Port Said (Scrapfriend Sketch Challenge)

 

 

Experimenting with the Blue Fern Studios Quatrefoil inspired me to create with Scrap Friend's Sketch #17. Originally,  I was just going to save the green and blue piece creation of chipboard, modeling paste, webbing, stamping, etc., but when I saw this sketch on my blog reading list, I knew those horizontal pieces weren't meant to be thrown in box. :) Little coin charms were sewn with gold metallic thread at the bottom of each horizontal creation, and joined together with pieces of the Blue Fern Studios Quatrefoil chipboard creating a buckle between pieces.  When I realized that it almost looks like a belly dancing belt, I went through boxes of pictures looking for some old belly dancing pictures I have of myself.   The title "Port Said" comes from the first belly dancing album I danced too. Great exercise, wish I could shake my hips like that again. LOL. 

 

  

 

 

Close up of belt, buckle and coins. 

 

Another close up (I really like how the webbing treatment came out): 

Sketch:

Blue Fern Studios Quatrefoil Chipboard:

Thanks for looking.  I hope you get inspired like I did when Scrap Friends shows up on your blog reading list.

ATC Mini Album

 



 

Hello everyone!

 

I finally created a little album to contain my ATC collection!  Again, I used the Blue Fern Studios quatrefoil panel as a stencil for the background of the cover, and worked with lovely cream and lavender hues to enhance that one Prima flower I've been coveting and waiting for the perfect project. The Royal Border from Blue Fern Studios (picture below) was painted and micro beads were added to add more texture.  I promise you the colors are so soft and shabby looking in real life. ;)

 

Here's a close up of that Prima flower.

 

 

 

Quatrefoil Panel from Blue Fern Studios:

 

 

Royal Border from Blue Fern Studios:

Watch for my Give-A-Way of Blue Fern Studios Chipboard this week!!!

"Done Is Better Than Perfect" - Creating with a Chipboard Stencil

Hello everyone!  It's so good to be back creating and doing something that I love after a few months of absence.  I have been caring for my mom during her convalescence, and we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.  During some down time, I created this canvas inspired by two things: the Blue Fern Studios Quatrefoil Panel, and a quote from Pinterest.   Are you one of those that starts something and then find it's not perfect in your eyes so you put off finishing it?  I'm guilty of that, and when I read this quote it resonated with me to do something with it to remind me that there is pleasure and growth in the process and finishing something is just as rewarding.

The delicious background was created using the Quatrefoil panel chipboard as a stencil and lots of application of molding paste, mists, ink and stamping.  The word "Done" was created with the chipboard bits inside of the chipboard and stamped, inked and added some Diamond Dust to tone down the harsh black letters.   Unfortunately, the pictures don't truly capture the rich saturated colors of those glorious mists.

      

Quatrefoil Panel used as a Stencil

                                                       

 

I loved how the chipboard stencil background technique came out, and I will be making more creations with this same technique in the near future.  Hope you stop by when I complete the second piece that I've been working on and I'll share a tutorial with you.  Until then, do something you love and finish it! :)

 

Keeping The Best Sketch #61

 

Originally, I found this Keeping The Best sketch quite challenging, but once I decided on what papers to use, and how I was going to use them on the page with a stencil that matched a pattern on one of the papers, it all started to come together rather nicely. I consider it one of my favorite background pieces.  I used the Blue Fern Studios Circle Motif chipboard to implement the circular design on the sketch.  The papers are from Creative Imaginations --some old and some new collections.

Sadly, this is my last post designing for Keeping The Best.  My mom fell down on mother's day and dislocated two shoulders and broke one of her arms.  I will be taking care of her during her convalescence, so you won't be seeing much posting from me until she starts to improve.

 

  

Blue Fern Studios Chipboard (May Project-Tags)

I was so inspired by the colors in the Creative Imagination Devotion Collection that I used on the bargin bin journal I recently posted at Blue Fern Studios, that I decided to continue the collection and create some tags with some of the paper and color scheme.

The first tag showcases the Marcasite Technique on the Blue Fern Studios chipboard that looks like a door knocker from the Ironworks Accent collection.

Marcasite Technique

Embossing Technique

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope I can inspire you to try out this Marcasite technique to use on some of your BFS chipboard pieces.  It is really quite effective on chipboard and renders a jewel like quality.  The technique is easy to apply.

 

Here are pictures of the Blue Fern Studios chipboard pieces I have used.

 

Ironwork Accents

Widgets

 Here’s how I obtained the look of Marcasite on the door knocker chipboard.

 

1)      Apply an acrylic gold metallic paint, or an metallic ink from a stamp pad, to your chipboard and let it dry.

2)      Visualize where you want to apply your Marcasite application to rest and apply either (a) a liquid pearl product, or (b) an application of glitter in small dots, or (c) add self-adhesive pearls or rhinestones on your pattern, and allow any wet product to dry thoroughly before continuing on to the next step.  I alternated an application of a liquid pearl product and a glitter dot on my first example.

