Just to say: Thank you ASOI!!!

Hello my sweet friends!!!
It is time to say goodbye to my design team in ASOI. It was a really incredible and very positive experience! The store is spectacular, has lots of goodies for an artist! But won't get sentimental, because some doors close and the others ones open:) and I would like to thank to everyone for the amazing instance in this DT. So my last project is this simple card with simple words but from all my heart! I leave with a very good taste, with new friends and excellent organization! Just to say you: Thank you!!!

For creating of this card I have used Prima Paper as the background of the card. Creating texture with Buckground stencils and Finnabair Art Basics: Modeling Paste. As well as adding the  Art Ingredients Micro Beads - Black.

The Finnabair Art Basics: Clear Gesso is essential in order to make Prima Color Bloom Sprays more colorful. And to get a vibrant effect, I have added the dry Finnabair Art ExtraVagance Glitter Set.

Some flowers, Chipboard and small elements complete the composition.

And this is all! :))
Thank you for being with me, for your comments and just because you are great!
See you next time!!! xx

2 lovely wedding cards

Hello my dear friends!!!
Elena hire with you.
The communions have almost finished and it is coming the season of weddings. For this occasion I have created these 2 cards of lilac tones. The backgroung is made from white watercolor paper as a base. To create the texture I used White Gesso, and Finnabair Art Basics: Light Paste with Stencils. For the color, I have used some of  Dylusions Ink Sprays and for more contrast, I put some freehand  Darkroom Door Background Stamps. A bouquet of flowers and the text ended the composition. So we have a fresh result with a romantic air.

Here you have more photos with some details.

I hope it has inspired you to create your projects! :)))
Thank you very much and see you later!

Much kisses. xxx

Wish -tone on tone paint effects.

Hello!
I'm back to painty messiness today...and I want to show you how you can incorporate scraps of waste, but matching colours into your work.

I created a background using lots of layers, and added in some stencilling through some sequin waste, and splats of black UTEE. A few random painty lines too!

When I'm adding paint to cardstock, I always work on a base of white copy paper. This means when I go over the edges of the card, paint ends up on the paper. When I'm done, it means I have a piece of A4 paper with random painty mess on it too! In this case, I stamped the heart onto a section of the A4 paper, then cut it out and added it to the background using gel medium....

With a tone on tone effect like this, it can get a little lost, so I gave the heart a little shading around the edges. Everyone has their own favourite way of adding shadow, I like using a black pastel pencil and smudge with a paper stump. Whilst you want the heart to stand out, you also want it to blend in too, so it looks part of the piece and not just plonked down on the background. To do this I made sure my painty lines went across the heart too, and the UTEE splatters were on there as well!

The final touch was a simple stamped word....

You could always stamp onto tissue and glue down with Mod Podge if you're not that confident stamping directly onto the finished piece!!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Trish xx

Valentine's Cards - GDT Riikka Kovasin

Hello there! Riikka here with a few guest design creations - first of all these Valentine's inspired cards.

Who am I? My name is Riikka Kovasin, I'm a Finnish mixed media style scrapbooker with a passion to have my fingers inked on weekly basis. I'm happiest when I can get messy with different paint media and create a piece of memory keeping at the same time. What a perfect combination! My blog is called Paperiliitin. Please come and say hi!  

 

I created these four cards using the gorgeous 7 Dots Studio "Messy Head" collection. It's soft tones and pink shades are perfect for Valentine's Day themed creations! The card basis are cut from sheet of Bazzill's Card Shoppe papers.

The main pieces of the cards are cut from a 12x12" paper and then layered with pieces of other patterned papers and embellishments. All of the cards have a common background style, a piece of patterned paper stamped with Finnabair's doily stamp using Prima Chalk Edgers and Archival Inks. The other thing the cards have in common are splashes of pink Glimmer Glaze.

