Whaley McWhaleface

Meet Whaley McWhaleface, the newest addition to the smallest room in the house! I find workin with decoupage papers so relaxing and love making things for the home. This piece consists of a pre-made whale blank and a wooden block which was part of a Christmas sign that read 'NOEL'.

Products used:
Blanks for covering
DecoArt Decou-page Papers: Ship to Shore
DecoArt Decou-page Glue: Gloss
DecoArt Media: Gesso - White
Heart punch
Wire and twine

Ship to Shore decoupage papers

Here's how I made it (no step photos I am afraid - this was laptop TV crafting!):
1 Prime the blanks with white gesso.
2 Tear the blue paper into small pieces and use the Decoupage glue to adhere the pieces to the whale - apply a generous coat under and over each piece to ensure they adhere really well.
3 While that dries, cut strips of the white and red papers and adhere them using the Decoupage to the base. Cover the join with twine.
4 Tear some white paper into strips and scrunch them up. Apply to the top of the block with Decoupage glue. Try to retain the texture as this is meant to simulate white water,
5 Cover some thin card both sides with red paper and punch out hearts. Apply the hearts back-to-back to the ends of some pieces of wire.
6 Poke a hole in the top of the whale and fill with strong glue. Push the wires into the hole. When dry, manipulate them into position as desired.
7 Finally, very lightly sponge white gesso onto the tail and fins of the whale.

Hope you like him - I rather do!
Katy x

Stampendous/DecoArt Blog Hop - Handle with Care

It's the last day today of our our joint Stampendous/DecoArt Blog Hop and I'm sharing a mini journal page with you. I recently treated myself to a tiny weeny Moleskine watercolour journal and I love working in it - the small size is perfect for quick journaling or journaling on the go. I'm using this specific journal for mindfulness and self-care so there is a theme running through it which is echoed in the sentiment on this page - a reminder to be gentle with myself!

Prizes!!!!! Comment to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more!  US winners only, see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details.

Today's Hop List:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus

Lea Fritts

Alison Heikkila

DecoArt Blog

Here's how I made it (apologies for the state of the photos - it was late at night!):

1 Use a paintbrush, bottle lid and credit card to make marks in Payne's Grey paint onto the journal page (this is a technique I learned in Nathalie Kalbach's Creative JumpStart and I love it!)

2 Apply Cobalt Teal Hue and Cobalt Turquoise Hue paints over the top - the Fluid Acrylics from DecoArt are translucent and let all those lovely marks show through!

3) Colour a die cut heart with Pyrrole Red paint. When dry, stamp with the heart from the Handle with Care set to add texture.

4) Add random background stamping using Andy's Steampunk set. Add stencilled dots using the Pixelated stencil from DecoArt. Draw around the heart die cut with a Stabilo All pencil and blend out the pencil to create a shadow. Add scribbly lines with a paint pen.

5) Glue the heart in place and doodle around with white paint pen. Stamp the sentiment from the set and cut it up. Ink the edges to distress before sticking it in place.

Thanks for your visit today! Don't miss the other blogs.

Katy x

DecoArt/Stampendous Blog Hop - Specimen2675

Welcome to day four of the Stampendous/DecoArt blog hop - hope you've been enjoying all the inspiration so far! Today I've used Andy's Skulldoggery stamp set to create a kind of faux fossil effect on a tag.

Comment for a chance to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more! US winners only, see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details.

Here's the hop list for today:

Stampendous Blog

Louise Healy

Elly Pirally

Lea Fritts

DecoArt Blog

Sorry, I didn't manage to take any step pictures of this but briefly here's how I made it:
1 Cut a tag from mixed media or watercolour paper - something that can take wet media.
2 Squeeze drops of Yellow Oxide, Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber paints onto a craft sheet or other non-stick surface. Spray generously with water.
3 Swipe the tag into and through the paints - lightly so as not to over-mix the colours. Dry and repeat until you like the result. I was aiming for a look similar to natural rock (did I manage it?).
4 Stamp and heat emboss the skull stamp with white Stampendous embossing powder. When cool, add a wash of Yellow Oxide paint to tone down the white a little bit and blend the skull into the tag.
5 Finally stamp the wording in black, distress the edges of the tag and mat onto black cardstock.