3)      Use a small paint brush and dip it in a dark grey, black or vertigris colored mist and apply the mist with your paint brush all around your pearls/rhinestones/glitter dot design and set to dry.  Wipe up any excess mist that may get on to other areas of the chipboard that are not in alignment with your Marcasite design.  You may need to apply another coat for more drama because the acrylic metallic paint may produce a resistance.  If this happens, then try a watered down black acrylic paint on your paint brush instead of the colored mist.

4)      Once the mist or paint has dried, use a moistened  Q-tip to clean off the mist or paint on the pearls/rhinestones so that the radiance of the pearl/rhinestones show through.

5)      Then using your fingers, apply an ivory/gold metallic paste or paint around the edges of the Marcasite technique to bring back the radiance of the original gold metallic paint application.  This last application really shows up well in the door knock chipboard tag featured below because there was more surface space available on that particular chipboard design.

Blue Fern Studios Chipboard (May Project - Marcasite and Image Transfer Technique)

Image Transfer Technique used on journal cover

Close up of Marcasite technique used on Blue Fern Studios Chipboard

Marcasite Chipboard Technique:  Visit Blue Fern Studios here to find out how I created the Marcasite Technique on the Organic Vine Corner chipboard.
 

 

IMAGE TRANSFER TECHNIQUE APPLIED ON A BARGAIN BIN JOURNAL 

Brightly colored pattern paper (preferably two-sided paper and of good quality like Prima, or in this case, I used paper from a Creative Imagination collection).  Cut the paper to the size of your journal cover, or your chipboard design.  I trace my chipboard on the pattern paper and then cut it to size.

Acrylic paint to match a background color in your pattern paper.  In my case, I used Titan Buff from Golden.  I prefer to use a color paint that matches the background paper in case I get overzealous and rub off too much of the image.  You don’t want a dark colored purple paint showing through a pastel shabby chic paper.

Supplies:

 

Journal or chipboard piece (preferably Blue Fern Studios chipboard ;))

Pattern Paper

Acrylic paint to match the background of your pattern paper

Paint Brush

Water Mister

Heat Gun

Old credit card or small squeegee

 Paint a generous amount of acrylic paint to the top of your journal.  Do not apply the paint thinly because the technique will not work properly.

Quickly apply the paper, cut to the size of your journal, over the paint.  The side of the paper that you do not want to image transfer should be facing you when you apply the paper to the paint.  Your preferred pattern paper will be in contact with the acrylic paint.

Use a credit card, or squeegee, to press out all the air bubble and to ensure the paper has contacted with the paint on the journal base.  I do this several times to make certain I get a nice finish.

Apply heat gun to the paper for a few minutes then set aside to dry for two hours.  Pile a few heavy books on top of the journal to chipboard.

Now the fun part begins:  Use your water mister and mist over the project several times until it is lightly saturated.  Use your fingers and gently rub off the first two layers of paper until your preferred pattern papers reveals itself.   I normally rub in a circular motion and spritz water when the paper seems like it’s drying out.  Continue to repeat this process until you like the pattern that has appeared.  On my example, I left some of the other side of the paper intact.

 

Give it a try and let me know how it turns out!

 

Thank you for dropping by for a visit.

 

 

 

 



Blue Fern Studios Organic Vine Corner Chipboard

 

 

 

 

May Sketch Challenge for Blue Fern Studios

What a darling sketch Michele Singh has created for BlueFern Studios May Sketch Challenge!  It’s so delightful and perfect for a child layout. I always try to stay true to Michele Singh’s sketches because they are little pieces of exquisite art.  The details she incorporates makes you want to create something equally tasteful. 

I used the sketch to preserve a memory of my little brothers and myself at a birthday party. I titled it, “Mama brought the party” because mama’s kids were the party.   There were five of us (one is missing from this photo) and we were a party wherever we went.   She always tried to dress us a like so that we would stand out in a crowd and she could quickly identify us and see what mischief we may be up too. Must have been difficult trying to keep up with five little ones, but she had the energy and strength to do it then. The lattice gate chipboard from Blue Fern Studios is featured in this sketch. I hope you join the design team at Blue Fern Studios and post your interpretation of the sketch and get a chance to win some Blue Fern Studio chipboard.

 Techniques used on chipboard:

Gabrielle Butterfly chipboard: painted in white dauber, misted, and a home-made mixture from my scrapping buddy of Prills, micro beads, mica and glitter were applied on top of the butterfly. Oh, this home-made mixture is so very yummy looking IRL.

 
Nifty Tickets and Tags chipboard: I applied the image transfer technique using some Scrap Cake papers and applied it on top of the chipboard with some cream colored acrylic paint.  After the paint dried thoroughly, I sprayed the chipboard with water and rubbed the top layered paper off to reveal the bottom layer of the printed paper.  This process renders a worn and fabric looking appearance.  It’s great for brightly colored papers. I have a much larger piece using this same technique to share with you on May 27th (my reveal day) at Blue Fern Studios.

 Lattice Fence chipboard: Apply white dauber and randomly apply white crackle paint over the fence. After the paint and crackle have thoroughly dried, use a gray watercolor pencil (dry…do not wet the pencil) and rub it in on the crackle to enhance the crackle effect.  This is one of my favorite applications because the extra step of applying the watercolor pencil really makes the crackle pop.