definately be using these mediums together again !!

Thank you for stopping by
Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
Xxx

Sunday 2 August 2015

PCB Design Team Post - Beautiful !!

Good morning my arty friends !!

I am here with a new post for the Premium Craft Brands Design Team

Playing today with my PanPastels in my large dylusions journal. I love the way the colours blend across the page with so little effort and merge together seamlessly !!


I started my page by blending Yellow, Orange and Magenta PanPastels directly onto to my journal page (no gesso) blending the colours together as I went across the page. 

Once the page was covered I sketched out my flower design in pencil before starting to go over the outlines with the Ranger Fudeball black gel pen...


I used some red PanPastel to add a pop of colour to my flowers and then used a white Posca pen to add some brighter areas. I used my signo uniball white gel pen to add some white circle scribbles to the background to add interest and add highlights...


To finish my page I hand wrote the word 'Beautiful' along the stem of my flowers and drew a border around the outside of my page. 

I really had fun creating this quick page. The PanPastel colours are brilliant and so easy to use. I can see more of these in my arty future !!!

Bright and painty hugs
Tracy
Xxx