Mixed Media ATCs with Vivid Ultra Metallics

Hi everyone!  I love texture, and what a fun and easy way to play with different textures and to try out different techniques than on ATCs (Artist Trading Cards).  I also love beautiful colors, and just had to play with my newest Vivid Ultra Metallic Colors from ColourArte.  

I hope you will come along and play with me while I show you what I did in this video tutorial.   

Supplies Used:

Vivid Ultra Metallics

  True Metals Dragon Gold

  True Metals Autumn Flame

  Douglas Fir

  Teal Zircon

  Sunflower

  Bolivian Blue

  Red Poinsettia

White gesso

Wallboard paper joint tape

Wallboard fiberglass joint tape

Honeycomb die cut

Medium weight chipboard

3D gloss gel medium

Variety of laces and fibers

Heart shaped corrugated tag

Stickers and embellishments

Let me know what new ideas and techniques you come up with while you play.  It is hard to stop!

Thanks for stopping by, and make time for creative play!

Barbara

Mixed Media Cards - Call Me

Hi everyone!  Barbara here today on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog.  I don't know about you, but I absolutely love antiques and anything vintage.  When I saw these Vintage Phones, I knew they would work really well with Graphic 45's Communique paper.  So I decided to make a couple of vintage cards with them.

For the first card: 

Make a 5" x 6-1/2" folded black card for your base.  Cut script paper slightly smaller than card front, distress with black ink and adhere.  Die cut an elegant frame from black card stock and adhere to card, as shown.

 Choose your chipboard and paint each piece with black acrylic paint.  I like to do this first because it not only gives the chippies a base color, but it also seals the surface.  

Next, I began adding some extra dimension onto my telephone pieces by using the border strips from the Texture Sheets Fiesta.  I also added a strip of chipboard to each phone handle, as shown in the photo.

Paint handle and bottom of phone with Raw Sienna.  Let dry

Repeat step above using Transparent Yellow Iron Oxdie.  Let dry.

Repeat step above using Carbon Black antiquing cream.  Let dry.  Add brass metallic pasted to the phone, dial cover, and handset, as shown.  Wipe off most of the antiquing cream with a wet baby wipe or paper towel.  

Punch a 1" circle from scrap paper with a craft punch and adhere it beneath the dial cover.  

Adhere all pieces to the card front, as shown.  Lastly, dry brush a silver metallic paint over the brass areas, and distress edges with black distress ink.  Add a piece of coiled wire from the handset to the phone base to finish it off.

For card number two:

Follow the same procedure to paint the phone and put all the pieces together.   Cut the numbers apart and adhere to card front, as shown.   Use the photo as a reference.  Lastly, I added more silver and gold to the brass areas of the phone to help them stand out better against the paper background.

Supplies used:

GSL Vintage Phones

GSL Mixed Media Fragments 1 (numbers background)

GSL Texture Sheets Fiesta

Graphic 45 Communique paper collection

Spellbinders Dies: S4-445 Majesty; 

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Burnt Sienna

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Metallic Silver

DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream - Carbon Black

DecoArt Metallic Lustre - Burnished Brass

Black acrylic paint

Black distress ink

Foam blending tool

I hope you like my project today. I thought these would make great cards to invite your friends or family to get in touch.  But I also believe these would make great cards for any occasion, and I think they have a bit of a masculine feel, as well.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful, crafty day!

Barbara

Gift Box with Craftwell USA eBrush and Sizzix

Hi everyone!  Barbara here with a fun little project, perfect for gift giving.  Of course, to finish it off, I will be using my Craftwell eBrush,  along with some other products from the Craftwell USA line.  Aside from the fact that Christmas is just around the corner, and boxes of all sizes will be needed, I also have quite a few birthdays in September.  So, why not get started now, whether for birthday giving or Christmas.  Boxes are always needed.

I die cut this box from one of  Eileen Hull's Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Dies.  I had previously done some stamping on it but never finished it.  So I painted it with a coat of white gesso.  You can still see some of the stamping, but that will just add to the layers.  

I put the box together without glueing it so I could pencil in directional arrows.  Although I did not need to do that for this project, it is always a good idea to figure that out before decorating the box, particularly if you decorate it while it is flat.  

I used a non-directional stencil and spread some texture paste through it without concern for covering the sides completely.  I used post-it notes to cover the flaps that will be glued to the inside so the stenciling would not interfere with the box closure.  Let the paste dry before proceeding.  

When the paste was dry, I began giving the piece its color.  I began with this green-yellow marker.  I left some white areas for the following colors.

Next, I used the medium green marker, again leaving some white areas.

The light blue marker was used to fill in the background, and randomly giving it darker areas for depth.  I love how the eBrush allows you to see all the layers of color on your background.

I wanted to bring out the stenciled texture again, so I realigned the stencil and eBrushed the light purple through it, moving the stencil along.

