2017 #2 I just wanted to say... {by Gabrielle Price}

 2017 Topic 2: Masks

Masks are used to cover things up. And in crafting terms, this can be a bit of a 'thing' to get your head around, as you can use the technique to layer in very clever ways. Gabrielle has one such technique to share tonight - time to dog out the post-it notes!

Hi everyone Gabrielle from Crafty Thoughts here.

Great to be here on the PA blog tonight. I've chosen to share with you masking using post-it notes.

I chose to use post-it notes party because I'm a little stationery obsessed so I always have a lot to hand! Also because they can be really adaptable and I've tried to incorporate two ideas here. My finished item is a page in my black journal but it's really easily adapted for any project!

To make the background I used several brayered layers of paint, Snowflake then Pewter and White Fire. If you leave some of the black peeking through this give a really grungy textured finish that I really love. This is my new favourite start to backgrounds!

I used my mask in two ways; firstly by stamping the frame on the page and then on a post-it note and secondly by tearing up some post-it notes to add highlights. The Matte Glaze and the Black Knight Infusions on the top of the page will finish the grungy look. I really like the anticipation of spreading the Infusions on the page. The effects are always so rewarding!

This is what the page looked like when the post-it notes were removed. Look at all that lovely texture!

I wanted to add lots of stamped images to the background  and so repositioned the frame mask and stamped the background flowers. If you've never done this before it makes the stamping look as if it's behind whatever's being protected by the mask. An easy but hugely satisfying and effective trick!

Then the really fun bit! Painting with Infusions! I put a tiny sprinkle on my craft sheet, added a drop or two of water and painted in the flowers. For the bottom border I used water to remove some of the infusions from the petal shapes and added A Bit Jaded to the outside. I had a little left and so gave the outside of the frame a wash of colour which looks fabulous against the under metallic colours.

I hope you'll have a go at my super simple mask idea. Next time I'd even more torn pieces because I love those lightning shaped highlights! I have only really tried adding Black Knight Infusions to this metallic background so my next experiment is to try other colours - I'd love to see what colour combinations you might try! 

Gabrielle x
Blog: Crafty Thoughts
Facebook page: Crafty Thoughts
Twitter: @freyatom
Instagram: _freyatom_
Pinterest: gabrielleprice

I imagine in real life this must look so metallic, it's such a hard thing to capture on camera how the metallic paints really look! The infusions falling into the texture looks amazing, and gives such awesome depth! I would never have thought to mask the patterns too! Inspired!! ~ Leandra

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