Saturday 21 June 2014

Fresco Paint Holder {with Eclectica³ Darcy Stamps by Corinne Rollett}

Hi everyone, my name is Corinne (some of you may know me better as Coco), I’m a French lady who loves putting a touch of humour in my creations sometimes. Today I’m delighted to post on the PaperArtsy blog a whimsical creation! This project with many details and colours reflects well my style for a large part.

I have been having great fun altering a large Tando chipboard piece - a paintholder. This 3D piece,ready to alter had just the perfect dimensions to play fantastically with Darcy’s fabulous new Eclectica³ stamps, and I thought I would share this as I really love it…

Here’s the front of the paintholder. This is not the most remarkable side of my project (although certainly the most useful!), you will see next how I have decorated the other sides, taking up all available space to build different little stories that really made me smile. Of course, once finished I immediately used my paint holder to store my Fresco Finish Chalk paints! 


I started out by gessoing everything using a paint roller, and then I coated all parts using Toad Hall paint. Once dry I assembled and glued all of the  pieces except the back panel which I wanted to decorate on a flat surface. I scraped a thin layer of crackle glaze over some areas (just wanted a light but not uniform crackled texture), and once it was all dry I gave a coat of Guacamole and Limelight paints. Put all this aside to dry thoroughly.

Time to play with my Darcy’s stamps… I took a few leftovers of Smoothy White Stamping Card and started to put some rough brush strokes of paints here and there. One scrap paper was painted in Cheesecake, Zesty Zing and Blood Orange and another one in Yellow Submarine, Tango, Limelight and Zesty Zing. I really love all these shiny translucent colours! I then chose two stamp sets and a lot of minis… I’m very fond of the minis, they are not too expensive and they are often a perfect complement , especially the ones by Darcy!!

I covered my papers with many stamped images. I have no photos of this step sorry, but you can get a sneak peek of the whole process below, and by the way you will also discover the small uphill,zig zag path that I had great fun making! I drew it with a fine brown marker and a small brush dipped into brown paint, to join with the versatile – just wonderful - Mini06. You will see which brave animal is climbing courageously the uphill path a bit later… 


EDY Mini06

EDY Mini03
EDY Mini05
I also stamped with EDY mini 03 and EDY Mini 05All my images were stamped either using Potting Spoil or Library Green Archival inkpads, and fussy cut. I also dipped a foam piece in the rest of paints, gently tapped of excess, and applied to the edges of as many images as possible (depending on the colour), both because I never waste some good paint and also because I don’t appreciate much seeing blank lines around my images… I put aside all this first set of prepared elements.

Time to play with my paintholder again! I started to enhance the base, painting all side in matching colours, playing with a distorted harlequin mask on the narrow edges and adding layers of yummy paints.
Working on the back panel first, with blending foam I added (top to bottom) Zesty Zing, Yellow submarine, Limelight and Hey Pesto, blending all the colours at the border lines for a smooth texture.

I’m very fond of Darcy’s stunning works… Especially love her Art Journal. Some time ago, I was very inspired by two of her pages... So here I decided to follow her technique to create a faux frame. Using cut’n dry foam, I tore a strip of old scrap paper and used it as a mask to create a rough edged border. I used Snowflake paint first then added Tikka (from the Limited Edition Set Paints {Lin Brown}), Claret, Blood Orange and London night. You can see all the paints I used and how I set about the painting on the two right side photos below.


Looking at the two border images available on my stamps sets I chose the gorgeous one from EDY05 and stamped it in Snowflake along the top.
EDY05
I played with a fine brush and Tikka paint next, covering only a part of the white border for more interest, adding also little touches of white sometimes to join or extend the lines when needed.
Going deeper in the process, I felt not totally satisfied with the texture and the crackles (I put not enough glaze on my main elements, and in too thin layer sometimes to remain very visible after extra layers of paints!!), so I took a Crackle stamp and applied it using Chutney paint around the edges, I repeated the process all over the front of the paintholder.
Finally I very much liked my border after that, so I extended the whole design on the edges and the top front side too.

I had an absolute blast creating the backgrounds next... I used the vegetation stamps from EDY05 and EDY07 and Holly, Toad Hall, Chutney and Seaweed paints to start to bring in some grass pattern on my large background.
EDY07
Over that I stamped,directly in place. some stamps like the long funny cactus (from EDY05) using my Potting Soil inkpad. White pen and translucent Frescos were further dabbed over the base coat and stamping to lighten it. I did the same for the narrow edges, building gradually the decor, playing on one edge with the little bird from EDY Mini02 swinging on the inverted tripod support from EDY07 that carries also its cage… I had lots of fun doing this!


Being pleased with the base at every edge, I then prepared a second set of elements. I stamped on separate cardstock the main images - like the fabulous Flamingo! -, and heat embossed them in clear as I wanted to make them pop even more. I painted all these images carefully, cut out and edged them all with a fine brown marker and paints.
Then I gathered some Sizzix vegetation die-cuts and several chipboards and flexistrips from Tando, and took time to paint every element until I was totally pleased with the result. For the fence I dabbed over Snowflake then applied Chutney and Chocolate Pudding roughly to let the white show through like an old wooden fence. To finish I inked/painted all the edges.