Katy x

Poppy Canvas for DecoArt

Here's a sneak peek of my poppy canvas, appearing on the DecoArt Media Blog today with a full step-by-tutorial. Hope you enjoy it!

Katy x

Winter White for DecoArt

Here's a sneaky peek of my project for the DecoArt Media DT - there's a video tutorial for my mini canvasses over on the Media Blog today.

Enjoy!

Katy x

Delightful Dog Tag for DecoArt

Hello again friends! Another DecoArt Media DT make from me today, a layered collaged tag featured my sweet little pup Jet. I used to do a lot of scrapbooking and although I gave it up years ago (something not apparent from my patterned paper hoard!), I still like to include photos sometimes on mixed media projects and journal pages.

DECOART PRODUCTS USED:

Media Fluid Acrylics - Burnt Umber, Transparent White, Yellow Oxide, Pyrrole Red, Payne's Grey

Americana Stencil - Pixelated

OTHER ITEMS:

Large and small tags

Cardboard and paper scraps
Metal shape

Washi tape

Wide lace

Brayer

Photo

Fine black pen

Below I'll show you how I created the grungy background. Once done, I simply layered lots of bits and bobs on top. A smaller tag has Yellow Oxide paint applied through the Pixelated stencil and is edged with the same paint using a sponge, as is the main tag. The corrugated card panel is dry brushed with Burnt Umber paint and the hearts are painted with a mix of Pyrrole Red and Payne's Grey (to make a deeper red hue) to add a splash of colour. Doodled lines finish the whole thing off.

I don't have a step-out of the whole project but wanted you to see how I created that rather nice shabby background on the large tag.

Mix Burnt Umber and Transparent White paint to make a yummy chocolate colour. Spread with a brayer onto a surface such as a tear off palette.

Tape a piece of wide lace to a tag.

Brayer over the lace with the paint - this was the result. Grungy!

Quickly take the lace and place it painty side down it onto a second tag. Go over firmly with a clean brayer - the paint on the lace will transfer as long as you work fast before it dries.

This is the result of the lace 'print' - this is the tag I used in this project. Saving the other one for another time!

Wishing you tons of painty fun! 

See you soon,

Katy x

DecoArt DT - In Her Dreams She Can Fly

Hello! It's my DecoArt Media DT debut today (bit happy, bit scared!) and I've created a small piece of what I call 'junk art' to share with you, so called as it's made from recycled bits and bobs (I rarely throw anything away, much to the anguish of my poor husband...). 

It's a pretty simple project but hopefully I can share a bit of product know-how and a few ideas with you along the way. My favourite tip from this tutorial is making your own shimmery glaze from DecoArt Metallic Lustres.

DECOART PRODUCTS USED:

Media Fluid Acrylics -  Raw Umber, Transparent White 

Americana Paint - Hauser Medium Green, Blue Mist

Media Matte Medium

Decou-page Paper - Victorian Romance

Decou-page Glue - Matte

Metallic Lustre - Champagne

OTHER ITEMS:

Cardboard scraps and paper scraps

Metal key

Stampendous! Stamps by Andy Skinner and Nathalie Kalbach

Stampendous! Frantage Mica Flake - Pearl

Permanent brown inkpad

Digital image (source unknown - if it's yours let me know and I'll credit you!)

Stabilo All Pencil

Fine black pen

So grab a cuppa (or whatever takes your fancy) and enjoy my step-by-step :).

1 Collage some small scraps of paper onto a piece of board - I used the back of some craft packaging as it was made from nice thick card. I chose papers which all had complementary tones. Use DecoArt Matte Medium to adhere the papers, applying the medium under and over the papers to ensure they are well stuck.

