Create art every day

I wanted to decorate the cover of my small Creative Flip Journal and thought I'd share what I did!

I started by masking off the red binder with some washi tape and painting it three layers of Black Marble paint

I then added Snowflake (white) paint with an old gift card

Next came Calypso Teal paint

Now for the fun part! Add more white paint through a stencil with Cut-N-Dry foam - this is so the next colours zing! Then add Banana paint over the centre of the flowers

Reposition the stencil and add Bougainvillea to the tips - how cool is this?!

Add some dots from the stencil on to the flowers (clever how they fit together!) with black paint

To complete the background I dried the flowers and the sanded it down so it looked more shabby. I added some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to the edges

A tag and some flowers from JOFY for PaperArtsy completed the cover.

Thank you, as always, for popping by

Gabrielle x

Christmas Ornament

Each Christmas I add to my collection of small plaques and this is the latest one!
I started by brayering white paint to a board. I really didn't want a perfect finish because it adds to the grungy nature of the finished article:

Then I used a dark blu paint through a snowflake stencil. The paint bled slightly under the stencil, I don't mind that but I know you might!:

Next, I stencilled white paint over the blue. Just move the stencil a couple of millimetres in a diagonal direction so the blue becomes a shadow:

I then lightly sanded the whole board and added brown Distress Ink to the whole piece, paying attention to the edges:

The next step is to make the bauble. I painted a little Metallic Glaze to an area on some white card and then stamped two baubles on the card, one on the Metallic Glaze and one on the plain card.

On the plain one, colour the bauble in with paint, crayons, pencils, ink - whatever is your favourite medium and cut it out. Turning your attention to the one on Metallic Glaze cut out the top and the centre stripe.

Adhere the bauble, add a sentiment and doodle a white line border. This might be plaque for me but it could easily become a card, journal page, tag or anything else you fancy!

Thank you, as always, for popping by,

Gabrielle x

Bloomin' marvellous garden

I wanted to explore the new Tim Holtz Distress Crayons and so made a little page in my small journal. I must confess that since this I have payed with them a lot and love them!
I started by adding colour to the page and blending it with my finger. The day I did this was quite hot (rare in Britain!) so I had to work pretty quickly as they 'set'.

I then used a stencil and, with a baby wipe, I wiped through the stencil to remove the colour. This creates a really wonderful batik look that really is fabulous!

I then covered a sheet of card with the remaining colours in the set and stamped flowers on top.

When cut out they looked fabulous and the change of colour on the petals looks really effective!

All that was left was to assemble the piece and add a sentiment.

I hope that this inspires you to have a play with these fabulous crayons!

Gabrielle x

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Fresco Tag

Hello! it's my pleasure to be let loose again to share another project with you. Mindful of the upcoming festivities I have made a simple tag that can be easily converted into a card or party invitation or gift tag and easily replicated if you, like me, have lots to make! It's a little hard to photograph but I used metallic paint as highlights.

I started by painting a tag with very watery paint.

I then mixed some watery white paint and painted the tag. I just wanted to give a hint of the white paint so I patted it dry.

The tag then has a nice painty texture. I ended the tag to reveal the tag beneath to add even more interest to the background.

Then I stamped the images as per the main image at the top of this post with the bauble stamped again on white card. Again, I painted the bauble with watered down paint, with more paint added to where the natural shadows would be.

As a final flourish I added painted highlights which really catch the light - even if they're hard to photograph!

Thank you, as always, for popping by.

Gabrielle x

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Scarecrow Snowman

Hello all, it's Alison here from Words and Pictures, and I'm so happy to be here to share my first project with you at the Country View Crafts Project Blog.

I'm starting with a simple winter tag using one of the recent JOFY releases from PaperArtsy.  In my head I think of this little chap as a Snowman, but really he's a Scarecrow... isn't he?  Then I end up with random words like "Snowcrow" in my brain!

I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Paints and Crackle Glaze to create the background.  The first layer is French Roast with some Chocolate Pudding to make it a bit more opaque.  You can see the colours in the dark crackles.  Next is a thin coat of the Crackle Glaze.  I usually apply mine with a palette knife - I just find it easiest to control that way.

Over the top of that I put a coat of Snowflake with just a hint of Mermaid in places.  The rest of the colour came from very thin washes of Captain Peacock (from the new Limited Edition collection) once the Snowcrow was completed.

I stamped him in Black Archival with some Potting Soil and Plum added in places, just to give a hint of variation - I think you can see the effect best in the sentiment below - and then embossed with clear embossing powder.

Having the image embossed makes it stand out against the background, and also makes the "colouring in" much easier!  I used various blues and browns - all Fresco paints - and applied them in washes using a water brush.  I like building up layers of translucent colour so that you get depth and texture.

All looking fine so far, but it needed something else, so I stamped the fabulous stars as giant snowflakes and embossed them in white for a touch of frosty dimension, before adding just a hint of Vintage Photo distressing around the edges, and shabbying them up a bit with the Paper Distresser.

So, that's my Snowcrow for you - I hope you like him.  And I've just realised this is another tag which could serve as inspiration for the Colour Blue theme at Country View Challenges this month!  Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Alison x

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