Michelle Webb #3 .... Have Some Me Time

Have some ME time! Yes please!

If there’s one thing that makes me happy it’s seeing lots of lovely bright colour in a journal page and the Fresco Paints are perfect for that. I love the striking colour contrast between Orange and Turquoise, so I started making a journal background using hot colours first.

Here I’ve used Smoked Paprika (orangy red), Zesty Zing (bright yellow), London Bus (bright red), and Butternut (creamy orange) to make the background. I used some Vintage Lace (light pink) to lighten and blend some areas too. I dried it all off with a heat gun before I added anymore layers. I wanted a soft touch with the birdcage stencil so I used an applicator tool with some Walnut Stain Distress Ink on, but I only applied it very gently.

I wanted a couple of dribbles too so I squirted a pool of orange mica spray on the left hand side and let it drip down. I stencilled a few little areas of a harlequin pattern here and there too.

HP1004EZ

HPXT04EZ

So now the fun started with which stamps to use. I love the flowers and the butterfly in the Hot Picks HP1004EZ so I was definitely going to use those. I stamped them with black Archival. I used the sentiment from the Hot Picks HPXT04EZ stamp set. There are loads of great sentiments on this stamp set, and I will probably use them all over the next 4 months!

I wanted to add more colour over the top of the stamping because I like to see lots of layers, it makes you think what was done first. So I used the circle stamp from HP1004EZ again to add painty circles using HydePark (green), Snowflake and Zesty Zing Fresco Paint on the page. Then I used a pen top to stamp my small circles of the gorgeously bright Beach Hut (Cobalt Teal). Love that contrast.

Of course I couldn't just stop there so I whipped out my Prismacolour pencils and added some teal and black lines around the sentiment and added some red and yellow lines to the flowers. I added a dot of Beach Hut paint to the centre of each of the flowers, and of course some splatters. 

The last thing I did was stamp the Tim Holtz text stamp randomly using Claret Fresco Paint, but clean it off straight away or it will dry on the stamp. I use a spray bottle of water to spritz straight onto the stamp after using it, it’s easier to wipe off the paint with a baby wipe then. The Claret paint has a nice shiny finish that I love.  I edged the page using a black Aquarellable pencil. These pencils are great if you want a smudgy grungy look because you can rub them with your fingers, a nice little tip from Kate Crane a few months ago, so thanks for that xx

  Gillian Says: The depth of colours are just perfect for this stamp set, love love love the contrasting splashes of blue. There is a real warmth about this journal page Michelle another great project.

Leandra Says: Love the idea of distress ink through the stencil, it works really well.  I think you're going to inspire a lot of people to get a journal for their Fresco play :)

We're encouraging you to share your Fresco exploits this week too. Link your blog post here and you could win rubber stamps of your choice too.

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

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