Showing posts with label Inkssentials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inkssentials. Show all posts

Saturday, 12 March 2016

Life Is Good with PaperArtsy

Hello all, Alison here.  I've a new tag for you today amidst all the Encores which have been happening over at Words and Pictures while I'm away.  Sometimes, all I need is some ink and a really great stamp to make me happy, and that's what you get here.


It's one of the PaperArtsy Hot Picks collage stamps, so the flower and the text come all in one.  (Some of the Hot Picks are reduced at Country View Crafts at the moment, so grab'em while they're hot!)


I started by blending Distress Inks onto a tag, and then did some spritzing with the Tim Holtz water spray bottle.  It does give great droplets!


Then it was simply a case of stamping the flower, which I did in a combination of Archival inks - dabbing mainly Olive around the leaves, mainly Cornflower around the flower heads and adding Potting Soil over most of the text.


I used a little bit of Fresco paint in Chalk on the flower petals, building up layers in thin washes until I liked the effect.


I stamped the sentiment from Tim Holtz's Simple Sayings and embossed it in Weathered White.


It was stealing the flower's thunder though, so I used an embossing ink pen to add a bit of Weathered White to the petals too, to balance the look.


Some simple crinkle ribbon tied with fine twine makes the topping.  I layered it up on to some white card, distressing the edges with ink and the Paper Distresser and my fingernails.


And I finished the whole thing off by splattering some of the leftover Chalk paint on by tapping a paintbrush.


And that's your lot.  A simple springtime tag, but it makes me happy...


... as does the fact that in a couple of days I get a few days at home with my craft supplies again (all being well)!  Hope you get to do something that makes you happy soon.

Alison x

Click on the links to go shopping at Country View Crafts: 

Monday, 8 February 2016

More Than You Realise - Journalling by Alison

Hello all, it's Alison (butterfly) here from Words and Pictures, and I've been using one of my old books as a journal again.... just playing around really.


This started out going in one direction, and then shifted, and I'm a bit surprised about where it ended up, but I suppose these colours are something of a foretaste of spring.


Initially, I was just gluing down some paper scraps left over from another project to get them out of the way... then I added a coat of gesso to soften and blend everything.


This Tim Holtz woman used to bob up in my early journalling efforts quite often, but she hasn't been out for a while.  I stamped her in Pumice Stone and clear-embossed over the top to give her a subtle presence on the page.


Over at the other side, I did the same with the fabulous large flourish stamp (also a TH one).


I'd been playing around with the wonderful cone flower for something else where it didn't quite work, so I tried it out on these pages and rather liked it.


Then I started to build up layers of colour, using mainly Fresco Chalk Finish Acrylic paints, first in blues (Smurf, China and Blue Glass)...


... then some (slightly surprising to me) shades of mauve and lilac (Wisteria and Purple Rain, and eventually some Blueberry).  There's some Wilted Violet Distress Ink in at this stage too...


... a layer of Ground Espresso stencilling (which barely made it through to the end)...


... and finally a step into brights with Hey Pesto and Limelight.  From a distance I confess it does look slightly like the final stages of a very impressive bruise!!


But close up I love the effect of the layered colours.


Shading around the main images helps them pop.


I used the same colours to light up the woman's eyes, and I love how she emerges out of the purply shadows.


There's lots of splatter - mainly in Ground Espresso, I think.


The inking around the edges gives us a really nice look of aged weathering.


And I really like the effect of the embossing resist of the flourish under the paints too.


I used some Small Talk stickers and, as I did with my recent tag for the Make Your Own Background theme over at Country View Challenges, I used a white pen to doodle lines around them.


I love how this completely changes their look.


So there you have it... another journalling journey.  I'm not always sure about the results, but I do enjoy the process and the learning, and I think that's what journalling is really about.


Thanks so much for stopping by today, and we hope to see you again soon.

Alison x
Click on the links to go shopping at Country View Crafts!