First workshop of the year with Brenda with photos and video

My first workshop at Country View Crafts headquarters was a couple of Saturdays ago and it sold out with maximum numbers within days of going live. I feel so honoured that so many people wanted to come and make my project without actually seeing a photo of it in advance. I called it simply a Springtime Shadowbox.

The Tim Holtz Cottontails take centre stage on a rusted frame with a collage backdrop of ephemera and papers.

I demonstrated a quick watercolour technique using the DecoArt media fluid acrylics.

And we added several of the Entomology bugs to ad to that Springtime feel ......

.... including one hidden in the foliage.

 In the background you can see the fabulous crackled design with washes of more of the media fluid acrylics.

I so enjoyed my day and I think the participants did too.

My thanks to -

Helen Pigott

Helena Jeffries

Cheryl Reynolds

Helen Hinkins

Karen Conningsby

Fred Smith (aka Nikki Acton)

Margaret Green

Robyn McClay

Karen Bradbury

Nahid Khan

Lynda Sutherland

Hazel Corrigan

Claire Martin

and of course the lovely Susan Seabert

I have put together a video of the workshop and most of the projects made on the day. Some may be missing because I either missed them - this is my first time for creating a video like this or they just wouldn't load.

Fingers crossed this works.

Here are a couple more photos of the day.

Yours truly at the front of the class,

A small sample of the goodies that can be bought  and if you are attending the workshop you get a 10% discount on the day.

A new drying rack with all the backgrounds and cottontails drying before they can be used for their next steps.

All workshops at Country View Crafts can be found on the shop website here.

hugs Brenda xxx

www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com

Sweet Cottontail mixed media card

Hi it's Brenda and I'm with you today to share a card with some of the new Tim Holtz products coming out for Creativation. The dies are sizzix chapter 1, the first release for 2019, there will be three more to come over the year

I loved this cottontail as soon as I saw him and will be using him for a workshop coming up soon.

Process steps

Dip and dry the die-cut cottontail in a watery wash of burnt umber and dry.

Repeat with burnt sienna, then raw sienna finishing with raw umber.

Darken the edges with ground espresso distress ink.

Cut another cottontail and paint him black and copper.
I just love the shape of this cottontail and there's a bow to go with him too.

Take a piece of worn wallpaper and give it a watery wash of white gesso and dry. Repeat if necessary.

Stencil with a mix of cerulean blue mixed with titanium white and another stencil with  sap green and titanium white.

Brayer a couple of layers of titan buff over the whole background ....

and then dip and dry in the light blue, light green washes with a tiny drop of raw umber in them to vintage them. When dry splatter with some titanium white and  burnt sienna finishing with a tiny amount of monoprinting with watercolour paper using titanium white and titan buff mixed together.

Cut some of the lovely new Tim Wildflowers Stems from media paper and paint/watercolour using fluid acrylics and a water spray.

Make a greetings embellishment and dye some cheesecloth using watery raw umber and titan buff.

Assemble the card.

The Beauty is in the Details

Once I had put the main pieces together I then played with some flat backed glass domes and a mirror star. With some white gesso, raw umber paint. metallic lustres and mate medium I altered them to look like these.

I also used Tim's new 'bone' mixed media powder to die. cut the bow. I sanded the edges and blended in ground espresso distress ink.

Yep I'm really happy with that now.

Thanks for popping by, I hope you like this fun card and if you have a go at using my process steps please leave a comment below with a link back to your post.

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx

Blog - www.bumblebees and butterflies.com

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/Bumblebutterfly

Pinterest Page - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/bumblebutterfly/

Supplies

Dies - Sizzix Bigz - Tim Holtz - Cottontail. Sizzix Thinlets - Tim Holtz -  Wildflower Stems #1, Sizzix Thinlets - Tim Holtz -  Garden Greens

DecoArt Media Acrylic paint - burnt umber, burnt sienna, raw sienna, raw umber, cerulean blue, sap green, titanium white, titan buff, carbon black, pyrrole red

DecoArt Media Mediums - white gesso

DecoArt Dazzling Metallics - copper
DecoArt Metallic Lustres - white frost, cosmic blue and iced espresso.

Tim Holtz Worn Wallpaper

Stencils Tim Holtz
Mixed Media Powder - Bone - Tim Holtz
Flat backed glass domes and mirrored star

Faux Encaustic Mixed Media

Today I would like to show you a new way to use the DecoArt clear modeling paste and I am using some Andy Skinner stamps and an old PaperArtsy one too.

Scrape medium layer of modeling paste over the board.

Heat dry until a skin forms but the paste must not be dry right through. Take your stamps. spritz them lightly with water and press into the modeling paste to create texture. Add some inclusions to add height. (Leave space for your fish to be added on).

Either heat dry or let the board dry naturally so that the inside of the paste is totally firm then paint it with white gesso.

Use colour sprays or paint washes to add some colour to the texture and again dry the board.

 When the board is completely dry again take a palette knife and spread a layer of clear modeling paste. Let it dry - I left mine overnight.

This is what it looks like when you come back to it. The modeling paste has given it a milky almost encaustic look.

