AT Squares and Box

  

AT Squares and Box

Hi, it's Celia here. Today I'm trying out the Artist Trading Squares from Creative Expressions. (here) They are made from thin mdf, so they are light yet sturdy and will take a lot of products. There is also a dinky little box to keep them in! (here)

For the first square, I painted it in black Decoart gesso then dabbed on Andy's new Lava Paste, dabbing it on thickly with a pallet knife. Then I made a few circles with bottle lids and sprinkled on a few of the new embossing powders (Super Nova and Funky Cold Patina) and also some by Ranger. I also pressed in a washer while the paste was still wet. All kinds of magic happens when this is heated up - I never tire of watching it!

I should really have embossed the washer first, but I got round this by painting on Emboss It Dabber and sprinkling on some bronze powder.

 Then I went in with some other colours (Decoart Dioxadine purple, PaperArtsy Spanish Mulberry)and some of the Decoart Metallic Lustres to make it nice and shiny. I finished this off with a smaller washer that I embossed with the Funky Cold Patina.

For the next square, I stuck on the steam punk cat from Antonis's Stamperia Paper and added a few bits of torn paper for extra interest. I grunged it up a bit with ink pads and some stamping then added a couple of coats of Seth Apter's Vintage Beeswax baked texture powder. While it was still hot, I sprinkled a few other colours of embossing powder.

For the last square, I went a bit shabby chic. I gave it a base coat of PaperArtsy Chalk, then a layer of Stamperia Turche Indiano, wiped back while it's still wet. Then a wash of Decoart Prussian Blue. I  used Tim Holtz' Entomology stamps set, with the text stamped in Watering Can. I decided to do the bee in black detail embossing powder so it would stand out well, then added a few bits of Decoart interference paints and some gold paste round the edges.

The box is first primed in black, avoiding the tabs, and then assembled with Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue. This held the mdf well and set nice and strong. 

Then I stencilled some Decoart crackle paste through a background stencil. This might have been better done before assembly, as I had to wait for each side to dry! I threw on lots of washes of Decoart fluid acrylics in purples, turquoises and Interference paints. 

I wanted to make the crackle paste bits darker so I brayered over some Dylusions purple and a turquoise paint. I finished it with some gold gilding paste, some Decoart metallic lustres and a few blobs of gold embossing powder round the edges. To finish, I added a Tim Holtz Adornments butterfly that I coloured with alcohol inks.






So here are the finished squares, which sit quite happily in their little box. I hope you feel inspired to have a go at some AT squares!

Celia  x