Creating Colourful Backgrounds !!

Morning lovely people

Tracy here today with a post about my favourite background techniques...

I like my backgrounds to be colourful, interesting and quick so I use tried and tested techniques so that I can quickly get pages together ready to journal on.... 

My favourite paints to use in my backgrounds are the super colourful Dina Wakley Acrylics and also the Dylusions Acrylics. 

The two paint brands work together perfectly and the colours are bright and luscious!!!

Next I like to add some white to my background, I either dip my fingers in the paint to make dots or dip the end of a flat  paintbrush in the white paint and dab on to make lines, some times I use the edge of a credit card dipped in white or black paint to add finer lines !!

I love to add stencilling to my backgrounds and very often reach for my Dylusions, Dina Wakley and Tim Holtz stencils for this, there are so many fabulous designs to choose from. I usually add my stencilling in black and white using Acrylic paint or a black archival ink pad. 

Sometimes I add homemade stamp designs to my backgrounds, made simply with foam and cardboard and also like to draw simple circles or shapes on my backgrounds using crayons to add a different texture!!

Finally I love to dig into my stamp stash and for different stamped elements to give my background some added detail 

Products I've used in these backgrounds...

Dina Wakley Acrylic Paints

Dylusions Acrylics Paints

Dylusions Stencils

Tim Holtz Stencils

Black Archival Ink Pad

Tim Holtz Stamps

Dylusions Stamps

Stampotique Stamps

Thank you for stopping by and any questions please do not hesitate to ask !!

Brights and painty hugs

Tracy

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Playing in the puddles

Good morning all! It's finally friday and I am here today sharing my latest make with you all. As we all know our weather so far this year has been mainly rain! One rainy afternoon during half term I found myself creating something which very much represented our british weather but with a little bit of fun.

On a small canvas using Dylusions and Dina Wakely heavy body acrylics I blended the blues and turqouise paints together along with some white. Through a TCW Rhonnda Palazzari raindrops stencil I blended some of the co-ordinating paint, dried, then using the same stencil I scraped over some Finnabair art basics moddeling paste. I painted on a dark blue puddle along with some glossy accents for bunny to play in.

Using Stamotique Rainy Day stamp I stamped onto some watercolour paper and coloured in the little bunny. I added some glossy accents to bunnies glasses and to her shoulders along with a tiny pinch of glitter so that she looks like she is playing in the rain and positioned her in the painted puddle.
Using Posca paint pens I doodled onto my raindrops.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a fabulous weekend.
Hugs,
Clare x x x

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New Products | Finnabair

Hello there! 

We are absolutely delighted to have received our shipment of new goodies from Finnabair. 

I know I say this EVERY time, but wow!  Honestly, Wow.  

The new Art Alchemy Acrylic Paints are just stunning!  We have both the Metallique and Opal Magic colours in stock.  

We, of course have the new Mechanicals.... 

 and once again it was hard to not snaffle everything for myself! 

Just look at these Steampunk versions and those Heart lockets pendants!

Lets get down to Art Basics... 

Heavy Body Gel...   Mixed Media Sample kits and textures powders and art stones,  

There are four more clear stamps available, best news is the pricing has stayed the same with the small stamps still being £1.99 each

And last, but by no means least - 

the NEW Mixed Media Brushes! 

I LOVE THESE!

Told you... 

WOW! 

So, what projects will you be planning now? 

Happy Creating!

Vicki 

'Colour' Art Journal Page

Good morning lovelies, Tracy here today with a little tutorial on my newest page in my Square Dylusions Journal....

I'm really starting to love these 8x8 inch pages, having always worked in the Large Dylusions Journal it took a bit of getting used to this format.

I started by using Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylics in lime, lemon, turquoise and lapis and also Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint in teal, I put the colours on with my fingers and just spread them around the page until I was happy...

Next I went in with a Dina Wakley Stencil and some texture paste, I chose this stencil as it reminded me of the colour wheel, I heat dried the texture paste and once dry I used Dina's ruby and umber paints and again spread them on randomly with my fingers, I also added some red dots with Goldens Fluid Acrylic Red paint and again just using my fingers to do this, I also added some black lines with the side of an old credit card...

Next I painted in some of the colour wheel segments with Dina's magenta paint and also with my fingers added some of this randomly to my page to tie in the colour, I used one of Dina's stamps from the Woodcuts set with a black archival ink pad and added to various places on my page. 

I used another of Dina's stencils and some white paint to add some further detail to my page, and then scribbled around those shapes with a pencil. I then took some black paint and went around the outside of the colour wheels and inbetween them to make them stand out from the page....

