Watercolour book of hearts

'Hearts' - using distress inks like watercolours

 Cut a long strip of watercolour paper - mine was 7 cm wide and 38 cm long.

Crease the central line vertically, cut 1 cm off each end and score at 6 cm to create each page.

Create distressed backgrounds by using stencils - rub some ink randomly over the stencil, spritz with water and lay randomly a couple of times along the strip, repeat with another colour and a different stencil and dry. 

Then take an old credit card or something similar and aged mahogany ink, press one edge into the ink pad, spritz water lightly on the horizontal line of the card pages and push the edge of the credit card into it and watch the colour disperse outwards as it moves into and through the water. Dry and stamp some random text along the line just above and below using aged mahogany ink.

Take some card and using the dip, drip, spritz and dry technique, create distressed backgrounds from which you can die-cut some hearts. I used all the colour inks in my colour palette and the distress spritz sprays as well.

bring the pages together with the die-cut hearts, some thread for texture and rub-ons.

I added distress ink and distress spritz colour palettes and left over hearts to the back pages of the book.

I also made a belly band to keep the booklet together.

 xxx

Supplies

Tim Holtz distress inks - aged mahogany, picked raspberry, candied apple, tattered rose, spun sugar, saltwater taffy, picket fence, 

Tim Holtz distress Spritz - picked raspberry, worn lipstick, tattered rose

Sizzix Tim Holtz dies - Vault Matchbook, Vault lovebirds,

Tim Holtz stamps - Ledger Script CMS241, 

Fabriano watercolour paper, bookmaking thread. punched hearts.

Seedheads Panel -

Poppy Seedhead with collage 

I found a small wooden panel and decided to use chalk paints for the background and include the lovely Alison Bomber's stamps. Her love of nature and using plants and seedhead images reflects my own, so I totally resonate with her projects and ideas. So poppy seedheads it is!

Process steps

Paint a layer of london brick mixed with white and lace to tone the colour down a bit (I love mixing my own colours) and dry.

Rub some candle wax over the surface then paint with primitive, dry, rub and sand down to create some distressing.

Rub candle wax more heavily in chosen areas and paint a layer of lace and dry. Again rub and sand down.

Repeat last layer with snowflake sanding edges well to expose the wood.

Blend the edges and surface with walnut stain DO, splatter with water and pull droplets off with kitchen roll, repeat until happy with the effects.

Rub white areas with a damp cloth to lift DO and bring some brightness back to the panel.

Stamp Tim Holtz text onto surface using permanent black ink and heat dry.

Also using Tim's stamp add texture (circles) with embossing ink and use white embossing powder to create this layer.

Stamp and cut round poppies and grass. (I extended the stems of them to help make these fit to the panel size).

I started to design the panel and gather all the bits together and to achieve the look I wanted I did some mass stamping of ephemera and numbers. I'll make my next post about this and show what I used. (See also supplies listed below). 

As it's February and very near Valentine's Day I added some hearts.

The completed panel

xx

Supplies

Chalk paints - London Brick, Snowflake, Lace, Primitive,

TH DOs - Walnut Stain

TH DIs - Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Walnut Stain

TH stamp - Ledger Script CMS241, Halftone & Rings CMS260, Paint by Number CMS483,

                   Ornate Trims CMS326, Curator CMS493

TH Small Talk

TH Heart Punch

Alison Bomber Stamps- Poppy Edition, Pressed Grasses Edition,

Miscellaneous - candle wax, real poppy seedheads (picked from a neighbour's garden, with permission lol), twine

It's Valentine's Month

 This card was made for hubby as well as a new FaceBook challenge at Country View Crafts Challenges where the theme is - 'Love'.

The background was made using Aged Mahogany Distress Stain and Tim Holtz Hearts stencil and created by mono-printing the stencil three times onto the card. Although it looks uneven and very distressed I can live with it as I knew I was going to collage over the top and therefore cover a lot of it up.

This fits an 8x8 card blank.  

The ephemera papers are mostly either from Tim Holtz Ephemera packs or cut from his paper pads.

The 3D  heart is cut from Tim's Thinlits Faceted Hearts die and VALENTINE was printed from his Valentine Silhouettes stamp set, laid out on a piece of vellum.

Here you can see how I used the vellum to create that translucent look.

These are some of the embellishing bits collected together.

The Faceted Heart has a small heart punched from one of Tim's punches and stamped with a small text stamp. The stars are also from another small punch by Tim.

Hubbly loves feeding the birds and doing a bit of bird watching from time to time so this paper came in handy.

I'm pretty sure the text letters are from a Tim die. I keep extra die-cuts in a tub so I didn't have to get the Big Shot out. You can also another of the little white hearts placed strategically in a line of hearts where there was a gap.

I also used a Season's greeting die-cut and some small snippets (also all Tim Holtz).

Thanks for stopping by.

xxx

CELEBRATE at A Vintage Journey - shabby vintage frame

Over at AVJ we are asking everyone to share what they are celebrating in their art and craft at the moment. I always think there is so much to celebrate and enjoy in the artistic and creative world we live in.

For me the celebration comes at many different times - often when I have created something I feel very proud of;  when I've devised a new technique that gives a great result;  when I see some of my artwork in print;  when I have finished a workshop and the attendees love what they have done or when I've simply had a fabulous session of creating on my own or with a group of friends.

This piece today was inspired by family. My daughter married about 15 months ago and I'd made quite a few of these shabby hearts for the invitations and for decorations at the reception.

As I am working with only one hand fully functioning (I've dislocated my left shoulder so that arm is in a sling) I thought I would use one to celebrate both family and all things shabby vintage.

Process steps - dry between painty layers
1. Seal a piece of greyboard with white gesso, dabble, dip and dribble some burnt umber paint,  add some raw umber around the edges and also add some splatters,
To break it up drag some random thin layers of gesso using the flat of the palette knife.

2. Tear and adhere some tissue collage papers. Sand the edges and blend in some brown distress ink. Add a little colour to the images. I used cadmium red hue, titanium white and titan buff.

3. Take the small media board and seal with a coat of white gesso. Scrape a layer of white crackle paste using a small piece of credit card type plastic, keeping it flat so it is an uneven layer. When dry dribble, spritz and dry a couple of different pink mixes , dry and repeat with titan buff. Sand and blend brown distress inks round the edges.

4. Take a deep shadowbox frame and adhere metal corners onto it., then stipple some gesso over the insides and outsides. When dry add a little watery pink to the corners then sand and distress the edges like before. Seal with a coat of varnish.

5. Assemble. To finish I painted a little TH star painted with the deeper pinkier colours to bring the heart into the feel of the whole piece. I chose a star because that is the symbol my daughter loves and for me has come to represent my children, their spouses and our grandchildren.

I also lifted the panel to give it quite a bit of height within the frame.

So let's see what you're celebrating in your artwork this month.
Pop over to A Vintage Journey and join the fun.

xxx

DecArt products

Media white gesso, white crackle paste, 

Media fluid acrylics - raw umber, burnt umber, used cadmium red hue, titanium white, titan buff.