Super Speedy Paint Backgrounds: A Tutorial

Hello!
After my last tutorial using ink to make a background, I thought that today I would go back to my 'go to' medium, paint! 99% of my backgrounds are made using paint, and I'm going to share a very quick and easy technique that will get you a fab background in a couple of minutes!
First up, the finished project.....

Right...the background! The main thing to remember is speed. Don't stop to think, just do it! We want a little blending/mixing going on, so no drying between colours with this one!
Get all your paint squeezed out onto a palette (or a bit of acetate!!), so you don't need to stop to change colour. Add your first with broad strokes of the brush..

My 'brush of choice' is a make up brush! A foundation brush to be precise. Love the feel of them, they're cheap as anything and the bristles don't fall out and stick to your work!
White is great to add in between colours to blend....

I don't stop to clean the brush either, just keep going! Pale purple next...

To stop it looking too 'blocky', add in more purple over the blue...

Plenty of white to bring the colours together! Up to now, I have used vertical strokes. Add in a few horizontal too...

I use less horizontal strokes when applying wet colour over wet colour because these tend to mix up the colours and make things a little too muddy for my taste. Up to you though! Now I add in my dark 'pop' colour...

Still wet over wet, and still not cleaned the brush as you can see! Less of the darker colour as it will obliterate everything otherwise. Colour needs to be a bit balanced though, so add a little more dark on the other edge of the piece...

I love the blue/white/purple scheme, but decided to add in a bit of pink for a change!

By now, the paint is starting to dry off, so you get nice texture as well as colour as the wet paint drags over the drier paint underneath..

That is the base layer finished...and should have taken about a minute and a half!

Now we need to add the details, so clean your brush and dry off the wet paint on the background!
This next set of pictures look very similar.... Each layer of detail is subtle, but it all adds up!
I stencilled a little through some sequin waste..

Next, print a few lines here and there..

Dots and circles...

Stamping...

And the final touch, sewing the background to a bit of black card! I also did some stitching over the paint to add more detail..

This is now very nearly done, just focal images/embellishments to add, and then text. Sometimes I add more to the painty details too, if I feel the end look is missing something! In this case I added red accents to tie in with the red hearts.
I created a flower look from some rather awesome Prima mechanicals pendants...

I covered the metal with gesso, then just flicked purple paint at them! The hearts are Fimo clay, painted red and with tiny blue dots added. Wire stems, with coils around them to make them a little more substantial! The deep pendants make wonderful 3D flowers..

Final touch, words cut from a book..

Phew...are you still with me?!!
I hope you have a go at the speedy painty backgrounds....great fun and a great base for any page!

Love Trish xxx

Embossing workshop part 3. Embellishing the embellishments.

 

 

I'm back with part three of my embossing workshop and as promised I'm back to using the melty stuff. I'm using the UTEE again with a little technique which also uses Perfect Pearls and chipboard shapes. I love this technique which is perfect for using with UTEE and chipboard.  UTEE stands up to longer heating time and chipboard stands up to a lot of layers. So let's get going...

 

I'm using a puzzle piece to work on for my demo but in the shop you'll find chipboard sheets or grungeboard which is great for cutting your own shapes.  I chose two colours of Adirondack die ink and after painting my chipboard with gesso, I coloured the base with my ink.

 

With the ink wet, cover with a layer of UTEE and melt.

 

Go back over the chipboard piece with a clear ink pad or Perfect Medium then dot on some Perfect Pearls. You don't need to cover the piece entirely just random spots of pearl powder.

 

Next comes the delicate bit. Cover with more UTEE being quite generous with it. As there isn't any ink to hold the powder in place, hold the heat gun high up at first so as not to blow the powder away, then move in closer when you see the first beads appear.

 

Keep heating even when it's melted and you'll see the Perfect Pearls move or float about underneath. 

 

The effect is a bit like that of expensive Dichroic glass which has coloured bits inside it.  It's so cool. 

 

Here I did the same thing again but using different colours of Perfect Pearls.

 

While the top layer of UTEE was still molten I gently pushed this mini bulb into it. You could try adding beads or sequins too. 

