A Tim Holtz Curio Box

Using Tim's new Curio Box die I've created a mini scene with a retro/vintage transport theme. To get that lovely retro vibe I used Andy Skinner's transfers

The base of the box was cut from black card and lined with the die-cut shape from the lid which was cut from white card.

Sealed with gesso and then covered with the transfers the lid piece and insert was then dipped in some cobalt turquoise wash and dried before putting together.

As I like to do I distressed the edges with brown distress ink and spritzed it lightly with water before drying it to get that aged look and did the same over some of the backgrounds.

I kept one of the car transfers to rub onto white card and cut out for part of the focal point in the front with the lovely couple ....

.... painted a metal penny farthing bicycle and adhered to the top ....

... and added some 'extras' to set the scene.

Thanks for stopping by.

Brenda xxx

From the Country View Crafts shop -

Curio Box die

Retrology Transfers

Paper Dolls

It's Brenda here with a fairly quick panel which is now in my Nature Journal.
If you haven't seen the new releases from Andy Skinner you might like to pop over to the shop to take a peek at them.

Process steps

On mixed media card stamp distressed wallpaper as a panel using cobalt ink.

Dip, drip, dribble, splatter and dry sap green and cerulean blue watery paints drying between each layer.

Stamp texture using the enigma stamp with olive and watering can.

Stencil the word CREATE with cobalt and coffee inks.

Acrylic watercolour a couple of leaf stems and one bloom from the wildflower stems, distress the edges.

Assemble the panel adding a little piece of torn brown paper with distressed edges and the enigma stamped on it.

Mount it on kraft card and blue coredinations paper.

Thanks for popping in.
hugs Brenda 

xxx

Supplies from Country View Crafts

Andy Skinner stamps - distressed wallpaper, enigma

Andy Skinner stencils - inspire

Andy Skinner Quick Grab Glue

DecoArt media fluid acrylic paints - sap green, cerulean blue, prussian blue hue, phthalo turquoise, carbon black. yellow oxide

Ranger Archival Inks - cobalt, olive, watering can, cfee

Distress inks - faded jean, ground espresso

Tim Holtz dies - wildflower stems

Using Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt media paints and mediums

Hi it's Brenda with you today. I love using the Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt products so here are all the steps to make this plaque.

Backing board

Using a piece of mountboard I sealed it with gesso, dried it, sprayed with water and quinacridone gold mixed, laid on washers with neat quinacridone gold on the back of them sprayed and dried.

Next I blended raw umber round the edges, spritzed with water and dried again before dipping in watery paynes grey.

When this was dry I stamped using some of Andy's Illusionary Artists Tech Trauma background stamps ....

 ... and then spread crackle paste through Andy's Old Film stencil (which I have cut into pieces) and left it to dry.

Later I rubbed in some english red oxide antiquing cream and rubbed it back to blend it in more with the background.

Arched frame

I took the frame from the Sacred Secrets set and sealed the frame itself and the backing with gesso, dragging a piece of plastic down it on this second piece. When the frame piece was dry I brushed on some white crackle paint and left it to dry.

On the backing piece I spritzed with water, painted on some paynes grey and spritzed it again before drying it, then stamped the arabian arched window from the Gothic Grunge set restamping the edges with just the wall parts of the stamp.

Later I painted in a little colour to give it more definition.

I took the frame painted on patina green antiquing cream, rubbed it back and then sanded and distressed the edges with ground espresso distress ink.

I stamped King Spook (from the Spook stamp set) on a leftover piece of painty card and cut him out.

Flowers

Taking a large piece of watercolour paper I spritzed splattered, dripped and dried quinacridone gold several times. I also dipped some steel washers in the paint and laid them on the paper to get the circular marks.

When fully dry I die-cut the tattered florals bigz die and a couple from the thinlits small tattered florals to make up the flowers. I dipped the reverse side in some water quin gold and then rolled and scrunched each one and left them to dry before unrolling them and layering them up.

Once I had assembled them I stamped using Andy's text stamp from theTech Trauma set and dribbled and spritzed more quin gold to give them light, dark and contrast.

Flourish

I use a bigz die to cut the flourish from bubbalux foam, daubed it with texture sand paste and a mix of quin gold, raw sienna, paynes grey and raw umber paints. 

I love the way this product softens and moves and can be formed into bends and shapes before it goes cold and hardens again - please be careful when it is hot, handling it can cause burns.

I lengthened the flourish .....

... and bent it to fit the space I wanted it to go in.

I assembled everything together adding some of the washers that had been textured and rustified.

It came together really well although this was not quite like the hazy picture I had in my head to start with lol, but I'm still pleased with the outcome.

I hope you like all the textures on this.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Sacred Secrets

I was incredibly fortunate to join a talented bunch of crafters at the recent Andy Skinner workshop at Country View Crafts. I have found that the best way to put into practice what you've learned is to do the techniques at home. So this project is the sum of what I learned!
The original kit I used was the Sacred Secrets kit. The picture on the front of the packaging shows what's in the kit but as there's no picture of it made up then you can really use your imagination! In writing this blogpost I've seen that there's a sample on the website so if you'd like more inspiration click on the link above.

I started by making pieces look rusty:

1. Use a watery wash of Paynes Grey
2. Add a coat of Quinacridone Gold
3. Use a very watery wash of white paint
4. Add another coat of Quinacridone Gold

Then for the background (and sunburst up to step 2)

1. Paint the background generously with Chocolate Pudding
2. Paint a thinner layer of Caribbean Sea. When dry, sand and add a very watery wash of white paint
3. Use a watery wash of Paynes Grey and allow some drips

To make the frame more interesting, glue the off cuts from the cogs to the frame. Make sure it's very dry before making it look rusty.

For the heart I used gold paint and some numbers left over from the workshop kit

The finished piece looks like this:

Thank you, as always for popping by and thanks for the tips Andy!

Faux Encaustic Mixed Media

Today I would like to show you a new way to use the DecoArt clear modeling paste and I am using some Andy Skinner stamps and an old PaperArtsy one too.

Scrape medium layer of modeling paste over the board.

Heat dry until a skin forms but the paste must not be dry right through. Take your stamps. spritz them lightly with water and press into the modeling paste to create texture. Add some inclusions to add height. (Leave space for your fish to be added on).

Either heat dry or let the board dry naturally so that the inside of the paste is totally firm then paint it with white gesso.

Use colour sprays or paint washes to add some colour to the texture and again dry the board.

 When the board is completely dry again take a palette knife and spread a layer of clear modeling paste. Let it dry - I left mine overnight.

This is what it looks like when you come back to it. The modeling paste has given it a milky almost encaustic look.

All I had to do was add some something on top. I found an old PaperArtsy stamp which I thought was quite apt as I hadn't put any fish in the water. As the surface is rather uneven the stamp didn't quite come out as crisply as I wanted it to I went round the letters in pen.

If you fancy having a try at this technique you can find the clear modeling paste on the shop website HERE.

I hope you like the faux encaustic idea and if you use it please let us know.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Illusionary Artists - stamps from Andy Skinner

Hi it's Brenda here and I have been having great fun with the new stamps from Andy Skinner, particularly the Spooks set from Illusionary Artists available on the website.

Using  DecoArt media fluid acrylic paints and DecoArt media mediums I made a layered background on an mdf media board, stamped with the alphabet letters and then stamped the gremlin on card, coloured him and cut him out.

The words were taken from the Word Up set of stamps.

If you like images a bit on the dark side - these are for you.

If you make something using these stamps please send an image through to me brenda_brown25@hotmail.com and I will look to use it in a future post.

Enjoy your art.

hugs Brenda xxx