Next I used the Dylusions bubble stencil and some texture paste and stencilled randomly onto my page leaving to dry (you could use a heat gun for this) and added some white splatters to the whole page, earlier in the day I had been sorting out all my paints and had pulled some dry paint out of some of the lids (you know where it all gets clogged up around the top of the tubes or bottles) I knew some of these would be perfect for this page so I used some of Prima's 3D Matt gel to glue these to my page. Once everything was dry I then went over the top of everything with gold paint, I added a touch of paint to my finger and rubbed it over all the raised areas and added some randomly to my page...

Nearly finished... I stamped the word 'Colour' with the Tim Holtz alphabet stamp set and used a black archival pen to scribble circles around my colour wheels and paint splats, I also randomly scribbled around some of the texture paste bubbles....

The final touch was to add some white gel pen to the letters to give them a little bit of interest...

Thank you for stopping by today I hope you are feeling inspired and you give it a try !!

Bright and painty hugs

Tracy

X

Products I used...

Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint
Golden Acrylic Paint
Dylusions Journal
Dina Wakley Stencil
Dylusions Stencil

Dina Wakley Stamp
Prima 3D Gel
Tim Holtz Alphabet Stamp
 

Golden Girl

Hi everyone, and happy Friday!  I've been playing with Viva Decor Inka Gold today to make my Golden Girl mixed media card.

I spread a very small amount of Inka Gold onto an acetate sheet, spritzed it lightly with water then worked the paste into the water to dissolve it, then tapped some Distress Inkpads onto the acetate and spritzed those, then swooshed a piece of card through the puddle a couple of times.  And this is what I got:

Using a Ranger Sponge Applicator I sponged Dylusions Bubblegum Pink paint through a Donna Downey 12x12 Perforated Dot Flower stencil to get this gorgeous background.

Once I'd stamped the Julie Nutting Mixed Media Doll I painted the dress and crown with a watered down paste of Inka Gold, then coloured her skin, hair and bow with Distress Inks.  Look at the shine on her dress!

When I'm fussy cutting images where an inner area needs to be removed, e.g. between arms and body, I often cut straight across the arm following the line of the skirt, cut out the inner area, then realign the arm and stick back together with a bit of 1/8" Wonder Tape on the back and you can't see the join!

Have a great weekend!
Shirley

Our Time - Journal Page

Hi folks

Georgie here, and sharing a page I have created in my Heart Journal. Seemed very fitting as Valentine's Day has just been. I love heart shapes and have a journal dedicated to this... yup, I know, I'm sad haha!!

I created a brayered background with Tim Holtz Distress Paints and used Finnabair's Art Basics White Gesso over the top to add depth to the darker colours. 

Love creating a strong focal and these word elements by 7 Dots are great for this.

The hearts were drawn by hand and shaded using Dina Wakley Paints, but diluted slightly to creating some easy shading and contrast. Some twine added to give extra interest to the page.

Simple crackle stamping around the edge in places, love this stamp from Finnabair's mini range, then finished up with some splashes of Art Basic's Black Gesso.

Have a fab day and catch you soon!

Georgie

xx

Upcycled Love Birds

Well it's that time of year when things start to get a bit lovey dovey and I thought that I would share the love with my DT post for A Sprinkle of Imagination.

I recently found a couple of old coasters, you know the ones with a cork back, well they were in a bit of a sorry state and very nearly ended up in the bin! I had a lightbulb moment and decided that I would give them a bit of TLC.

I gave them both a coat of gesso and painted my backgrounds with Dylusions paint. Using Dina Wakey pebble heart stencil I blended through the contrasting colours I had used in the background. Using Dina Wakely Scribbly Birds stamps I stamped my him and her birdies and painted them using Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paints. I added some doodles using my posca paint pens and gave the coasters a couple of coats of clear matt varnish to protect them.

So there you have it, my upcylcled coasters ready for a valentine cuppa! Who said romance is dead?

Happy crafting,
Clare x x x

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Happy Anniversary

Happy weekend, folks!  Shirley here with a slightly grungy anniversary card for you.  February being the month of love, we're seeing plenty of hearts, pinks, reds - but rather than a valentine's card, I thought I'd make an anniversary card.

I started by colouring a piece of mixed media card with Barn Door Distress Paint.  Once that had dried, I applied Brushed Pewter Distress Paint to some bubble wrap and used it as a stamp onto the panel.  I used the Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts Small Stitched Rectangles to trim the panel.

The 'happy' (diecut from glitter foam) and 'anniversary' are from the Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut set.

The red Distress Paint hadn't covered fully, leaving some of the paper texture showing, but I think that adds to the grunginess :)

The heart is made from Tim Holtz Grungepaper which had been sponged with Fired Brick Distress Ink then embossed to give it texture, and heat-set with clear embossing powder.  I attached it to the red panel with a heart-shaped brad which I found in my stash.

On a tent-fold white card, I 'painted' some Brushed Pewter marks with a credit card, added some more marks to the red panel, then adhered the panel to the card.

I hope I've given you some ideas for Valentine's or anniversary cards.  See you soon!

Shirley