Here I covered the whole tag in UTEE and PP and after adding the top layer I put the whole thing in the freezer for a few minutes. After I'd taken it out I could easily crack it by bending the card.  If you end up with too many cracks just re-heat it and start again.

 

To finish my piece I used a Ranger Kraft tag, gesso,  Dr Martins Bombay ink in yellow, a little off cut of Glitz Design Yours Truly Polka paper,  Perfect Pearls in gold, forever blue, forever red, perfect pearl, copper and rust, Jenni Bowlin alphas and a Prima typo bulb.

 

Next week is part four and my final workshop in this series. So don't forget to come back.

 

Jaine x

Fly

Hello again!
So, second project in a row from me with no paint on it.....what's going on?!!
he he he.....its nice to force yourself into different styles sometimes!!
Here is my mini layout (or panel? is it a layout if it has no photo???!) for today... 'Fly'..

Lots of different textures and substrates used here, starting off with a square of Kraft card. I did very little to this base, just a squirt or two of Peacock Feathers Distress reinker mixed with water, and some splats of both that colour ink and Vintage Photo. I edged the square with the Vintage photo too. Teeny bit of stamping, again using those two colours...

The flower top left is cut from sticky backed canvas, dyed using Peacock Feathers Distress stain, and edged with Vintage Photo...

The other large flower is created from Kraft Glassine paper. Crumpled up, inked (Peacock Feathers again!) sprayed with water and then sprinkled with Perfect Pearls. The water mixing with the Perfect Pearls forms a thin, paint like shimmery wash. Cut out, and assembled into the flower shape...

I also used Glassine for the two flourishes on my panel.
The focal image is a card from the gorgeous Jenni Bowlin Vintage deck (this image is in the silhouette 2 pack). I just inked lightly round the edges, and placed it centrally in my design...

The four blue flowers are very easy to make rolled 'roses'. Simply cut a spiral shape from card, then roll up to form the rose shape. Glue the end underneath the flower to secure, and you're done! I've coated the flowers with Glue N Seal, the covered them with Rock Candy Dry Stickles.

I glued all the elements down, then added in the final touches. Two small junkyard findings light bulbs, to be precise! I removed the words that were originally on the bulbs simply by scraping them off!

Now, I'm not normally a gem kind of girl, but these particular colours are just perfect for this project! These are Prima Say It In Crystal Rounds.

The last thing I did was to give the whole thing a spritz and splatter with gold drawing ink. I covered up the main image so that would stay pristine, but gave the rest a thorough splatting! This also helps 'tone down' the gems a little, a bit of distressing does no harm!
So there you have it!

See you soon,
Love Trish x

Be Mine?

Belated, Happy Valentines Day.. I hope everyone had a lovely day!

Today, I've an altered wooden block to share with you, using some of the gorgeous Glitz Design Yours Truly Collection seriously, these papers should be for stroking only!!

 I am known as a bit of a hoarder/recycler and just couldn't pass up on this off cut of wood.. I cleaned it up and left to dry out naturally then sanded the edges..

I painted around the edges of the wooden block with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint in Charcoal Black.

While it was drying I set about looking for some corrugated card from a left over box from Christmas.. Bingo! I found just was I was looking for and it was white! I stamped and grunged it up a little using Ranger's Pearl Metallic Paint Dabbers and glued down onto it one of the small typo bulbs from the Prima Junkyard Findings set.. I just LOVE these!

While the paint and glue was drying on everything! I tore and grunged up some of the pretty Glitz Design Yours Truly Polka paper.

 Once the bulb had stuck to the cardboard... I added some wire from my squirrelling bag! and mounted the heart onto the paper using 3D foam pads..

Next I took another sheet of paper from the Yours Truly Collection by Glitz Design.. measured the block and cut the paper to size using a sheet of Truly Ephemera..  

 The paper was really too nice to cover up really!

Here is my finished block..

I used a sweet little stamp called Be Mine from Stampotique Originals, and stamped onto tissue paper using Jumbo Jet Black Archival Ink Pad.

Thank you for calling. Have a great day. Gez