 

I used different kinds of embellishments in the cards. They all have a bit of thread underneath the embellishments, but then the different cards have different moods. I used Mechanicals in some, Prima wood icons in some and 7 Dots Studio stickers and die-cuts in others. Please see the supply list at the bottom of the post, after some of the detail shots.

Thank you for looking! 

Supplies:

7 Dots Studio: Messy Head - What Wood You Say, Little Thoughts 

Bazzill: Card Shoppe - Marshmallow, Chocolate Malt 

Prima Marketing: Chalk Fluid Edgers - Sweet Pea, Rusty Bucket

Ranger: Achival Ink - Watering Can, Sepia

Prima Marketing: Finnabair Clear Stamps - Triangles, 1008

Tattered Angels: Glimmer Glaze - Pink Lady

7 Dots Studio: Domestic Goddess - Advert Collage Sheet, Tags, 6x12 Sticker Sheet, 12x12 Stickers Sheet

7 Dots Studio: 9th Wave - 12x12 Elements

7 Dots Studio: Messy Head - 6x12 Elements, 12x12 Elements

Prima Marketing: Finnabair Vintage Mechanicals - Gears, Bottle Caps

Prima Marketing: Wood Icons In A Box - Flowers 

Prima Marketing: Almanac - Alphabets

Ranger: Liquid Pearls - Petal Pink

other: thread, paperclips, half pearls, chipboard arrow, pencil

A little collage for the new year!

Hello!
New Years resolutions? Oh yes.....but just the one so it's manageable!
I'm determined to play around with crafting styles and techniques that I don't 'do' on a regular basis! Stop the 'go to' creating!!!!!
So, first technique I really should do more of...collage! Now, my initial idea was to use cut out magazine pics, but that was just a step too far and I got the stamps out instead!

Quick and easy painted background....just smear and brush on the paint, then add stencilling and doodling. Not too much thought, just go with it!

Random stamping..the Prima Finnabair stamps are perfect for this...

The stitched circle is another Prima favourite! I stitched the painted panel to a piece of black card, them got on with the elements for my collaged art doll.

She is created from a combination of stamped images and hand drawn/painted shapes. The wings are Stampotique hearts, stamped over some text...

Her body is a shape cut from painted cardstock...

Her legs and arms are scraps of card given the stripy treatment, with a little doodling added...

Her face is of course Stampotique again, LOVE these large heads! Perfect for art dolls. I've used hot glue to attach all the bits, I really like using hot glue as you can manipulate it it be a little 3D in places so your design isn't flat. In this case, her extended arm with the punched out star is standing proud, giving nice dimension. This may not be ideal if you are creating a journal page, but as this isn't destined to be squished together in a journal it works just fine!!!
See you soon
Love Trish xx

Have a Great Christmas!

Hello!
For my last project before the big day, I want to share a Christmas themed piece, but not in traditional tones!

Lots of bright colours, and some text shapes as Christmas trees.
I painted the card with bold streaks of colour, then sprized with water and blotted off whilst still wet. This led to a happy accident! The paper towel I was using to blot just happened to be embossed with dots. Some  have squares or other shapes, but this one happened to be dotty. When I gently pressed on the background to blot, some paint transferred itself to the towel, so when I moved it about I was in effect using it as a large stamp! I noticed tiny white dots first...

and then when I looked closer, I saw blue and green dots too!

I may have to look closely at the paper towel design before I buy them from now on!
I gave the background lots of layers, printing and stamping and splatting along with all the paint...

The trees were cut roughly from French text, then sewed on.....yes, you can see where the machine jammed slightly!!!

The trees had spindly stitched trunks, and then a little black printing just to 'ground' them on the page.
A little rub on greeting and it was finished!

Have a fabulous Christmas everyone, and I'll see you back here on New Years Eve with my top three projects of 2013!
Trish xxxxx

Messy Monoprinting!

Hello!
I want to share an easy (but still messy and great fun!) way of creating backgrounds today!

 

Monoprinting is HUGE right now, and this is how I've created my painty background on this project. No expensive bits of kit though, just an acrylic block!
The block I used was the biggest I have, but of course smaller blocks work just as well for smaller projects!
I print in two ways.... firstly...

