Portfolio Pastel Idea for Newbies

I can tell from the orders coming through over the last few days, that plenty of you are really keen to get started with these Portfolio Oil Pastels. So a whole bunch of you have had nice mail days lately, so let's use the new stash!!!

Today I was showing them to the PaperArtsy part time PA (or shall we say very occasional PA because she is always on holiday...) she whom I speak of is Lynne (not to be confused with LB Lin)...our Lynne is also known as Cheryl to those of you ArtsyCrafters who have met her at our events...she was the one helping in Tim's class when he came over...she's also called Essex Lynne, Blingy Lynne on twitter she is @bodgerbird .... well she answers to anything really...., but Mark and I have started calling her Chezza....just because .....well the gold ipad case has a bit to do with it ......I'll stop....she is so going to kill me.......

So, she read the last blog post over the weekend, but I prattled on too long and she lost the plot ...so she wanted the lunchtime demo instead ...demanding PA PA that she is....so a couple of minutes later this tag was made. And that's what I'm going to share in a second with you.
Now you know how I told you these things are soft,...and well kind of pliable...well I really can't tell you enough how amazing it is each time you use them, they literally melt and blend under your finger tip..it's almost like face paint....a bit like that, soft blendy, mix-y....and when Lynne saw them, she said "I know you said they are soft, but I never thought they'd be that soft" .... So I did tell you, but you will still be very surprised....

It occurred to me that when you get your new box of pastels in the post, this tag is a nice starter idea. You will blend, colour, stencil, melt and layer. All the techniques I mentioned in the last post and all on the same tag! Are you up for it? Let's get started!

Go and grab the following:

• Manila tag, or smooooooth white card
• An image for the centre of the tag that you can colour in in a black frame, I used the tall heart stamp from HP1105 small script, mine is MN61
• Archival jet black ink
• Heat tool
• Paper towel
• Portfolio oil pastels
• Stencil
• Small paper stump 

1. Stamp the central image in jet black archival ink, heat set thoroughly.
2. Apply white pastel around the edge of the heart up to 1cm surrounding it, now skin tone. Blend with your finger.
3. Working further out, keep applying spots of colours, small patches, then start blending with your finger, yellows, oranges, pinks, a touch of red. Yu should almost be at the edges.
4. At the edges light blue, teal, dark and sage green. Blend again.
5. So you can feel the waxy finish. ZAP IT (that means heat tool!)
6. Now it should feel more like card stock again. If you want more colour, you can add more, and zap again...otherwise let's colour.
7. I used a small paper stump from this set and tried to use blues and brown pastels....or ideally not too much yellow/pink/orange apply colour, and blend out with the stump, now apply a slightly darker shade, and blend to get a soft shadow.
8. Stamp your script randomly around the tag leaving some black zones for the stencilling. Heat set to dry.
9. Next up stencil. I need to put a touch more stencilling on this tag, but you can see the concept. Lay down the stencil, grab the black pastel, you only need a little, apply into stencil, and use you finger to spread it out within the stencil, lift off and zap the lumpy bits that caught on the stencil edge. Let those cool before you re-position the stencil. 
10. Last thing, the lines....use the straight edge of the stencil to draw a line with the brick coloured pastel. Leave the stencil in place, grab a paper towel, and really lightly use the paper towel to drag the colour across away from the stencil. 

Well let me know how you get on, and don't forget to tweet me your pics, or you can leave a link to your own blog post from the comments on here too... And don't forget to tweet @bodgerbird and ask her how she's getting on!!! Have fun!

Leandra