Mixed Media Canvas - Dream

I decided this week I wanted to walk away from Cut and Paste for a while and get my fingers totally dirty.  I love to create these canvases of the kids in my world and hang them through out my house.

This time though I reached for colors that I barely work with, green, peach, and yellow for the background.  After layers and layers of shimmer sprays, a little brushed corduroy around the edges, a little teal ink over the top,  some stucco, stamped script, masking tape, gesso, a little finger painting, a little drippage, the background was born.  Not much thinking just messy messy goodness. 

For the embellishments my focal point is the roses made from Aluminum cans. I have a video on these on my YouTube channel.   I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Rose and Tattered Pine cone to create them.  I rested them on top of a piece of sheer ribbon with sequin flowers.  Then for more texture I used the Prima Burlap Rose leaves, some were spritzed orange and gold to make them varied.   I added a Prima Cinderella Spray of Crystal flowers, and loved how the texture of the glass complimented the rustic metal.

To make the Prima birds blend a little better with the canvas I decided to alcohol ink them with black soot, patina rub-n-buff, and  then a gold paint on top of that. I did the same technique to the Prima birdcage (minus the Patina). I also patinaed a  metal butterfly and dragon fly charms from Pink Paislee.

I went through my Miscellaneous pile (the one that has a random element here and there left over from previous projects), and added the Prima Cabochon Roses, flower centers, and a random bead spray. I had put together the ornate plate with the ticket dream in it for a previous project and never used it.  Thought it complimented this one perfect so I threw it in. 

I love how all these random things came together.  There are so many textures in this piece that I can literally sit for hours and stare at it. When I walk by I can't help but reach out and touch it.

Thanks for stopping in today. 

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com

Resources:

8x10 Canvas

Glimmer Mist:   Perfect Peach, Meadow Green, Gold

Prima:  Cinderella Spray, Clock, Cabochon Roses, Sultan Flower Centers, Resin Birds, Metal Birdcage, Burlap leaves, Resin Corner, Chain
Pink Paislee: Dragonfly and Butterfly Charm
Tim Holtz:  Ornate Plate, Adage Ticket, Number Plate, Tattered Rose Die, Tattered Pine cone Die, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

Ranger: Black Archival Ink Black Soot Alcohol Ink

Rub-N-Buff: Patina

Misc: Stucco, Gesso, Ribbon, Gold Sharpie, Script Stamp, Aluminum Cans

Save the Scrap! Card Share | Hi!

Hi Artsy Addicts.

Angela Butler-Carter here.

Today I decided to save the scrap. It's sort of like saving the crap but much more productive. lol.

I tend to work amid the chaos in my creative process and I blog proof of that every wednesday on my blog in a series called Workspace Wednesday. I got that idea from Ann-Marie & the Studio Calico blog. It sort of keeps me in a creative mood all the time knowing and sharing my work desk every week. And since i love working this way I tend to not put my scraps away. I leave them out on my table (It's a bar height dining table so I have lots of room - theoretically) and I'm sharing a card I made just trying to save some awesome scraps.

I have these veneers from Studio Calico that I've used on other products and now I have the random letters that are left over. Luckily I had an "H" and an "I" so here's a little card to say "Hi" obviously. lol.

Save the Scrap Supplies

Flowers - Prima
Veneer Frame & Letters - Studio Calico
Leopard Paper - Heidi Swapp
Patterned Paper - Pink Dot (October Afternoon) Floral (?)
Cardstock - White (Bazzill)
Grid Stamp - Studio Calico
Ink - SU! Taken with Teal

Oh and in other news I finally finished my Cottage Chic mini album. By finished I mean finished embellishing it for now until I print more photos and get my hubby to add his journaling so I'm just going to show what I've got so far. And I'm going to try to make a video of it to share. Seems easier than trying to fumble with my camera and a book. Here's a cover pic for you.

More on this album to come.

Thank you for stopping by.

Happy crafting.

Angela

Cottage Chic Mini Decked Out!!!

 Finally here is my finished mini album using Marion's digital designs for "Cottage Chic Mini". This little gem was so fun to create with from printing them out to cutting, inking and trying out the copic  stitch technique.
Amazing creative goodness was going on, what's wonderful about doing mini's is that you don't have  be afraid to try out new things. Like the covers after watching Marion doing the crackle technique I knew I had to try this out. And yes crackling it's addictive, who know adding this medium and a little paint would give such an oldie feel to your creations.
My little tip is don't give up I think I crackled the front cover like four times before getting the effect I wanted. Then I decided I wanted to create a window in the little pretty frame on the cover, I used some heavy duty wire mesh I had laying around my studio. It worked out perfectly and so adorable for the rustic look (that was my substitute for chicken wire).

 The little dress form chip board was calling for a fun scrappy skirt and vintage seam binding with trims and a little Prima flower. It screams chic to me and  reminds me of my girls, who doesn't love being a girly girl with a grunge flair. Every girl even a dress form needs some pearls!!

 My little mini turned into a chunky little piece of heaven filled with vintage trims, vintage buttons, burlap, muslin,  paper doilies and shipping tags. Below is my video showing the whole mini, hope you enjoy.

