Friday 11 January 2013

Truly inspired by Michelle and JoFY .....

I had a big list of things to do today of the Arty variety. BUT, Michelle's posts #1 here and #2 here have really got under my skin this week. (and she still has more posting to come!), so I grabbed a journal, and thought this will only take 5 minutes, but 2 hours later...here we are...
 
So I thought I'd quickly share with you my 5 minute experiment! First up a few torn bits of old book page, then a geometric stencil with snowflake sponged through on top.
 
Next up mix up some Opaque sprays. 'With what' you ask? With Fresco paints of course! This is a fantastic way to use your paints. You can make it as thick or thin as you like, opaque, translucent and all the colours of the rainbow to boot. You can easily custom make colours, and you only need to make as much as you need for the job! Wicked good fun and an awesome paint effect!
Put 50-75% water in a small spray bottle! add fresco paint Shake and spray!
 
So, on top of the BG, I added a touch of Zesty Zing with a brush, just for the warmth/ contrast in a couple of spots. {I could have sprayed, but I just used my last bottle, and couldn't be bothered walking over to the white shed to get another! Lol}
 
Next up, a spot of stamping, this time I used archival ink in Crimson and Terracotta, I didn't want black, but I did want permanent ink. Dry thoroughly. A bit of a sanding back is a good way to smooth off the book page additions, and expose the white stencil spots at this point, plus it makes for a smoother surface, which can be handy for a stamper!
 
At this point, I was thinking this is going to be a journaling page, but...then I thought the JoFY stamps could look really awesome on this, but, if I was going to stamp on top, the BG was just a bit too bold and bright for stamped flowers to go on top, so I decided to knock it back. How do we do that fast??? With an opaque fesco paint spray, so, this time snowflake white opaque on top would soften the BG a little. I sprayed and dried twice.
 
Now look, with the black images stamped on top, the images are not fighting with the background at all...Ohhh they look pretty Missy Jo ! I Likey very muchos!! Dry thoroughly before the next step!
 
First up some Hey Pesto watery mix over the leaves and a few flowers. Just squirt your spray onto your craft sheet and pick up that colour. Remember the translucent paints are the great for colouring in if you still want to see the detail of the stamp, and opaque will obliterate unless you water it down with glaze or water.
 
But how cool do they look when you add another colour! And what about the white! Don't forget to use white to colour in!!! Looks amazing! Makes bits pop. Lastly, a bit more green on the ziggy zaggy grassy bits.
 
And one final tip. If you want your fresco art piece to look brighter, then add a coat of satin or gloss glaze. The magic paint lady tells me that our eyes perceive colour and the brightness by how it is reflected back to the eye. A chalk paint is matte, so we perceive it to be dull, but if you apply a layer of gloss glaze over the top, the reflection back to the eye is more striking, so we perceive it to be much brighter with the gloss on top. I applied gloss glaze to just the flower heads, but I didn't take a close up picture for you to be able to distinguish the difference, so you shall have to try it yourself when you get a mo.

So tomorrow, another stunning post is coming from Michelle on this blog. Don't forget we really hope you find 15 minutes (or 2 hours perhaps) to play along too, and upload your piccies here using the inlinkz tool. You could win stamps of your choice! Have a go, we'd love to see!
Leandra



14 comments:

Helen said...

Well, I love the page before you stamped on it, but now, wow, it is gorgeous. I want to go home and play... heck, roll on 5pm (or earlier if I'm lucky!) Beautiful, Leandra.

Anonymous said...

I loved the flowers when I saw the pic you posted on Twitter, but the entire page is really gorgeous. I'm hoping to have a play with my few Frescos tomorrow, have a tiny smidgen of a idea.....

Lin S said...

love love love this page leandra you clever girl!!!

Anonymous said...

All I have to say is that these pages are GORGEOUS -- I love them! Well worth MANY hours of work to get results like that. I'd be over the moon if I could . . . . .
Love to all -- Sally xo

SamsHomeCookedDesigns.com said...

Ohhh I feel the need for colour - I got my Fresco colours from Leandra at NEC and I haven't stopped playing with them, they are great. I think these stamps are just so lovely. Great project again Michelle thank you for the inspiration. Sam

Trish said...

Really lovely, and great idea about making the paint into sprays.I'm off to try that!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pages with the sprayed paint and the flowers. Love the soft colours from the diluted paint. And for me it are journalling pages. One does not always need words to tell a story.
Margriet

Gillian .... said...

Beautiful pages, love the softness that the spray Frescos give and can't wait to get my hands on these delish stamps. x

Words and Pictures said...

Ooh, ooh, opaque sprays?!? I'm open-mouthed... Next thing on my to-try list! Thank you.

Gorgeous page... love all the background text and numbers (that's what I need on the wishlist) and how amazing the Jofy stamps look... Wow, wow, wow!
Alison x

Minxy said...

Oooo me likie, great colours x

Bonnie Irvine said...

This is gorgeous at every stage. The colours are stunning and the stamps look amazing over all that colour and texture. Just beautiful! I'm having trouble locating Fresco paints in Canada but I shall persevere. They are yummy.

Jenny Marples said...

Love the layered combination of colours on this. So soft and spring-like. Great idea to create sprays too.
Thought you might want to see what I've been up to with Ferro;
http://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/step-by-step-embossing-folders.html
Hope you like my 'what if' efforts.
Hugs, Jenny x (p.s. loving the stuff I got from you from Santa!)

Linda M. Cain said...

Great work!!! Love everything about this beauty!

~Linda

Marjie Kemper said...

Love the Frescoes... such fabulous pages, Michelle!