2 Knock back the colour with Translucent White Media Fluid Acrylic. I used to use watered down gesso to knock back papers or colours but since I found this paint I always use it. You need to use hardly any and you can just pop it straight from the bottle onto your piece. You can of course make a gesso wash instead if you want.

3 Tear and fussy cut some elements from the DecoArt Victorian Romance Decou-page papers pack. Adhere with Matte Medium, once again applying over and under the paper.

4 Repeat step 2 to knock back the colour, but just a little tiny bit. We want these elements to be dominant but also to blend into the background.

5 Stamp a pattern stamp (Nathalie Kalbach) with Americana Blue Mist paint (it's subtle - see top right) and edge the piece with Americana Hauser Med. Green  paint, using your finger to get a wobbly, uneven line.

6 Mix a small amount Champagne DecoArt Metallic Lustre with a little Matte Medium to form a glaze - make sure you mix it really well to eliminate blobs. Brush over the board - you can see from this image it gives a beautiful warm glow when it catches the light.

7 Add some further stamping (Andy Skinner) in permanent brown ink (I used Potting Soil Archival Ink). Rough up the edges of the panel with scissors or a craft knife (be careful!) and ink these too.

8 Use Matte Decou-page Glue (love this stuff!) to adhere some mica flake (Stampendous!) - just a few flakes here and there - very subtle. You could also use Matte Medium for this stage but the Decou-page dries faster and I have no patience!

9 Use Matte Medium or Decou-page to stick the digi image in place and outline with a Stabilo All pencil or similar. I like to blend the pencil out with a small angle brush which is barely wet (actually I just lick it - is that too much information???).

10 Paint a scrap of card with DecoArt Media Metallic Gold paint and smear with a light coat of Champagne Metallic Lustre. Draw a quirky crown and cut out.

11 Adhere the crown, a key (altered with Metallic Lustre as it was very silvery), and some word stickers. Doodle around the stickers, the crown and the board edge with a fine pen.

12 Tear a piece from an old box, rip off some of the surface and dry brush Media Raw Umber paint around the edges.

13 Glue the panel to the corrugated card and you are finished!

Hope your visit today was worthwhile - if you have any questions about the project feel free to post below and I will do my best to answer.

See you soon I hope!

Katy xxx

Creative JumpStart 2017

I've started out as I mean to go on (but will probably fail to do so!) with Creative JumpStart 2017. Today's class was by the very talented Marsha Valk and totally out of my comfort zone! Initially this class made me rather nervous (it's more or less totally flat, it has doodling, the background is BLACK (I needed the smelling salts at this point), AND there are no butterflies!!). But I put on my big girl pants and had a go...

There was a lot in the class today so I picked out just a few elements to have a go at - still a couple of other things I'd like to try when I have more time. For obvious reasons I am not going into detail (it's a paid class) but I will say I used DecoArt Cobalt Teal Hue and Green Gold Media paints, DecoArt Tinting Base, a bright neon Limoncello Gelato (first time that's been out of the drawer - woo woo!) and one of Nathalie's delish stamps for Stampendous.

I thought my sentiment was rather appropriate for a first go at working over black - loving my DecoArt Media paints which pop right off that dark background! I'm actually shocked at how well this turned out and it just goes to show that there's nothing to be afraid of. OK it's not brilliant - but it's also not awful and awful is definitely what I expected!

Looking forward to tomorrow already - back to work in the morning but determined to make some arty time regardless.

Katy x

A Cracking Tag!

We are using our crackle for the latest That's Crafty challenge and I’ve created a distressed tag using the fantastic crackle paint from DecoArt. This is a great crackle product, it’s really sturdy and cracks really well. The secret is to get a nice even coverage that isn’t too thin and to use a darker colour on your base layer which will show through the cracks.

This video shows you how to do create the distressed crackle background used on my tag – hope you enjoy it!

To finish I just added a circular wash of yellow paints, some stamped images, some background stamping and a computer-generated piece of text.

Look how fab that crackle is!!!

