Sunshine altered book pages

Hi everyone!  It's Broni here with you today.

I finally pulled out my altered hard-back book and decided it was time to add something on the inside! And here's what I came up with.

And this was my creative process:

I applied gesso to the book pages and let it dry thoroughly.

I added images and a background using the Brick Wall stencil,  Wildflowers and a Bird stencil, and Rays stencil, along with Distress inks in Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers, and Dusty Concord.

I misted the pages with water and stood the book up to allow some of the drips to flow to the bottom.

I dabbed some of the excess water with a paper towel then finished drying it with my Heat tool.  Then I added some definition lines with an artist's pen.

Next I stamped my sentiment (from PTI) using Jet Black Archival ink.
 

I added a "frame" for the sentiment by using my Mini Hexagons stencil with some Dusty Concord ink, then adding lines with my pen.

Then I sprinkled some clear embossing powder onto the sun rays and heat embossed them.  They look like liquid sunshine!!
 

Lastly I added a few accents using my Well Rounded stencil and some of the same inks, and added some black hexagons in the corners for more definition.  Then I lightly sponged in some of the background.

And that's it!

It was fun!  I tried to stop this time before I added "too much".  Sometimes it's hard to know when that is!

Thanks so much for dropping in today!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Liquitex Acrylic Gesso	Studio 490 - Brick Wall Stencil	Studio 490 - Wildflowers & Bird Stencil
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Rays	TCW Hexagons 6x6 stencil	TCW - 6x6 Well Rounded Stencil
eP Peacock Feathers Distress ink	Dusty Concord Distress ink	Mustard Seed Distress ink
Picked Raspberry Distress ink	Mowed Lawn Distress ink	Black Soot Distress ink pad
Jumbo round dauber	Mini Mister 3-Pack	Archival Jet Black Ink Pad
Clear embossing powder	Ranger Heat It Craft Tool

InLinkz.com

Reused, Repurposed, and Personalized Notebook

Hi everyone, Steph Ackerman here today and as the summer starts to wind down it's time to think about school restarting.  It's always fun to send the kids off that first day with something new, useful, and fun, as well as practical.  I think it kind of takes away the edge of starting anew.

This notebook was not only fun to create, but also very practical.  Add your child's name to the cover and she'll have something to show off to her friends.

 

 

I started with a notebook that desperately needed some revamping.

 

 

Using Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I first inked the front cover, then cut white cardstock to fit the front of the notebook, and also inked it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I cut blue cardstock slightly smaller than the front cover.  Placing Tim Holtz Splatters stencil on the cardstock, I used Aloha Velvet Art Anthology paint.  To get paint into the small spaces, I used my fingers then moved the stencil around the cardstock until I had the look I wanted.  Once it dried, Walnut Stain Distress Ink was added around the edges and the panel was adhered to the front cover.

The letters were cut from Grungeboard and painted with Aloha Velvet Art Anthology paint .  Using a stencil with Art Anthology's Honolulu Blue Sorbet paint, additional dimension was added to the letters.

The letters were then inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  To grunge up the cover some more, I used Blending Foam to add Walnut Stain Distress Ink over the painted splatters.

 

 

I think Emi will be happy with her new notebook, don't you? 

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

Steph

 

Gesso Resist & Ranger Day

Hi everyone and welcome to another day of crafting fun and techniques on the eP blog!  Today I'm so excited to share a project that I created after attending a day of Ranger training at The Collins Group show, an event held each year for retailers on the east coast.

What a great opportunity to meet amazing designers, instructors, other store owners, and product manufacturers.  You literally leave with your head swimming with ideas.  I came home, after being gone for three days, and sat down in my office to make something...anything...my husband came downstairs and said, "aren't you all crafted out?"  In all honesty, I was so tired, but also so inspired that I couldn't wait to try out some of what I had learned...even if I was half asleep! LOL!

The technique that I'm sharing today is called gesso resist.  Tim referred to it as speckled gesso resist because of the look that the gesso produces when using a credit or gift card to apply the gesso.  Claudine Hellmuth had produced a number of videos during the winter CHA show, using gesso as a resist so I was familiar with the technique.  Of course Tim added his own unique spin to the technique and then brought in those wonderful Distress products!

And guess what?  I made a quick video demonstrating the gesso resist technique, showing the tag that we created in the Ranger class, and then two other projects (both shown here) that I made using the same technique.  You can see the video here and I'll quickly run through the steps below.

1. Place a small amount of gesso on a non-stick craft sheet
2. Use a credit and gift card as an applicator; pick up gesso on one edge of the card
3. Keeping the card completely level with your stamping surface, very gently slide the card (with gesso) over your paper.  This will allow the gesso to just barely skim the surface of your tag or paper, creating the speckled or aged plaster effect.
4. Once the gesso is dry, apply Distress Stain, using 1-3 colors, over the paper.  The gesso will resist the stain.
5. Spritz with water to blend the Distress Stain colors.
6. Once dry, use stamps to decorate the surface.

