Mixed Media Canvas for Sheena Douglass

This is a mixed media canvas that I created for the designer Sheena Douglass.  The end result was really beautiful with all of its shiny parts and especially the mermaid whose tail catches the light beautifully.  I made it through to the 2nd stage of the recent Design Team Call out for Sheena Douglass and even though I wasn’t picked in the end I still wanted to share with you my makes and how I made my final round canvas featuring stamping, die cuts, stencilling and lots of Pebeo mixed media-ness!  The canvas had lots of super shiny elements thanks to the foiling and the Dyna paints.  For my samples that were made in the first round please scroll down past the video and past the ingredients list…

Ingredients

• Gesso in White and Black by Pebeo
• High density modelling paste and modelling paste by Pebeo
• Crackle texture paste by Golden
• Stamps by Sheena Douglass (mermaid and cracks)
• Stencils by Sheena Douglass (pop dotty and equalizer)
• Dies by Sheena Douglass (wild rose and day of the dead)
• Embossing folder by Sheena Douglass
• Acrylic paints by Pebeo (including Dyna colours)
• Gelatos by Faber Castelle
• Foil Gilding sheets by Pebeo (green and silver)
• Drawing gum by Pebeo
• Perfect medium by Ranger
• Archival ink in Watering Can by Ranger
• Spectrum Noir alcohol pens (skin tones)
• Mixtion relief by Pebeo
• Aluminium tape
• Black card

Here’s my three makes from the first round:

 

Day of the Dead Mini Canvas (click for blog post and video)

Savannah Family Card – I’m planning on making this into an art journal page so make sure you’ve subscribed to my YouTube channel.

Faux Leather Embossed Altered Box – click for the blog post

Pebeo Mixed Media Canvas: Dolls House Window

I created this canvas for Pebeo's UK Mixed Media Competition and was thrilled to be selected as a finalist. Pebeo make all of my favourite mixed media materials. This canvas has been created using the high viscosity acrylic paints, vitrail paints, texture paste, fantasy paints, prisme paints and vitrail outliner. The Dolls House window is a spare from the dolls house that I have made at home and was originally plain wood. I painted it to look realistic to juxtapose from the abstract canvas.

 

Art Journal: In My Own Little World

This journal entry was came from a challenge to do a self portrait… yikes.  Well I drew something resembling my younger self (I went for a childhood portrait because I wanted to go for bright garish colours which happened to resemble my favourite childhood colour combination).  I urge anyone to have a go at doing a self portrait without trying to get it right because to result should still look quite cool and if in doubt add big eyes!

Ingredients

• Faber Castell Gelatos
• Spectrum Aqua Pens
• Distress Ink Vintage Photo
• Faber Castell Pitt Brush Pens
• Pebeo acrylics
• Paper doilies
• Paper by Craftwork Cards Fab Fabrics
• Liquid Pearls
• Stickles
• Stencil by Sheena Douglass
• Texture Stamps by Crafters Companion

Did you know you can also paint with liquid pearls?  Check out the lips!

DT Call Entry for Sheena Douglass

Imagine my excitement when there was a design team call to join the magnificent team for Sheena and her inkettes!  The brief was to create three pieces: a card, home decor and own choice.  All the pieces below were created especially for this and whatever the outcome I had great fun making these!

 

1 – Card: Focus on colouring

I really enjoyed making this card, it was nice and simplistic in arrangement as I wanted to showcase my new Spectrum Noir colouring skills.  The result was a very reassuring card for anyone going through a hard time or a bereavement.  In those extremely difficult times sometimes there are no words that you can day to someone other than “I’m there for you”.  Couple this with the guy waiting patiently at a favourite place just in case you need him.

