Take time for detours

Hi everyone, Steph Ackerman here with my third post as the guest designer for eP for the month of May. 

I found this wood board in my local store and thought it would be fun to work with.  I wasn't sure at the time what I would be doing, but I knew it would come in handy.

Today, I'd love to show you how I turned this plain board into a wall hanging.

Using Art Anthology's Velvet Dimensional Paint in Aloha, I lightly painted the background.   Since I wanted a hint of color, I spritzed the panel with water which allowed the paint to flow.   Then I added in Art Anthology's Sorbet in Honolulu Blue for a bit more color.

                    
I also painted  Art Anthology's Sorbet in Honolulu Blue  on the edges for dimension.

The papers I used are from October Afternoon's Travel Girl collection, which I thought would be perfect for what I had in mind.  I cut the papers to fit the inside area on this plaque, inking the edges with Memento Rich Cocoa Ink and matting with cardstock before adhering.

I cut and tore some wordy travel paper from this collection, matted with some cardstock and placed it so it appeared to be falling off the right edge.  I added a large die cut oval from brown cardstock on top.  Using a Stamping Bella stamp, I colored her with assorted Copic Markers and then fussy cut her, placing her atop the oval with pop dots for dimension.



Since my stamped image appears to be thinking about where she'd love to travel next, I fussy cut assorted words from this pattern paper collection and adhered them around her.

Along the bottom panel, I added a sweet sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

Fall Swim

Hi, Mary-Ann here! With watercolor being an up and coming challenge here at Eclectic Paperie, I decided I'd try my hand at watercoloring on this swimming layout.  Fitting don't you think? WATERcolor with swimming!!  Anyway, I also tried a new technique.   

I laid out my non-stick craft sheet and lightly sprayed color mists directly on the sheet and then diluted this by spray by spraying water directly on top.  This helped thin my colors.  It is hard to see in this photo but look closely!

I then turned my paper face down onto the wet puddles of spray.  When I lifted and turned my paper over, I could see where the colors mixed on my paper.

Once I decided where my photo and papers were going to be, I got out my Tim Holtz Stars Layering Stencil and with a gray watercolor pencil, I traced where I wanted random stars.  With a blender pen or water brush, I lightly went over the pencil marks to make them blend like watercolor.

See the stars?  I then took the same colored pencil and drew light lines and lightened those with the same blender pen.  

Layered on my tags, ephemera embellishments and resin flowers.

This Fancy Pants line, Happy Go Lucky, was PERFECT for the colors in my photo.  I must say, I have tons of product left that would create a completely different style layout.  After this layout was complete I trickled droplets of gold spray in various places and used gold thread to sew.  This time, the sewing helped keep my tile and small embellishments in place.  

You can find the items from this layout here in the shop or on the links below.

Fancy Pants � Happy Go Lucky 6x6 Paper Pad	Fancy Pants - Happy Go Lucky - Small Decorative Tags	Fancy Pants - Autumn Hues Resin Flowers	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Stars	Idea-ology - Cabinet Cards	Copic Sketch - 0 - Colorless Blender	Inksessentials - Mini Mister 3-Pack
Dylusions Ink Spray - Calypso Teal	Dylusions Ink Spray - Bubblegum Pink	Scotch Foam Mounting Tape	Beacon - Zip Dry	Glue Dots� Vellum Transparent 3x4 10 pc Sheet	Mono Adhesive Tape Runner - Permanent

US

Ever have those times when you start and finish a project and what you had in mind does not translate to paper?  Then, you tear it apart and start all over again?  That happened to me on this layout.  Sometimes things come naturally, other times, its forced.  Well, you should have see the "dirty" part of my layout before.  NOT pretty!  This rendition is much better and I would love to share it with you.  So, it's Mary-Ann here, about to share my labor intensive layout:o)

I sprayed three different color inks to get my desired look on my cardstock base.

Then I totally stole an idea from a fellow blogger Ashli Oliver and spread Gesso over my patterned paper at the bottom of my layout.  It helped soften the darker colors.  I hand drew in some of the arrows that I wanted to stand out.  

Layered my October Afternoon papers, stickers, A Flair for Buttons flair, My Mind's Eye enamels and October Afternoon brads.  You will see below on the completed layout that I used the same spray ink to add color to my title from Fancy Pants and wood veneers from Basic Grey.

This end result is a much more pulled together layout than the last!  Blue, gray and pink make me happy when they are together.  This photo is celebrating my 8th Mother's day because of that beautiful boy with me.  I am blessed.

Thank you for stopping in.  Below you will find a link to all the items you can purchase over at Eclectic Paperie.  

October Afternoon - Travel Girl 8x8 Paper Pad	Fancy Pants - 5x3 Life Stencil Set	Wplus9 Design Studio - Quite Like You Stamp Set	Basic Grey - Hipster - Wood Veneer Die Cuts	Archival Ink - Jet Black Ink Pad
Dylusions Ink Spray - Bubblegum Pink	Dylusions Ink Spray - After Midnight	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso	Idea-ology Tiny Attacher Refills	Idea-ology Tiny Attacher
Tim Holtz� Distress� Markers - Black Soot	Mono Adhesive Tape Runner - Permanent	Glue Dots� Permanent 1/2" 60 pc	Scotch Foam Mounting Tape