Put teeny bits of paint on the block. Then, brayer gently to mix...

Now, this is tricky to do without smearing. The block has a slick surface so the brayer can want just to slide rather than roll. Still, persevere and you'll get the hang of just how much pressure etc to use.
Quickly, before the paint dries, press your cardstock onto the block...

Then peel it off....

The thin layers of paint will have transferred themselves to the card...

It's an absolute doddle to clean the block, hot soapy water or babywipes get it pristine in no time.
Now, brayering thin layers can be a little subtle for me, so I tend to go for the more messy approach!
Smear the paint on with your fingers....

And then press on the card to get a print...

This method obviously uses more paint, and you will be able to get more than one print from the block. This is great if you are doing book pages etc, where creating similar backgrounds quickly is useful!
So...printing done, we can get on with the rest of the piece!
I did a little stamping..

Bo Bunny Dots, Prima stitched circles, Jenni Bowlin grids and text.....
I also did some stitching and splatting with black paint..

My Stampotique figure is coloured with the same paint using a waterbrush...

She stands on some washi tape, and I've added a phrase from a cut up old book to finish.
I think we all have an acrylic block in our stash....get it painty and try printing!
Trish xxx

Bookmaking part two - Cover story!

Hello!
Part two of my short bookmaking series...and it's all about the cover!
Remember last week when I showed you a book with just a few pages? This week we're moving on to a book with many more pages: how we close it, and how to incorporate a cover. Here is my finished book...

As with last weeks project, this is more about the 'how to make a book' process than what my actual book looks like, I'm sure you would spend waaaay more time on the pages than I have!
I started off in the same manner as my last book. I created a masterboard, chopped it up and added detail to each page before sewing to a black background....

This book has six spreads, so 12 panels needed. I decided to add the detail just to the right hand pages, the pages that face you when you open the book. So, six stamped, printed, sewed and glued panels as you can see above! Next, create the hinges as we did last time, and stick them together...

As you can see, this is going to need something to keep it closed when finished!
The next step is slightly different to last time. As we will be adding covers, the first panel we stick down will be the INSIDE left hand page. Like this....

(its a bit boring as its the left hand side!) This is the inside of the front cover. Carry on sticking the page panels in just as we did last time....

The final page you stick down will be the INSIDE of the back cover. If you look at the book from the other side at this point, it looks like this....

 Next choose something to use as a closure. I've chosen ribbon and eyelash yarn!

Stick the closure ribbons etc down using double sided tape. Doesn't matter if it's messy as it will be covered!

Make sure you leave enough hanging loose, or you won't be able to tie it together!
Now, covers. A little bit mathematical, I'm afraid! Close the book tightly, and measure how 'deep' your spine is, or to put it another way, how thick is your book?! Mine was just about 2cm thick, but this will vary depending on how many pages etc you have. The front and back are the size of one page panel, in this case 9cm by 9cm. So, the total length of card needed to cover everything  is 9cm (front) plus 2cm (spine) plus 9cm (back). Are you with me?
I cut a strip of card 20cm by 9cm, then scored it to give the 2cm wide spine shape. You can see what I mean by looking at the next pic....

The covers can then by stuck down, over the top of your ribbons. I always leave a 'glue free' 1cm or so next to the spine part, just to give a little flexibility. In the above pic, you can see the card to glued tightly up until that point!
Once you've done one side, flip over and stick the other cover too...

You can see from the top view how leaving that glue free section keeps the covers and spine in shape!
All that remains now is to add on a decorated panel to the front...

And tie the ribbons to keep it all together...

Now.... I have a question! Have you noticed my colour scheme??!! Yep, it's the colours of our very first colour challenge! Still plenty of time to enter, have a look here for all the details....
Hope that tutorial made sense, you know where I am if you have any questions!!
Next week, another fun way to make a book.....piano hinges!
Trish xxxxxxx