Monday, 4 February 2013

Michelle Webb #1 Altered Wooden House Part 1



I’ve been itching to get this wooden house all painted and couldn’t wait to make a start on it.

I started with a darker paint first because I wanted it to show through the lighter paint on top.
I painted the wooden substrate house with an undercoat of Beach Hut and South Pacific Fresco Acrylic Paints.


I painted some Crackle Glaze over the top of the blue paint.
I then applied a layer of Butternut Fresco Acrylic Paint. It only takes seconds for the reaction to start to crackle. After a few minutes it’s nearly all done. 
When it was all dry I used some sand paper to knock back the edges so you can see the blue underneath.
I’m all about layers so I couldn't just leave it there could I!!! I needed some more darker layers on there too. So I brushed some Burnt Umber on the house, love this finish.
I made a start on the decoration for the back wall of the small holes. I used PaperArtsy Metal Card for 3 holes, I embossed the metal card first using a Crafter’s Workshop Birds of a feather stencil and then with a flower and dotty embossing folder.  I coloured the metal with Adirondack Alcohol Inks and Promarkers. 
 
I stamped up some Smoothy White Card for the other backgrounds using PaperArtsy Stamp Sets: Ink the Dog, E4, MON1, ANC3, and D3, then used Hot Picks HP1217EZ. I inked up the card with Evergreen Bough and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks, and then distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. The large numbers from the E4 stamp set I inked with a London Fog Grey Momento dew drop ink pad. I like the subtle grey you get from this ink.

I’ve stuck each background in with glue and I’m ready now to fill it up with embellishments.

Hope you have enjoyed Part 1 of this project and would love to see you all back here tomorrow for Part 2 to see what else I put inside. 

Leandra Says: Wow, this looks amazing. Butternut is a colour I struggle with, not really one of my faves, but on top of the teal base, and stained over top, it looks absolutely amazing! And the layers in your background papers look so interesting, what a brilliant start to this  awesome masterclass!

Gillian Says: Love this project loads so far, the Butternut top layer is so effective and sanding it back even further only adds to the beauty of it. Can't wait to see part 2.


If you would like to join this week's challenge and play along with us via inLinkz, please take a moment to share how you have been inspired by Michelle's creativity with PaperArtsy products. Use some/all of the following: PaperArtsy Stamps, Fresco Paints, Wood or Paper Mache Substrates, and you will be in with a chance to win stamps of your choice {either 1 x A5 set or 2 x A6 sets or 3 minis} simply click HERE to share your creativity.


Sunday, 3 February 2013

Welcome Back Michelle Webb ....

What an amazing amount of projects throughout the month of January here on the PaperArtsy blog ... do not fear we have another cracker of a month ahead not only here on the blog but at PA HQ too more on that throughout the month ahead! *don't tell Leandra I told you so*!!

And a HUGE thanks to all of YOU for being wonderfully inspired to play along with our weekly challenges. If something floats your boat, then jumping in, having an go, and playing along is what its all about. Beginner, experienced and everyone in between, don't be shy, we are all here to support each other in our collective creative journeys. We are all learning from each other, and the community spirit developing during the week, as people upload their blog entries, chat to the designers and each other on twitter is hilarious to observe or be part of!

On Monday we welcome back the painterly one Michelle Webb with the first of four projects this week. Can you feel the excitement building already after her totes amazeballs projects last month! Well all I'm saying is you are gonna be blown away!!! Michelle will be here at the PaperArtsy Blog this week, each evening Monday through till Thursday!

Michelle has been busy since her last guest appearance here .... check out some of her amazing projects we spotted on he blog...


The random winner #1 from last week's first draw (every single linked entry) is: Helen

Random winner #2 (selected from one entry per person linked) is: Emma

{No 16 wasn't a valid link therefore it was not included in the draw}.
Congratulations! Please email Leandra sales@paperartsy.co.uk with your stamp choice, and your snail mail address!

If you would like to join this week's challenge and play along with us via inLinkz, please take a moment to share how you have been inspired by Michelle's creativity with PaperArtsy products. Use some/all of the following: PaperArtsy Stamps, Fresco Paints, Wood or Paper Mache Substrates, and you will be in with a chance to win stamps of your choice {either 1 x A5 set or 2 x A6 sets or 3 minis} 




 Loading InLinkz ...

We have 2 draws each week, the first is for every single entry submitted that week, including multiples. The second draw is one entry per person, and excludes the winner of round one. This means if you can only enter once, then you have the same chance of winning as those who enter multiple times. Please link directly to the URL of your blog post or picture on a webs page like flickr, select one of the pictures from your own blog post. The link facility will end Sunday lunch, and the winner will be announced this time next week.


Saturday, 2 February 2013

A video using our {Crackly} Tissue Paper

It's the weekend and a perfect time to kick back , put your feet up, grab a cuppa and watch a new PaperArtsy video. This time it's our Crackly Tissue Paper. Our tissue is kind of weird! It's not quite what you expect. We do love a surprise! Our tissue is robust! And theremis a reason for that! It means you can paint loads of layers of frescos onto it and it won't disintegrate in front of your eyes! It also means you can glue it down, pick it back up and reposition it very easily.

In this video you will learn how to

  • Stamp crackly, and the best inks to use
  • How to use opaques and translucent paints to block, highlight or build depth
  • Using satin glaze as a glue
  • How to change the brightness of your paints with gloss glaze

So take a look and there is still time to enter our weekly challenge! We extended the deadline this week, so you have until Sunday noon to upload your 'inspired by' contribution.