 I used the following products on the journal page, shown above.  Distress Stains (Wild Honey & Barn Door), Gathered Twigs Distress Ink (around the edges), Dylusions Journal (I tore a piece of the manila paper out of the journal to create the page...the manila paper is perfect for the stains!), Hollyhocks stamp, sentiment from She Sprouted Wings stamp set, gesso.  

Oh look!  It's Dyan Reaveley!  OK, she doesn't have anything to do with today's project but she was at the Ranger training day and it was the first time I met her or took one of her classes!  WooHoo!  So much fun; I learned a ton from her and can't wait to share some of those details!  She's a delightful instructor and a great artist!

 Here is the tag that we produced in Tim's class and is the project that I demonstrate during my video.

And then...I also made a card using the same technique.  I just used a piece of scrap paper and followed the exact same steps to produce the background...just using different stains.  This is a darling stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy.

Isn't it great that you can take a simple technique, and just a few products, and then use those same steps to produce multiple projects and designs!  I really wanted to be able to share my ideas that came from that one short demonstration.  I also share a few more ideas in the video!

Super fun and super easy!  Give it a try and then tell us about your experience and share your project on our Facebook page!

Enjoy!

Do what makes you happy . . .

Happy Saturday everyone!

Tracy here today, I am sooo excited to be sharing . . .

" What makes me HAPPY "

For me it has to include a lot of splatters and splodges with Paint, Ink, Sprays,

 chopped up pretty patterned papers

and a smattering of stamps!

Apologies in advance for the longish post.

Now first I have a confession to make . . . my project was going to be " 3D beach huts " but while rooting around my shed I came across some cardboard packaging and before I knew what I was doing I had grabbed a pallete knife, cracked open the gesso and splattered it all over . . .

lovely lumpy bumpy texture!

Now being an impatient kind of girl . . . I grabbed my heat tool to speed the drying up, I love how it bubbles up and adds more texture.

Still thinking along the lines of beach huts at this point, a little snipping and chopping up of pretty papers by Fancy Pants - Down By The Shore Papers  along with some old book pages was required . . . sticking in place with Multi- Medium

Did I mention how I love to splodge and splatter?

I used a mixture of  Tim Holtz Distress Stains, Distress Re-Inkers and Ranger Perfect Pearl Mists .

I already started to outline and scribble here with a fine black liner pen but it did get lost along the way with more paint, inks and sprays added!

Okay another confession, at this point I had NO IDEA what so ever about what I was going to do next and went into a frenzy of paper cutting, inking, adding more paint, background stamps, stickers, washi tape . . . on and on until I ended up with this. . . little rickety shabby beach houses and seeing as I live in Scotland ... we do need chimneys to keep us warm, lol.

The frenzy would be like a You Tube video on fast forward!

Still Iwasn`t finished . . .

 Some sentiments from Donna Downey`s  Art and Possibility stamp set, chopped up and fixed in place with Glossy Accents and the the raffia . . .well you can imagine the mess I had created by this time and while moving things around the raffia fell ontop . . . kinda liked it, so spread more out and fixed in place using a hot glue gun.

Here are a few close ups . . . can you see I added more of the papers for a door, a heart and to stamp the sentiments on.You can see more of the splattered colours here and lots of scribbles along the way.

 Washi tape for chimneys and random alpha stickers for the smoke whirling out.

 I didn`t like the reddish roof this one had so I added another roof from a book page and blended it in.

Ooops forgot to mention that I have the Pan Pastels mixed media 1 set, I used the Black, Titanium White,

Permanent Red and the Turquoise from the set.

The finishing touch was to take a clear embossing pad, randomly apply, sprinkle with Utee and heat.

It hasn`t really shown up in the pictures but it sure does add another texture.

So now you know what makes me happy ... inky,painty splattered hands,lol.

 I hope you aren`t too disapointed at not seeing any 3D Beach huts, but instead my Scottish Shabby ones.

Take a little time and do what makes you HAPPY this weekend.

Till next time

Tracy x

List of materials from eclectic Paperie Shop, just click on the links -

 Claudine Hellmuth Studio - Multi Matt  Medium, Gesso

Tim Holtz Distress Stains -Weathered Wood, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick,Picket Fence

Tim Holtz ink Reinker -Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy

Perfect Pearls Mists - Perfect Pearl, Bronze

Pan Pastels Mixed Media set 1

Inkssentials - Glossy Accents, Foam Blending Tool 

Mini Misters

Fancy Pants - Down By The Shore 6x6 paper pad

Unity Stamp Company - Art and Possibility stamps { Donna Downey }