Hanging Board {with Hot Picks Stamps by Deb Freeman}

Hi, I’m Deb and this is my first GD post. I’ve been crafting in one form or another most of my life, but my main love now is mixed media and paints. I’m never happier than when my hands are covered in paint and a canvas is taking shape in front of me.

I’ve not done a canvas today but used a small chunky hanging board as my substrate and decorated it using Fresco paints and Grunge Paste. I have also used some Hot Picks stamps. 

I started by getting a layer of Nougat onto the hanging board, the other colours I have used are both quite transparent so I needed a good opaque base layer. Then I layered up Beach hut and Tango, mixing in some Nougat as I went. Just keep adding layers of paint until you are happy with the look, there is no right or wrong way to do this.

Once happy with you base colours add some pattern, I used stencils and rubber stamps. Don’t worry about having perfect impressions as a lot of this will be covered with yet more paint, we just want a bit of depth and interest. Remember to use a water resistant ink pad otherwise your ink will move when you add more paint over the top.

Now we want texture, so for this I used a piece of sequin waste and applied Grunge paste through it. Leave to dry, if you’re impatient like me you can help the drying process along with the help of a heat gun.

When the paste is dry you can add more layers of paint, this will highlight the texture. I also added some more stamping in black stazon, using HP1005. This was when I thought ‘oooops’ the black was so stark against the softness of the paints, but with some more layers of paint I managed to soften the effect of the stamping so it blended into the background.

HP1005

I kept working with the paints until I was happy with the overall look of the background, then I painted two small pieces of card, one in Tango and stamped my bird and small words onto this, and the other in Beach hut and stamped the large words over the top. Cut these all out and play around with the placing, once happy glue in place. I then used a non-permanent marker and drew a fine line around the birds feet and around the words, then using a damp paintbrush blend the pen line a little, this just makes your stamped elements stand out. As a finishing touch I added a little bit of hand doodling in black and a few white rub ons.

I hope you feel inspired, thanks for reading. 

Deb. 

A huge thanks to Deb from PaperArtsy HQ, You have shown how easy it is to create a great background with limited colours, just by having a little patience and building up the layers. The hints of texture are subtle but effective. 

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 April 20th 2014