Have an awesome weekend!

Leandra

 

Friday, 1 February 2013

Inspired By Guest Designers And Fresco Paints ....

Hi everyone, Gillian here with a project inspired by some of our featured Guest Designers projects this month and of course Mrs PaperArtsy herself doing a totes amazeballs job over on the PaperArtsy You Tube Channel. Where did January go ??? 
The PaperArtsy blog has been a hub of activity with amazing but completely different styled projects from all our designers .... Huge thanks to our Guest Designers! I hope you have enjoyed what has been shown so far! 



I have used this wooden shadow box and wooden block also from PaperArtsy which is perfect for altering with Fresco Paints
 

 I started out by applying some Ferro through a stencil using a Palette Knife to create texture.


Any excess paste can simply be scrapped off at this stage prior to heat setting.
I then added some book text as inspired by Michelle's 1st project HERE using Fresco Satin Glaze as my adhesive.

 
Next came my paint colour choices .... Mermaid and Guacamole

Start applying thin layers of Fresco Paints to build up your layers.

Before applying the really dark shades of paint to accentuate the shadows, Leandra recommends applying translucent colours in medium tones, as this builds depth on the lighter base coat, and ultimately helps makes your textured areas "pop", so at this stage I applied some Limelight.


Again continue to build up your layers. Next came South Pacific ... its a deep blue-green, can I just say I LOVE this colour and need to use it more.

Don't be scared at this point as you can always "knock" back your colour with Snowflake.
I have some of my fave colours watered down to use in these little Spray Bottles which gives a much softer look to your projects.  
{see Leandra's footnote at the end of this post for more info on opaque sprays}

You need to dry with a heat gun before going any further, and they will take longer to dry than paint on its own as there is more water in the mix.

Next I used more watered down Fresco colours sprayed on ... Limelight, Beach Hut and Zesty Zing. Continuing to build up the layers.

Dry well, and then I've stamped Mini 44 in Nougat.


To add some definition around the edges of the frame I have applied some Treasure Gold (Sapphire)


Then of course, once you start....you want even more Treasure Gold  so (Sapphire and Rennaissance) was also applied over the textured areas.


and I finished with Mini 44 again, this time stamping in South Pacific.

So for the inside of the frame, it's all about the wooden block which was inspired by elements of Linda's post HERE .... 
{I did at this point forget to take step by step pics duh!}

Basically I have used the same colours as above this time applied with Cut N Dry Foam, stamped Mini 44 and Mini 23 again in Nougat and South Pacific. 

The image is from LPC013 which has been stamped using Archival Ink (Jet Black). I've then added the white detail using Snowflake to accent area's of the image. I love how she appears to be "rolling her eye"s ... not going to tell you what at Mrs PaperArtsy said LOL!!


To brighten up the image and colours I applied Fresco Gloss Glaze.  
Gloss glaze reflects light back to your eyes, so a matte colour, that looks soft, and a bit dull, suddenly looks much brighter, because that is how our eyes perceive it to be. 
So, if you want your Frescos to look brighter, then just add gloss glaze!

I've then adhered the wooden block into the centre of the wooden shadow box .... genius combination Leandra and Mark!

{Leandra says: errrr, I think you are the genius there Gillian, I had no idea the block fitted in the frame! .... must order more blocks!....}

I applied South Pacific to an Idea-ology word band highlighting the text "Embrace Imperfection" with Treasure Gold.


I hope you have enjoyed this project and remember you still have time to be inspired by Suzz projects this week to be in with a chance of winning some PaperArtsy rubber! Click HERE to link up!

Leandra comments: When we first released Fresco paints just over 2 years ago, you may distantly recall at that time, under the ArtsyCrafts banner, we also hosted Tim Holtz here in the UK for a massive 2 day consumer event. 

Almost 300 ladies went through classes with Tim or Lin Brown and I. Lin and I create a new technique using watered down Fresco snowflake as an opaque spray over the awesome Ranger Colour Wash Dye Sprays. Oh wow did the ladies make some really cool opaque stains with the vibrant dye sprays use on metal card. Of course, the colourfast dye mixes and mingles with the paint to create stunning effects, pastel shades with a matte finish. And, once dry, you have an awesome matte surface to stamp on! We also mixed the stains into the paint, added water, and tinted our papers to match in with the colour combinations.

So, along with Gillian, making paint sprays is also one of my favourite things too, and Frescos are perfect for the task! But why stop at snowflake....OMG the combinations are ENDLESS.

You can so easily make your own:
  1. 2/3 fill your bottle with water
  2. add the paint on top of the water (this stops the paint sticking in the base of the bottle and helps it to mix with the water more easily)
  3. Shake well, and test your spray on paper towel
  4. Decide if you need more water, or more paint, or the addition of another colour! (eeek - such fun)
You can make these really thick or really thin, depending on your need and the project.
You can make opaque ones with the opaque paints, or more translucent if you want some warmth but not opacity.
Add an opaque to a translucent to make a more opaque version (snowflake and limelight for example!)
You can custom-mix colours of paint together to create new colours! (hint: try 50/50 Guacamole and Sky with a hint of South Pacific for a gorgeous duck egg blue)
So a big thanks to Gillian for this fantastic end of the month round up post. I can't believe we are starting February already. So much coming up this month, starting with another video from me tomorrow. A whole bunch of new PaperArtsy products are released this month as we head to the UK's largest Craft Trade show in a couple of weeks time, and of course a new round of stunning projects from our inspirational Guest Designers. Michelle is back to kick it all off on Sunday evening.