Cardabilities Sketch Challenge!

Hello everyone,

This sketch from Cardabilities inspired me to create this card for my Women of Substance series for the maternal line of my family.  Over the past months, I would share some history of the women in our family with my 20 year old niece, and we'd view old photographs too.  When I saw this sketch for the current sketch challenge at Cardabilities, the muse in me inspired me to create this series.  The cards as they are completed will be mailed to my niece and inside each card, I will provide a biography of each of the women.  I would love to be at her home when she receives and opens her first card.  In today's culture, we rarely post anything anymore, and I hope she finds these cards as gifts.

The background of the card was created with several different papers from the Blue Fern Garden paper collection from Blue Fern Studios.  Lots of strips of paper were torn, stamped, gesso'd, and stamped some more with various patterned stamps.  I weaved in a few pieces of lace as well.

This first card of the series represents my Grandmother Ruth taken around the age of 15.  I used the apothecary jar chipboard from Blue Fern Studios as the "sentiment" element on the sketch and used it as a name plate. 

 

 

 

 

Below are the Blue Fern Garden papers from Blue Fern Studios that I used to create the front of the card.

 



 

 

Thank you Cardabilities for the inspiration!!! I'm already looking forward to more sketch inspiration for my Women of Substance card collection.

 

Blue Fern Studios March Sketch Challenge

Oh you're going to have fun creating with the March Blue Fern Studios Sketch Challenge!  Look at all the opportunities to use your Blue Fern Studios chipboard pieces.  The papers are from the Blue Fern Garden paper collection, and I'm using the "Timeless" paper page.  Come on over to the blog to find out how you can enter and win some prizes.

 

 

Here's a close up of the Grande Cage: Apply white paint to the base of the chipboard, then apply green paint or use ink,  and finally add some black ink sparingly on one side of the cage, then finish the cage off with some dabs of white paint. 

Use your brick chipboard piece as a stencil and add molding paste, then stamp with your favorite script stamp. Add some ink sparingly under the brick pieces, and then paint the brick chipboard and glue to the stenciled work.

Thanks for stopping by.

Vintage Chic featuring Blue Fern Studios Paper Line and Chipboard

Oh these Blue Fern Garden papers are truly lovely with those pretty images on each paper.  The soft pinks and browns inspired me to create something vintage with the Blue Fern Studios ("BFS")Romantic Page Dangles and Royal Page Bauble chipboard pieces.  These dangles are my new favorites from BFS, they’re so original, versatile, and there is nothing else like them on the chipboard market. Both the dangle and the bauble were treated with some white paint, clear gesso, various colors of brown/copper mist, black and white marker pens, and some very small and thin metal charms to add some vintage flair. The strand of pearls on the bauble were coated with a heavy gel medium, a brown, dark brown, and copper colored mist, and a dab of white paint.

Here's another layout using a Tinci Design sketch.  Lots of layers and goodies on this page which include various Blue Fern Studio chipboard pieces, and fussy cutting from the Blue Fern Garden paper collection. Visit the Blue Fern Studios Blog here to find out the various chipboard pieces used and some techniques also.

Thank you for stopping by.

February Design Team Work for Blue Fern Studios

 

I'd like to share one of my February Blue Fern Studios projects with you today. 

 

This mixed media canvas was treated with crackle, stamping and mists.  The featured heart was cut out of corrugated cardboard, treated with gesso and mists.  After the media dried, the heart was covered with some lace, and outlined with beads.

 



 

Here's a close up of that sweet Blue Fern Studio Little Bird chipboard.  Some white paint, mists, watercolor pencil and white gel pen brought the bird to life.

The porcelain looking flowers were achieved by adding clear gesso to the flowers and then misting very closely to the centers of the flowers. Close up of the porcelain looking flowers, Blue Fern Studios leafy page accent treated with fiber paper and glue then painted and misted.  The flower chipboard is from the Bohemian flower collection from Blue Fern Studios.

 

 

I would like to respond to those of you who have inquired as to how I create the crackle effect on some of my small mixed media canvases. I first coat the canvas with some Golden’s Titan Buff acrylic paint, then I apply Helmar’s Crackle  Medium (follow the manufacturer’s instructions). Because the Helmar’s product is a little tacky then most crackle products, I leave the crackle Step 2 to set overnight, and I find I get the best results when I let the product sit that long.  You can speed it up with a heat gun, but the crackle effect doesn’t come out as well.  I apply the Step 2 Crackle on the largest part of the canvas with a large brush and very few strokes to get the large crackle effect.  On the corners of the canvas, I apply the Step 2 Crackle with a smaller brush and many strokes.  The more strokes of the product will render a smaller crackle effect, and the fewer strokes of the product will render a larger crackle effect.  Once the product has completely dried, use your favorite colored mists and stamps.  In this case, I have used the pewter metallic mist from Glimmer Mist, to add some depth, in some of the crackle crevices.  You can view some of that metallic mist on the photo above.  Have fun!

Thank you for visiting, I'll be posting more February project this week on my blog. 

Berry71Bleu 2014 "Word" Challenge

I'm honored to be a guest designer for the Berry71Bleu "Word" Challenge this month.  This challenge inspired me to work in my art journal again.  My word is "Embrace" and I'm personally challenged to shake old ideas, attitudes, and things and embrace the new ones set before me in 2014.  I'm looking forward to the change and the personal transformation.  What's your inspirational "Word?"  Hope to see you post your project at Berry71Bleu too.

The art journal pages contains some Blue Fern Studios chipboard and the predominate chipboard on this page is the quatrefoil panel on the background paper.

Canvas Art designed for Blue Fern Studios

Here's a 4 x 4 canvas featuring one of the leafy page accent chipboard pieces from Blue Fern Studios.  As was done on the sea shell frame I posted earlier, I used the art fiber tissue paper technique on the leafy page accent. You can find a short tutorial on the technique here at Blue Fern Studios.  During my Design Team term, I will be sharing a picture tutorial on how to create this effect. I normally post on the 17th of each month at Blue Fern Studios, so check out the posts for the future tutorial.

The canvas background was treated first with taupe colored acrylic paint, crackle, various colored mists, and some stamping.  It's an easy technique that brings life to the canvas and so much interest.  Quick and simple too!

Close up of the leafy page accent chipboard piece:

Thank you for stopping by.

Sea Glass Inspired Project using Blue Fern Studios Chipboard

 

I knew when I saw those pretty delicate chipboard sea shells at Blue Fern Studios I was going to do bling them up and do something different with them. You know that feeling you get when you're working on something and you're enjoying the process and you don't want it to end? Well, that's how it was for me while creating with these sea shells.  Oh, there's so much to tell you about them and not enough time or space to provide all the details.   I'm offering you some close-ups so that you can see what went into them, but mostly what gives them life, is the art fiber tissue paper found at art supply stores.  It's very similar to mulberry paper, but softer and easier to use. The paper provides peaks, valleys, structure and dimension.  I've added some more instructional details on the Blue Fern Studios Blog found here.  Check it out when you can, it's really quite simple, and I think you'll enjoy the process and results as much as I did. Later on during my Design Team term, I'll provide a written tutorial on how to achieve these results with the art fiber tissue paper to share with you.

A few shells above were treated with a taupe colored acrylic paint, clear gesso, crackle and various colored mists.

The bargain bin picture frame was painted in Titan Buff, treated with Helmar's Crackle product, and various colors of mist were applied to the frame.

Thanks for looking.  If you like these colors, come back in a few days, and I'll share a small canvas piece I made using the same art fiber paper technique on a different Blue Fern Studios chipboard piece.  :)