DESTASH OPPORTUNITY!!

Hi Everyone!!!!  So I am trying to organize and clean my craft room.  Gotta have the room somewhat clean before I can start making videos!!!  So far I have at least ten lbs. of paper, Hot of the press book of paper, stickers, a heat tool, and whatever else I find.  I would like to see the entire lot for one price but if there is something that you absolutely want just message me.  I haven't finished going through everything yet so I have no pics yet but be on the lookout!!!

April Color Challenge at the Kraaft Shaak!!!!

Hi Everyone!!!  I hope you had a great Easter!!!  I have been busy working on this month's Kraafter's challenge for April!!!!  Its a color challenge of teal, light aqua, red, and corals.  So this is what I came up with.

What I did to put this together was use a 12 inch scrapbook paper as my background.  The paper came from a paper pack so all the paper coordinated.  The girls are from a stamp from Deep Red.  I matched their outfits using inktense pencils.  I used a couple of sprays, some modeling paste, and stickles. 

I used distress ink around the torn edges of the paper to make them stand out more.  The molding paste is from Golden and very fun and easy to use.  When it dries, it feels spongy.   If you would like to join the Kraaft Shaak community just head on over to Google+ to set up an account or go to The Shaak.

On a side note:  I just purchased a web cam today!!!  So now I can start posting some videos!!!!!!  wooohooo!!!!

Update on my March Monthly challenge at the Kraaft Shaak and some marbling with shaving cream!!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!! 
So I have been sick and didn't feel like doing much of anything so I could not wait to get this post out when I was feeling a little bit better.  So I won the monthly Kraafters challenge for March from the Kraaft Shaak.  Wooohoooo!!!!  First time I won anything on the internet!!!  What did I win you ask?  I won an album that has a blank canvas on the cover.   I was so excited!!!!  Thank you so much Heather from the Kraaft Shaak!!!!!  

For today's post, I wanted to do some fun messy painting with shaving foam!!!!  I have been seeing this all over youtube and other blogs.  Its actually pretty easy.  So here is what I came up with.

The first example I used my dylusions sprays and the second example I used my color bloom sprays.  So, here's what you need to get started. 

• cheap can of shaving cream (don't use gel foam it won't work with paint or dye)
• paper towels
• a shallow pan or dish that will never leave your craft room
• something to mix your colors in the shaving cream.  I used the end of one of my brushes.
• water
• dropper or pippette
• baby wipes
• paint, sprays, ink, food coloring, the possibilities are endless
• palette knife or something to spread your shaving cream around in

The next step is to put some shaving cream in your dish about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and spread it out like your frosting a cake.  

Next start taking your colors and dropping them in.  First I unscrewed the top of my dylusion sprays and shaking the end of the straw part but not much was coming out.  Then I used a medicine dropper and that worked out a lot better. 

I don't think I used enough ink here but it still worked.  I just used the end of my paintbrush to make swirlies in the shaving cream. 

Here I was using up some old cards from DCWV I had lying around in my stash.  After you place it in the shaving cream, gently press down so that the paper makes contact with the shaving cream.  I did notice there were times I wasn't pressing down hard enough and other times I pressed too hard.

Because there is still water in shaving cream, my paper was becoming too saturated and began to rip on the top of the paper when I was trying to get the shaving cream off. 

In the next example, I switched paper and tried some old cardstock from Creative Memories.   Again, I pulled it right back out once I knew the paper completely made contact with the shaving cream.  I could see the color starting to come through to the back of the paper. 

I wish you could see the shimmer in that gold and dark teal.  These color bloom sprays are just gorgeous!!!!   So let me know what you think!!  I had a lot of fun making these.  I will definitely be making more marbled paper again. 