Supplies:

Cottage Chic Mini Digitals

White card stock

shipping tags

Ranger: tissue tapes, distress stain walnut stain

distress inks brushed corduroy and pumice stone

Ranger: Perfect Pearls Mists blue patina

Canvas Corp: fringe

Prima: Genie Stones, Innoscence Collections, Laraine Pearl white

Prima: Tea Roses Peach Frost, mix flowers

450 Helmar Glue

Crackle Medium

paint

Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Med. matte

Paper doilies

Vintage buttons and trims

Vintage seam binding

wire

twine

burlap and crinalin

Digital Layout - Brighton Gibbs

I thought you guys might enjoy a glimpse into my Photoshop World today. This is a digital layout that created a few months ago of my son Brighton.  The photo was taken back in 2009 in front of  tin wall.

© 2012 Tonya A. Gibbs Photography - All rights are reserved.

This took hours in Photoshop, but I will try and break out a few of the steps for you.

1. When I go on photo shoots I'm always looking for things to photograph that have lots of texture, color, and patterns. Such as:  Rust, Concrete, walls, plants, wallpaper, grass, etc...Organizing these photos is KEY! I have an external hard drive that I store all of my photos on, I have all these fab textures stored in a folder titled "Stock Photos" and inside that folder by Texture, Pattern, Colors.   This helps me get a better idea at a glance. 
2. Always start your digi layouts in the 300 dpi resolution and the size of the final printed piece.  I knew I wanted mine to be printed on 8x10 so that I could easily store, share, frame  or even add to a scrapbook page later.
3. Then the creative process begins, I start with my bottom layer and add a textured image, then just start playing with brushes and blend modes  building layer after layer until I achieve the look I'm after.  

How long does it take for one of these to emerge? Well it is hard to say. Sometimes I limit myself to an hour or two and sometimes days. Just depends on where my mind is at the moment.  I know many of you have art journals that you test out techniques or color combos on. I use photos like this as  a "Digi" art journal.  When creating these pieces, I'm testing out new Photoshop techniques so that I stay on top of the latest trends.   It is an added bonus that I can print them out and share them with my family.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com

Crackle Tutorial and Sneak Peek

                                   Crackle Tutorial
Step 1 - Brush on crackle medium onto a surface (here I am using a $1 box from the dollar store) coat evenly over whole surface.
Allow to dry (better dried naturally-but you can use a heat tool just don't leave it on the surface to long).

Step 2 - Brush on your choice of paint this will be the top coat and the black will show through the cracking process. (apply a nice coat of paint with one swipe).

Step 3 - Allow to dry and see the lovely crackle appear. Now just embellish your project.

Crackle sneak peeks!!! 

 Yes that is my Cottage Chic Mini-I so love this crackle technique that Marion Smith showed us on her ustream video on her channel (apieceofcraft).

I did try the copic stitch and oh yes it's easy! Love how it looks with the crackle technique, I wanted to use chicken wire but the holes were to big, so laying around my studio was this heavy duty wire mesh...love how it looks on my Cottage Chic Mini.

This tutorial was inspired by Marion on her youtube channel.

Youtube -apieceofcraft (Marion Smith)

happy creating, Peggy Lee

http://pegbaker.blogspot.com

Supplies:

Box

Folk Art Crackle Medium

Apple Barrel Goose Feather Acrylic Paint

Supplies in sneak peek:

Marion Smith digitals cottage chic

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Med. Matte

Ranger Distress ink-brushed corduroy and pumise stone

Ranger Distress Stain-walnut stain

Twine and Wire Mesh

Cottage Chic Mini

Marion has done it again, her Cottage Chic mini is absolutely gorgeous. I finished mine this week. I wanted to keep mine simple because I want to have plenty of room to write all over the book, and decorate the pages as I fill it.

In mine - I included a few pages from the April mini that were printed on transparencies.  I love how the transparency looks against all of the notebook lines. 

Each of my signatures has 3 sheets. The first sheet is the cover provided in the download, with the journal lines (also provided) printed on the back.  The second is a double sided page of lines I used the ones from the kit, and I also used the filler page from the Prim Rose book with the roses on it for the back. For the third page,  I printed the cover pages a second time. Once the book was bound, I formed interesting pockets from this page by cutting slits in the pages, before gluing them together.

This is one of my favorite pockets.   I had printed my covers on canvas, but didn't like the look after they were printed.  So I decided to use the printed canvas as a pocket liner.  I really love how this mistake turned out to be fab.  It gives a great texture to the book.

Here is a video walk through of my mini.



Want More Inspiration?

Marion shows how she made her covers on Ustream - Click here to watch

Marion - did a Video on YouTube for another method for binding. Click here to watch Marion's Video.

Oh one more thing before you go... Did you hear "Marion & Garett are giving away a color laser printer. Details can be found in her YouTube video linked above.

Can't wait to see your versions of this mini. Please make sure you tag me in Artsy Addicts if you create one.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya Gibbs http://www.psychomoms.com

Gadget Addict Review | Skitch App

Hi everyone. My name is Angela and I'm a Gadget Addict. (Insert chorus of "Hi, Angela" here.) There I said it and I feel so much better.