By eBrushing with the Silver metallic marker, I was able to give a really nice shimmer to the box.  I think I was able to capture a small section just below the pen tip in the photo below.

Now it is time to glue the box together.  

I left the top flap unglued so that I could add a gift inside.

Now to decorate the top.  I used my Craftwell Cut n' Boss machine to dry emboss a piece of Core-dinations color core card stock with my A6 embossing folder.  I love this embossing folder because it has some really fun words to use on many projects.

I specifically chose the purple color core card stock to match my paper, so after giving it a quick sanding to reveal the words, here is the result.  I cut out "Forever Friends" and sat it aside for the moment.

And what box is complete without something pretty on the top?  I tore out a page from a Dollar Store dictionary and gave it a quick blast of color with the light purple.  

I die cut the flowers with my Cut n' Boss machine and eBrushed a dark purple center in each flower.

Next, I eBrush a peach color around the edges of each flower.

Then I eBrushed the green-yellow color between the dark purple center and the peach edges.

I had to cut out a few more flowers from the dictionary paper. I simply scrunched the paper a bit and carefully opened it back up.  Then I layered the flowers, starting with the largest and ending with the smallest on top.  I used a paper piercer to punch a hole through the center and a decorative brad holds the petals together.

Some black beaded floral embellishments were added to match the card stock and the lace around the top edge of the box.

Supplies used:

Craftwell USA eBrush

Craft well Cut n' Boss

Teresa Collins Beautiful Words and Stars A6 Embossing Folder

Eileen Hull Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die - Blocks/Cubes, 3-D
Tim Holtz Sizzix Tattered Florals Bigz Die 
Sharpie Markers
Stencil 
Core'dinations Color Core card stock (black with purple core)
Dictionary paper
White gesso
Texture paste
Decorative brads
Sand paper

There will be more fun projects featuring up cycled projects, so make sure to check out the Craftwell Blog all month long for more inspiration from the team. 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a crafty day!

Tiny Fairyland Theatre with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and Prima

Hi everyone!  Barbara here today on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog.  Today I want to share this sweet  Tiny Matchbox Theatre, another new item from GSL.  Wait til you see what can be done with these little boxes.

These are the two pieces to make this cute little box.

I glued the two pieces together, but left the flap on the inner box unglued.

I covered the outer "box cover" with a piece of the flower print paper.  In order to allow this piece to slide easily over the "inner box", I left the chipboard bare on the inside.  Next, I chose my chippies to use on the cover ...

... and painted them with a beige chalk paint.

I next cut a piece of print paper to fit inside the inner box and chose my chippies to use on the inside. These pieces were also painted with the beige chalk paint.

I used Twinkling H20s to color all of my chipboard pieces.

I simply added some Platinum Stickles over the Victorian Corners, and Star Dust Stickles was added to the wings on both fairies.

Waterfall Stickles was added over the water colors on the star, and more Star Dust Stickles was added over the mushroom top.

I painted the inner box with the beige chalk paint, then added some texture by dabbing some of the H20 water colors over the background.  

Next, I used a damp baby wipe to blend out some of the darker colors.  As you can see, I left the top flap open so I can insert my pieces when I get it put together.

Glue your pieces to the top of the outer box, as shown.

Glue the remaining pieces to the background paper for the inner box, as shown.  Trim off any excess chip board, as needed.

Slip the background paper inside the inner box and close it.  You can decide whether or not to glue the lid closed,  but if you choose not to, you can always open it and change out the background paper and chippies to suit any occasion.  Better yet, you could make multiple "cards" to keep inside the box.  That would be super fun!

At this point, you can also add more tiny embellishments, if you wish, like tiny flowers, bits of lace, glass glitter, beads, charms, the possibilities are  endless.

Supplies used:

GSL Tiny Matchbox Theatre (coming soon)
GSL Garden Fairies Small
GSL Victorian Corners 1
GSL Celestial Shape Set (star)
GSL Mushrooms Shape Set

ColourArte Twinkling H20s
  (Natural Linen, Almond Beige, Ruby Red, Black Cherry, Key Lime, Blue Grass)
Prima Fairy Belle 6x6 paper pad
Americana Timeless chalk paint
Stickles Glitter Glue (Star Dust, Platinum, Waterfall)

I hope you enjoyed this project today, and be sure to stop by the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts shop to see more new and exciting chipboard available.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful, creative day!

Barbara

Embossed Acetate Tag with ColourArte

Hi everyone!  I have another fun project for you today using my ColourArte paints and, you guessed it, acetate.  I wanted to see how well the products work on acetate, and I must say, I was not disappointed.  And so, I have prepared a short video tutorial on how I made this pretty tag.

I hope you enjoyed my video today!  Here are a few closeups of that pretty shimmer and shine.

A complete list of supplies are included in the description area of the video.  Thanks for stopping by, and have a Colour-ful week!

Barbara