 

• Stamps (background, moon and guy) and sentiment by Sheena
• Drawing gum by Pebeo
• Spectrum Noir pens and Tim Holtz distress inks
• Blue mirror card, Kraft card blank (6x6), Neenah cardstock for alcohol
• Spellbinders dies
• Flowers, angel wing charm and string from stash
• Tiny screw brads by Tim Holtz

2 – Home Decor: Focus on abstract mixed media

For this piece I wanted to hit a canvas with mixed media but still show how Sheena’s stamps can be brought into the final composition.  I am big into dolls houses and as a result I have some spare windows lying around which convieniently I had already painted.  I don’t yet have Sheena’s perfect partner flowers which would have been ideal for this but made do with what I had.

 

• Canvas Paints: Acrylic paints, gesso, glass vitrail, fantasy prism and moon paints by Pebeo as was the clear outliner
• Stencils: distress grid and grass by Sheena
• Stamps: Magical and Laguna by Sheena
• Wallpaper: embossing folder by Sheena, Distress Ink and guilding wax
• Stamps coloured with Aqua Tints by Spectrum Noir
• House number by Tim Holtz and coloured with Ranger alcohol ink
• Glass bottle by Tim Holtz filled with cosmic shimmer glitter

3 – Own Choice: a gift: Polymer clay painted fairy door accordion book

I had so many thoughts on this third item but in the end wanted to show what I haven’t shown already: stamping into polymer clay!  And who can resist fairies! So here is my super glittery polymer clay painted fairy tree accordion book.

• Polymer clay by Fimo, stamp by Sheena, acrylic and acrylic dyna paints by Pebeo
• Inside background Aqua Tints and Distress Ink with spritz and flick effect
• Stamps by Sheena (silhouette grasses and hidden fairies)
• Stickles Glitter by Ranger in lots of colours

Another Tag: Letters and Postcards

 

Made using a plain white CWC Essentials tag, Papers from the correspondence designs, plain white candi, distress inks (old paper + vintage photo + black soot), crackle glaze and a selection of script stamps.

Just before making this tag I had just finished making this one for fun, coming up with some different ways of using liquid pearls and glossy accents - again this was with Craftwork Cards Papers:

Time Flies ... Fly With It! Tag Challenge Entry!

 

So I wanted to finally start a blog and this seemed like a good opportunity.  I would say I'm fairly new in the public Crafting World but I came across a challenge on the page http://tagalongchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ that would give me something to do!  This week's challenge: Tick Tock.  At the end of this post I've provided the meanings behind the elements on this piece.

Ingredients

Papers - Craftwork Cards (Time Flies)
Gilding Wax - Creative Expressions - Pewter and Patina
Distress Ink - Tim Holtz - Tattered Rose
Stamps - DoCrafts mini alphabet
Glossy Accents (on the clock faces on the butterflies)
Liquid Pearls - Silver Pearl
Paper Doily
Other bits and bobs from my stash - organza ribbon, clock hands, pink mini rose buds



Technorati Tags: butterflies,challenge,craftwork cards,doilies

Symbolisms You May Have Missed...

All in all I'm quite happy with the finished result and the symbolism of the design.  I didn't want to go down the route of doing a vintage and heavily distressed or steampunk style - instead I wanted it to be a bit more light and happy. 

1. The clock hands pointing towards the wording leads you to the words, but at the same time, separating the hands represents the two realms of time that we experience as humans: real world and dreams and how they are so separate and non-sync.
2. The wording of Time Flies... Fly With It suggests that although we can't stop time and have to go along with it then let's at fly instead of dragging our heels! 
3. I love that the clocks on the butterflies (from Craftwork Cards) all have the same time on them - so although they all exist at the same time they all chose their own path.
4. Why FIVE butterflies?  Numerology interests me.  The number 5 represents unpredictability, being always in motion and change.  There's a more in depth description of five here: http://www.numerology.com/numerology-numbers/5
5. Finally - the clock key on the ribbon represents that our life is essentially as long as a piece of ribbon held together by time (a very deep discussion point) and every time the clock needs to be reset (with the key) new buds will bloom (rebirth and new life after time ends).