Materials used:

DecoArt Media Crackle Paint, Black Gesoo

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Yellow Iron Oxide, Primary Yellow

PaperArtsy Hot Picks stamps

Stampendous Andy Skinner stamps: Industrial
Archival Ink: Coffee, Jet Black

Embellishments: keychain, light bulb, mini brads, photo turn

Scrap of chipboard

Palette knife

Hope you like this piece, was a ton of fun to make,

Katy x

Get Cracking Challenge for That's Crafty!

Liking this That's Crafty challenge muchly as I do like my crackle! I've used a couple of crackle mediums on this little ATC plus an Andy Skinner crackly stamp, for good measure! I used a chipboard ATC as it can take all the wet mediums without complaining!

Sorry I didn't get step pics (too dark at 3am!!!) but here's how I created it.

1) Prime the ATC with gesso then paint in Cobalt Teal Hue - this is the colour that will show through the cracks.

2) For the crackle on the background I used Andy Skinner's Mega Crackle technique for which you can find a video here. Apply Weathered Wood and let dry completely, Mix Crackle Paint with a small amount of Metallic Gold paint and paint over the dry Weathered Wood, leave to crack.

3) Add some stencilling using Cobalt Teal Hue mixed with Tinting Base to make it more opaque. Add stamping in Coffee and black inks.

4) Paint a piece of card with Crackle Paint and when dry paint in Pyrrole Red. Stamp with the heart (Darcy). Add a wash of Metallic Gold over the top and cut out.

5) Add the heart and embellishments to the ATC.

If you haven't used them I'd really encourage you to play and experiment with them, as they are great fun to use and you can create quite a variety of effects. 

PS: If you've enjoyed this you might like this video which also uses DecoArt crackle products :). And hearts for that matter!

Katy x

Products used - available from That's Crafty:

That's Crafty chipboard ATC

DecoArt Media: Crackle Paint, Gesso White, Tinting Base

DecoArt Weathered Wood
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Cobalt Teal Hue, Metallic Gold, Raw Umber, Pyrrole Red

Archival Inks: Jet Black, Coffee

PaperArtsy Eclectica Darcy stamps: EDY01

Stampendous Andy Skinner stamps: Industrial, Shabby Chic, Steampunk

That's Crafty Dinky Stencil: 003 Circles

Guest Designer at A Vintage Journey

Well I am amongst some prestigious company today! Absolutely delighed that Brenda asked me to be a guest at the A Vintage Journey challenge blog today.

The theme is 'Texture/Embossing Paste' and I've used several different mediums to add texture to my piece. There's an introduction to my project on the AVJ site and here are the full step outs of how I made it.

1) Paint a 6x4" canvas with DecoArt Cobalt Turquoise Hue paint diluted with Tinting Base. Use a scrunched up baby wipe to add patches of neat Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Cerulean Blue and white gesso here and there.

2) Stamp the Rubber Dance girl stamp onto white card (from my very own Take the Plunge set!). Stamp the sun (Tim Holtz) behind in two colours of Archival Ink. Stamp the girl a second time and colour with alcohol markers (mine are Graph It). Stamp the sun again in darker Archival colours. Cut out as shown.

3) Use a stencil (this one is Tando) and matte heavy gel to add some 'water' texture to the canvas towards the bottom.

4) Glue the sun rays and lady in place. Add scraps of cheesecloth to add more texture.

5) Mix embossing paste or modelling paste with paint to tint it - I used Yellow Oxide and Raw Umber DecoArt paints. Use the paste through a stencil (TCW) to make embellishments.

6) Add extra stencilling around the edges (TCW) - you can get texture with a heavy gesso by pouncing it through your stencil with a sponge.

7) Add a 'beach' using Texture Sand Paste from DecoArt. While still wet, add some Art Stones from Prima. When dry, tint with Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide paint.

8) Add a collage of pebbles and shells on the left. Glue the shell embellishment and stamped words to a piece of driftwood and add on the right to finish.

I really enjoyed creating this retro-themed piece, I hope you've enjoyed my adventures with texture today and hope to see you soon.

Katy x