Quotes

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." -Thomas Merton

Saturday, February 22, 2014

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.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

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.