Be Thankful, Acorn

Hi everyone - Julia here today with a 6"x6" fall Thanksgiving decoration/card. 

First I die cut, stamped, colored, and layered these pieces using Tim's Acorn Blue Print Framelit stamp and die set.  I colored the acorn pieces with Distress Markers in Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen,Gathered Twigs and Wild Honey and then brushed over them with a water brush. I sponged over everything with Wild Honey and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks and flicked some water on the background piece.

I created the card/panel base using a piece of basket weave DP from Tim's Paper Stash/Destinations,  the Honeycomb die and Arch Frame die.  I sponged the honeycomb with Wild Honey Distress Ink, covered it with Glue N Seal and then poured Mustard Seed Distress Glitter over it.  After it dried I rubbed over it with my finger and then sponged over it with Frayed Burlap and Wild Honey ink.

I tied a knot of Linen Ribbon sponged with Wild Honey through the honeycomb.  I inked a metal foliage with Archival Orange Blossom and Potting Soil then rubbed some Rusty Hinge Distress paint over it and dried it with a heat tool.  I used a Trinket Pin to attach it to the ribbon.

I inked some Industrious Stickers/Borders with the Archival Orange Blossom and Potting Soil inks, dried them with my heat tool and added one along the bottom

and one along the top

I used Tim's Small Easel Die to cut the easel to hold up my creation.  I adhered it to the back of the panel with Scor Tape.

I think this makes a lovely decoration for Fall/Thanksgiving - to sit on a shelf or counter or maybe even on my desk at work!

Thanks so much for stopping by the eclectic Paperie blog today!  Everyday you'll find some inspiration here so check back often!

Stamps:  Acorn Blue Print Framelits - Sizzix Alterations
Paper:  White, True Black - PTI, DP Paperstash/Destinations Tim Holtz
Ink:  Archival Jet Black, Potting Soil and Orange Blossom; Ranger Distress Wild Honey and Frayed Burlap.
Accessories:  Glue N Seal, Mustard Seed Distress Glitter, water brush, foam dots, thick foam dots, Ranger Distresser, Rusty Hinge Ranger Distress Paint, blending tool, Honey Comb and Arch Frame dies, Idea-ology Industrious Stickers/Borders, Linen Ribbon, Foliage, Trinket Pin, Ranger Distress Markers - Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs, Wild Honey, Black Soot, Spritzer

A Colorful Experiment

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  Micki here to share another art journal adventure.  I love white space – on cards, layouts, etc.  but maybe because of all that cold, white stuff sitting on the ground (snow), I’ve been craving color.  Lots of bright color!
I’ll be honest and tell you that I had absolutely no clue about a theme or what the end result should be, I just had three goals, finish previously unfinished pages, use the new Studio 490 stencils and like I said earlier…. it had to be colorful.
With that in mind, this is the unfinished spread I used:
I had glued lots of left over gelli plate prints, regular copy paper onto which I had cleaned a stencil, pieces of paper towel, bits of twine and some -almost dried out- Distress Crackle paint.  I even glued a die cut leaf onto the page.  Basically anytime I needed to clean my brush or stencil or had odds and ends left over, it went onto this page.

Ok, I knew I wanted color, so I started by adding a light wash of Gesso followed by Distress Paints.  Because I had used a pen to doodle around the stencil, the paints did not cover it completely at which point I decided to cover that side with Tissue Wrap, followed by adding blocks of color using Distress Paints.

Because of the paper towel pieces, the paints seemed kind of dull (those paper towels just sucked all the paints in) so I started adding Dylusions Ink Sprays.

And then I grabbed my Distress Stains and went to town:

I love the vibrancy I got with all those layers, first the paints, then the ink sprays and finally the stains.  Next I created a border with Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Sunburst stencil.

I used Black Soot Distress Ink but wanted it to be a little bolder, so I went back over each of the sunbursts with Black Soot Distress Paint.

Next I stamped Dina Wakley’s Grungy Silhouette onto tissue paper and glued it to the page.  I used Distress Markers to try to define her a little more and for some definition.  I also stamped the Script Heart cling mount stamp onto old book paper, and glued onto the page to cover some pen marks and because it's Valentine's.   Using a white Sharpie, I outlined all the stenciled sunrays.

I don’t know what I was thinking but I ended up smearing the lower right hand corner and was almost frantic (you know, deadline looming).  But I was able to “clean it up” a bit, just by using the black Distress Marker.  I also used Studio 490 White Embossing Paste mixed with some Barn Door Distress Paint to stencil the flower from Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Vintage Floral Stencil.  I had a heck of a time to get a good impression of the stencil because of all the strings and texture.

After that it was just adding some shadow around the hearts with the Distress Markers and coming up with a title.  (No, actually at this point I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off because I just knew that I had ruined this project and I didn’t like it other than the colors and it was really late – you ever do that?)
Well, I did meet the three goals I gave myself.  It’s colorful, I used a previously unfinished page and I used two of Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 stencils.   I’m glad I pushed on and finished it.

This art journal spread was definitely a very colorful experiment!  Hope I inspired you to grab those inks, stains and paints and create some color this snowy weekend!

 




Supplies Used:

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