I gathered them with the first set, and started to play… I put the elements at different places to add to the design of each side. I love doing this, this step always helps to make up stories, that’s the most easy and funny part of the creation!!

Finally all the stamped images were glued in the right place and sometimes layered using small pieces of cardboard between for extra dimension. At the bottom, I added the die cut grass and the fence, offsetting them to create a stepped edge. I then glued the back panel also, and positioned to the front a butterfly and a flower pot (EM08) that were lying unused on my craft mat. You will have a good idea of the finishing touch on the photo below…




I love the detail of the small Karen’s Tando frame with its focus on the curious (and a bit intrusive lol) ‘eye’ from EDY Mini06 in the middle! It was painted in Tango, Brown Shed and Yellow submarine on the edges, and Chartreuse with a blob of Yellow submarine inside. I also applied my Crackle stamp in Chutney over it and rubbed over Olive Bronze Treasure Gold.

The last step was to apply more Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze (I used also a bit of the gorgeous Limited Edition!) on all edges and to buff over all sides. I also covered the whole box with Satin Glaze which makes the light shine differently on it, and provides a subtle contrast. Et voila!

Here is the big snail (yes, this is the brave animal I was speaking about lol) climbing up one side of the storage. 
EDY Mini04

Thanks for taking the time to look at my project. I hope you have enjoyed the details... For more photos, check out my blog. I would love if you felt inspired to make a similar storage for your paints, or anything else a bit funny! 
Coco x

A huge thank you to Coco from all at PaperArtsy. We are blown away with this project, so many details, so much vibrancy in the colours but above all, SO MUCH FUN! We love this storage, it is perfect and fitting that our fabulous paints should have equally fabulous storage. 


If you would like to join in our weekly challenge with any of this week's guests who have blogged since Sunday night, then join in to link up your creativity HERE you will go in the draw to win PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by17:00 (London time) Sunday 22nd June 2014


22 comments:

Helen said...

What a brilliant way to store your Frescos! I'd need a few, of course but what a great idea.

Anonymous said...

That is so gorgeous Coco! The front looks great with all the different paint bottles, but the sides & back are stunning.

Words and Pictures said...

Bold, bright and beautiful, Coco - this is so useful, and so much FUN! I love all the creatures all over your fabulous storage container - wonderful!
Alison x

Steven said...

ooooh, superbe!! c'est vraiment coloré et éclectique. Totally me this!!.
Merci pour avoir partagé ce projet!

PaperArtsy said...

Wow. It looks wonderful coco. What a great project!!!

Keren Baker said...

Such a great idea! I totally need one of these for my paints! Love all your colour and texture x

Hazel Agnew said...

This is so fab, so practical and so bonkers that I love it. Not sure that I could replicate this but, fabulous creations with Darcy ' s stamps is achievable! X

Deborah Wainwright said...

Great fun project vibrant and sunny x

nefertiti said...

Bravo ma Coco!!!! Quelle ingénieuse idée pour mettre les fresco finish paints!!!! Et toujours ce merveilleux monde enchanté pour l'accompagner. C'est superbe!!!!!!!!

An original and ingenious idéal! gorgeous project to store the fresco finish paints. And always this wonderful magic world in your scrap!!!!!!!

Bisous

Craftyfield said...

Magnifique! I love useful things, so the storage idea appeals to me and the piece is so full of wonderful details it's hard to know where to look. I would be proud to have something like this in my craft toom!

CastleKelly Crafts said...

This is just wonderful, full of fun, beautiful zingy colours and useful !!! What more can one ask, magnifique Jane x

Brenda Brown said...

Beautiful zingy colours to go with those fun images, what a great idea Coco xx

Unknown said...

Très jolie création, pleine de fantaisie et de couleurs! et utile qui plus est...Que d'imagination !Bravo à toi! Agnès

Kay Wallace said...

Congratulations, Coco! I'm thrilled to see your name in lights on the Paper Artsy site. It is a well deserved honor as you are a very talented artist. The piece you have created here is an excellent example of that talent! It is not only beautiful...it provides a function in the studio! Totally brilliant! Mwah, Kay

Unknown said...

cette idée est géante, mais la décor coco est fabuleuse avec les timbre de Darcy, difficile de reproduire la même ambiance, un grand bravo!

gisele said...

C'est très beau Coco, très gai et plein de couleurs ! Et c'es une très bonne idée pour range les fresco finish paint !Bisou

Etsuko said...

What a bright and wonderful your world! Lovely and great idea, it's a very fun, I love it xx

Sandra said...

C'est magnifique, Corinnette, un peu lunaire et plein de poésie :)

Cocofolies said...

Wonderful messages, thank you so much everyone for all your lovely comments left on my project here, I'm thrilled!!! A big thank you to Darcy, Leandra and all the team for their great feedback too, and also many thanks to those who wrote in French to please me! I'm very glad. Hugs, Coco xxx

Lucy Edmondson said...

This is so gorgeous and original and funky, coco! I love it with those wonderful Darcy stamps. So useful too, I would love to have one. Lovely to see you on here!

Lucy x

Gio said...

It's amazing Coco!! Such vibrant colours and gorgeous design! Well done!

Anonymous said...

Coco, this is practical storage but it is also completely FUN, in fact bursting with fun.
You certainly brought those characters to life, there is such amazing energy.
Wishes
Lynne