A red photo block

I have an old calendar block that had a Christmas image glued onto the top of it, so I removed it and am making some photo blocks to use as photo birthday months for the family.

Process steps

Paint all the sides with your chosen colour - I mixed pyrrole red, bunt umber and a tiny amount of black.

Dip, drip and dry four of the sides with a couple of different watery washes to create some texture.

Cover one of the sides with stamped tissue paper.

Stamp a large image straight onto another side using black archival ink.

Use a snippet of stamped tissue paper, a stamp and some stencilling on the third side.

Add more random stencilling in two colours and a stamp on the fourth side.

Adhere the photos to the two blank squares and leave them to fully dry.

When dry sand the edges back to the wood, blend brown distress ink over and seal with a coat of soft touch varnish.

I've actually added four photos and got two more blank blocks to decorate and add another 6 photos to cover all the immediate family.

xxx

A curio box scenario - Power Down

I have created a little diorama with the Tim Holtz new Curio Box die and sme of Andy Skinner's transfer sheet images. There's rather a retro/vintage vibe with the old vehicles and vintage photo and although it took me a while to make with the thinking and decision making time, it would be much quicker if I were to repeat it.

I have posted this on the Country View Crafts Project Blog with more details and photos. If you would like to see more details please pop over to take a look.

xxx

Retro Adventure for Andy Skinner

Today I have a vintage media board over on Andy's blog.

Here's just a snippet from one corner. It's in my shabby vintage collage style and I included some of Andy's products in the making.

I'd love it if you could pop over to take a look at the photos and details I've added.

xxx

New Year New Decade 2020 - 10 years old

Yes it's January 1st 2020 and a little later this month I will be celebrating 10 years of blogging.

Where have all those creative years gone? I've learned so much and I found a new passion in my life but as circumstances changed over the past 2 year some of that disappeared but I'm back at my desk just playing with some gesso, paints and inks and created this little wooden block just for fun.

I'm looking forward to a new creative and inspiring 2020.

Process steps

Paint a light coat of gesso - almost a dry brush technique and leave some of the wood exposed.

Apply a wash of raw umber and wipe back allowing the colour to seep into the wood.

Stipple sponge some more white gesso.

Rub in ground espresso along the edges and corners - wipe back with a wet cloth.

Again sponge some more white gesso just in the central areas.

Dip and dry the sides in prussian blue and burnt umber washes.

Sand all over and re-ink the edges.

Take a stencil and apply white chalk paint to create the pattern.

Paint over a coat of decoupage to seal the block and watch the sealer pick up some of the distress ink to age the look even more.

Supplies

DecoArt - Americana Premium white gesso, 

DecoArt Media paints - raw umber, prussian blue, burnt umber

Ground Espresso distress ink 

DecoArt everlasting chalky finish paint