Some Bokeh Play with Dylusion Sprays

HI Everyone!!!  Since I am trying to fight a cold, I have had some time playing!!  I wanted to share what I have been creating using the Bokeh technique.  If you have never heard of Bokeh, its really about perspective and circles!!!  If I were to describe it, if you have ever taken a picture with your camera of a christmas tree or anything with lights and its out of focus and all you see are the round lights.  That's how I interpret it anyways.  I have seen this done in many youtube videos and I think its really pretty.  In this post I will show you what I did and what I made with it. 

So, here are two examples that I have made.  I had done this using only some water, dylusion sprays, brushes,and cold pressed watercolor paper. 

The first thing I did was used some washi tape to tape down the watercolor paper.  When watercolor paper gets really saturated, it tends to curl or buckle and gets really stiff.  I'm not sure if hot pressed paper does the same thing ( I will have to experiment). 

Here are the colors I chose for this project: cut grass, funky fuschia, london blue, vibrant turquoise, and white linen.  I also got a spray bottle of just plain water.  First I sprayed the paper with the water to get it nice and wet.

Next, I started to get some color down. Once I had the paper covered in color, I took the water again, and moved the color around.

Next, I took a paint brush to move more of the color around.  Once I had it looking the way I wanted it, the fun part starts.   Because I was using a spray, I found some plastic packaging the I could spray the white into.  Or if you wanted you could just take the cap off and dip your brush into it (afterthought for me).  I started making big circles first.  They aren't perfect circles, I just freehand the circles down.

Now comes the medium circles......

Now because its dylusions, the colors are still going to show through the white making the whole thing look transparent.  You will want to go back and darken your smaller circles. 

Here I added the smaller circles and some white splattering to finish it off.  So this is what I decided to make with it!!!

I made some cards!!!!  Since I have been sick, I had been doing a lot of stamping and fussy cutting.  Now to adhere the card fronts to their bases, I used score tape on the back to eliminate the paper from buckling.

I hope you enjoyed this post and feel free to leave a comment or any questions......

March Monthly Challenge at Kraaft Shaak

 I am sooooo excited because this is my first art challenge over at the Kraaft Shaak!!  I'm especially excited about this month because the challenge was to incorporate fabric in some way,shape, or form.   So of course this called for a shopping trip to Michaels!!!!  New for the spring they have a Denim and Linen display of all sorts of stuff to alter that has denim,linen,canvas,and burlap.  So I grabbed a bunch of 4"canvas boards wrapped in denim and linen.  Now, I kept looking at the denim display and I began reminiscing about when I was growing up denim was a BIG deal.  Jeans, jackets,bags, purses, you name it.   What made it cool was drawing on it!!!!! So, in creating this project, it took me back to school and remembering all the art work my fellow classmates created with their clothes!!!

Here is the finished project.  But I will take you through step by step on how I did it.

These are just 4 inch square denim canvas panels that I picked up at Michaels.  They were real cheap.  I grabbed a bunch!!

Next, I took some washi tape and just taped them together.  I didn't exactly know off the bat that I would do a butterfly, but in the event I made something abstract or with a lot of movement, it might look neat with the panels seperated afterwards. 

I took some gesso and just spread it around with my fingers.  I didn't want to cover the whole thing so you could still tell it was denim. 

This first stencil is a recollection stencil by Michaels.  Here is where I like to get messy with my dylusion spray inks!!! 

Here I am using funky fuschia,vibrant turquoise,and cut grass.  I also used some distress inks as well (do you know hard those little inchies are to keep on the table!!!??)  Both these inks are water soluble.  Watch what happens next when I put some paint on. 

The butterfly stencil is from Plaid.  I first outlined the entire stencil.  I was planning on having just a solid butterfly.  Then this happened..........

At first I was upset, but quickly I loved what I was seeing.....Even after a couple coats of acrylic paint, the dylusion sprays were reactivated and the color bled through. 

Here I just added some more acrylic paint and filled in the stencil to offset the background a little bit.  I ended up just adding some shading and sparkles and called it a day!!!! 

If you would like to join the Kraaft Shaak Kommunity, head on over to www.kraaftshaak.com and join their kommunity group on google+ and submit your own challenge!!!!