I'm one of those people you see who is glued to her phone, walks around with my iPhone and my iPod because they are so very different, and always wants the latest and greatest in technology. (Emphasis on the wanting but not necessarily buying....Hey, I'm a teacher!) Being the proud techy geek that I am I have found awesome technological advances that have helped me in my crafting journey.

Usually when I start crafting I go in blind. What I mean by that is I don't normally have a plan in mind. I just go in and do what feels good at the moment. 90% of the time I complete most of my projects this way. Sometimes when I go in blind I hit a speed bump. My indecisiveness rears it's massive, ugly compulsive head and I can't decide what I want to do with a project. I get about 60% of the way through a project and then I get stuck.

One way I've found to get unstuck over the hump is a great app from the makers of Evernote. Evernote is a great app that I use for chronicling things I find on the net. I'm an avid internet researcher, just like everyone else I'm sure but I would often not know how to chronicle the things I found away to find for another day. Evernote, and all their other products offer great solutions to internet organization issues.

While researching Evernote capabilities I came across an app called Skitch.

Here is a screenshot of what the app looks like on my iPad. I used the Skitch app to add the drawing, arrow, and text to this screen shot from my iPad.

 

 

Here's what the app looks like when you first open it.

As you can see you can draw on photos, you can take a screenshot of your ipad, a website, a map, or you can start from scratch with a blank page.

The three icons on the bottom are the photos that I've skitched (or photos I've drawn on.) One of the nicer things about this app is you can always go back and edit the photos after you've saved your original skitch. Just in case you may want to go back later and make changes.

I've been using this app recently with my Cottage Chic album. Here's a little preview of a few of my skitches.

When I get stuck on a project and I need to come up with a plan I take a picture of my project (with my iphone of course.) My iphone syncs pictures to my ipad and I load the picture from my ipad into the skitch app where I then start playing around with different sketches and ideas on how to complete the project.

 

 

 

Here is the cover of the album filled with my new Washi Tapes and embossing. I'm still working out the title and focal image. Here I used the skitch app to plan out a Title and draw a few stick figures to represent either a stamped image or an actual photo. Haven't made that decision yet.

 

 

Here is one of the inside pages where I'm trying to work out the embellishment around the image and a sentiment. I'm thinking of tucking something behind the photo. Maybe a pinking circle to add some embellishment and a little banner at the bottom to add a sentiment. "Swoon" comes to mind when I remember this moment from my wedding day.

Love the fact that with the "Skitch App" I can move things around and not have to commit something until I feel it's right.

If you happen to be like me the Skitch app is a great tool to use to plan, brainstorm, or try things out before making that commitment. The app is available on Apple and Android products.

Happy planning and crafting everyone.

Angee Lee Carter

 

Posted with Blogsy

Giveaway | Win a Color Laser Printer from Marion!

Have you heard the news? Have you heard super fantastic news?

Marion is giving away a Color Laser Printer by HP. Whoop! Whoop!

Marion shares her binding technique for her Cottage Chic album and details how you can enter the contest in the video below.




We can't wait to see the beautiful art you all will create.

The Artsy Addicts Team.

Marion, Garrett, Angee, Tonya, & Peggy

Sunshine - Layout

Kenny has always called Brittany his Sunshine.  When I saw the Sunkiss paper line I knew it would be perfect for a layout of Brittany.

This layout has a lot of mixed media techniques. 

First I distressed the Corrugated Chipboard with Paint, and Crackle Medium. Then I dry brushed over that with the Wild Honey distress stain.

I distressed the sunkiss paper around the edges, and layers lots of prima flowers around the layout.

Brittany's graduation photos were perfect since we took them in my garden. 

Notice the flowers match the flowers in the paper.  To do this, I used Prima's Elina Daisy Flowers, then Vivian Eliza Mini daisies.  I sprayed the Vivian Elizas with a Goldenrod colored shimmer spray, and painted the center with a chocolate shimmer spray.  They made the perfect match for this layout.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com

Resources:

• Prima: Eline Daisies, Rose Trim, Sunkiss Paper, Button Vine - Nature's Garden, Vivian Eliza Daisies, Sunkiss Chipboard, Park Bench Shabby Chic Resin, Bird House Shabby Chic Resin, Mask - Brick, 
• Ranger:  Wild Honey Distress Stain, Crackle Medium, Picket Fence Distress Stain, Baby Blue Paint. 
• Sizzix:  Tim Holtz Envelope die
• Buttons
• Jute Twine
• Zutter: Corrugated Chipboard
• Golden: Texture Medium,
• Glimmer Mists:  Tattered Leather, and Sunflower
• Lace.

"Cottage Chic Mini" Printable Album by Marion Smith

Here is my walk through of Marion's new mini album available on her website at http://www.marionsmithdesigns.com/, besure to check out Marion's blog.
I am still working on this beautiful mini, trying out some new techniques and will share soon.



Thanks Marion and Garett for all you do to bring us these wonderful digital downloads and all the inspiration you share.
Peggy Lee