All I had to do was add some something on top. I found an old PaperArtsy stamp which I thought was quite apt as I hadn't put any fish in the water. As the surface is rather uneven the stamp didn't quite come out as crisply as I wanted it to I went round the letters in pen.

If you fancy having a try at this technique you can find the clear modeling paste on the shop website HERE.

I hope you like the faux encaustic idea and if you use it please let us know.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Working with the new 3D folders by Tim Holtz (1)

Tim always looks to bring us new innovative products and we now have a set of 3D texture fades / embossing folders we can work with. These bring added dimension and texture to the world of embossing so that we can see some amazing details in the design and patterns. At the moment there are four different ones, this on I've used is called Botanical..

I am not going to go through the general start up of using these fabulous folders as Tim says it all on this Sizzix post HERE. Watching this is a great starting point as he gives lots of tips, tricks and ideas for using them. I wanted to to have a play and see for myself how good the detail is and how I could use them.

I love creating collage projects so I took some heavy card brayered over with burnt umber, titan buff,  quinacridone magenta and titanium white before I dipped it in two watery washes of firstly burnt umber and then titanium white mixed with a very little quin magenta watery decoart premium acrylic paints ....

....  and then ran it through the ebosser embossing machine. I lightly sanded the raised areas and rubbed a tattered rose distress oxide pad over it which helped get just the right amount of definition and used it as a background for my cards.

With some Tim Holtz lost relatives and ephemera and some additional bits and pieces from mysupplies I created two cards for the price of one. Both going to different people.

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to see any cards you make this way with the 3-d texture fade.

hugs Brenda 

www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com

Card topper or journal panel - you choose

Hi it's Brenda here today with a small panel or topper meaning you can choose how to use it OR just re-create the steps onto larger card for a laeger page or card blank.

Take a piece of media card and scrape some gesso over it and dry. Then take some of the mini Artistic Flair tab stencils - these are so cute and great for small projects - with a palette knife again scrape gesso through it creating random areas on the card.

When dry spritz little areas with water and with a brush dip some of the Amsterdam  Acrylic Ink Cool Grey into it, tip the card to let the colour swirl into the recesses etc. Dry and repeat with Burnt Umber.

Put one small drop of the Burn Umber ink onto a craft mat and smooch it into a smudge shape and quickly before it dries drag the card through it and the colour will transfer randomly.

Distress the edges and blend in ground espresso distress ink. The gather some little bits for a collage or add embellishments of your own and use as a journal panel or a topper for a card. I used a photo booth pic and a type charm with some of my collage scraps.

If you like this design you can find another made in the same way over on my blog - Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Find the beauty ......

I have a little journal panel to share with you today made entirely with DecoArt paints and mediums and some of the brand new Aall & Create stamps.

The background was made by laying down some gesso applied on the back of a palette knife and left to dry before adding in some colours - primary cyan, cerulean blue, titan buff, raw umber and burnt umber, taking time to add some dips of watery washes of these colours and finishing with a brayer and titanium white to bring some brightness back. 

The stamp set has 11 stamps in it, so there's plenty to help make up a composition with the brush which has written around it -

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

The stamp above says - Creativity takes courage.

The little arrow and dots make a nice fill in piece and the circles make up a great border.

I love using text so I added some very light random stampings of one of my own small stamps.

I used the quotestamp on paper so that it stood out more and shaded round it after I had finished and sealed it all with matte medium.

To get the finished look I splattered some raw umber and white paint and dried it and took my white posca pen to add some small dots in the circles and a black one to add some squiggly border additions. I sanded the edges and blended in ground espresso distress ink.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Fragile Winter - Brenda

I'm sharing a project with you today both here and over on my blog at Bumblebees and Butterflies. It is a mixed media canvas with layered snowflakes that I created for the Craft Stamper magazine last year, the process steps for the canvas background can be found HERE  and the steps for making the snowflakes are below.

Step by Step

1.    Die cut all the snowflakes from good quality card and seal them with a coat of gesso. Emboss them all using the embossing folder that accompanies the layered snowflake die.  

2.    Take each snowflake one at a time, spritz with water and dab on chosen colour of paint, add a second colour whilst still wet and heat dry. 

3.    Turn your snowflake over, you will see the colours seeping underneath the edges and being soaked up by the non-sealed card. 

4.    Continue to add layers of water and colours (and mix colours to create various combinations), until you are happy with the results. 

5.    On some you could add more interest and lighten the snowflake by rubbing white paint over it using your finger and keeping very little paint on it. 

6.    On others try adding transparent crackle glaze or gloss varnish, then white or black antiquing cream and rub the excess off with a damp cloth and finish with some gems given a quick coat of gesso or paint.

To finish seal the snowflakes with a coat of ultra matte or gloss varnish, stack some of them together and perhaps adhere some glitter. Add them to your Fragile Winter mixed media canvas where the process steps can be found at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Have fun with your Christmas crafting.

hugs Brenda xxx

Products

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Paints

DecoArt Mediums

Layered Snowflake die - Tim Holtz

Stacked Snowflakes - Tim Holtz