When Things Go Wrong

Hello All, Deena with you on the blog today.

I am sharing with you a tutorial and at one point, what I was creating went wrong. 

When you are creating we all have a tendency to compare ourselves with others, and I will put my hand up the quickest as I do it all the time. But you know what, we are all individuals, we all create differently and see things different. We are our own worst critic, well I am here to tell you to be gentle with yourselves and be who you want to be. Believe in the journey and trust where the path leads because you never know where you will end up or what you will discover.

Products Used

VersaMark Ink

Archival Ink - Jet Black

Clear Embossing Powder

Distress Powder - Tea Dye

Heidi Swapp Colour Shine - Teal

Art Extravagance Texture Paste - Clear Crackle

Clear Gesso

White Gesso

Dylusions Ink Spray - White Linen

Ken Oliver Crafts Color Burst - Pthalo Green

Derivan Spreader Medium

Derivan Matisse Flow Paint - Raw Umber

Hero Arts Stamp - Fabulous Flourish

Prima Cling Stamp - Don't Forget To Fly

Heidi Swapp Butterfly Stencil

Cut & Dry Foam
White Gelly Roll Pen

Step 1. Cover your page with white gesso, then mixed you paint with the spreader medium (I did it on my page). What the spreader medium does is not only extends the drying time to allow you to move the paint but it also makes it thinner and easier to use. Once dry I added over the top my crackle paste in and uneven layer. 

Let this dry naturally. That way it produces better crackle

 

Step 2: Spray your page with water and then sprinkle the Color Burst over the water and watch the magic happen. Add more water or colour burst as you want. You can either let it dry naturally or hit it with your heat gun.

I actually let mine dry over night as I think it was about midnight when I got to this stage. You can see the yummy crackly (best part of my page)

Step 3: I decided that the colour was way to strong I used my cut & dry foam to add white gesso and raw umber paint. Once I was happy with the look I dried it with my heat gun and then put a layer of clear gesso over the top.

Step 4: Using my Fabulous Flourish and VersaMark I stamped the design and then added my distress powder. Once my distress powder my cooled I then rub the design with my fingers to take away the loose pieces, to create the distress look.

Step 5: I stamped my image in archival ink and then clear heat embossed over the top. Archival Ink is not the best ink to heat emboss as it dries quickly but for what I was doing it wasn't a problem.

Now this is where things went wrong.

Step 6: Using my stencil I sprayed the colour shine and because it didn't work very well I decided to add white splatters to the mix. Oh boy what a mess. 

  
Step 7: Because earlier in the process I had added a layer of clear gesso I was able to remove the colour shine and white gesso with water and paper towel.

Step 8: Using my white gelly roll pen I add some highlights to the wording.

To be honest I am not entirely happy with what I created but I wanted to share my journey with you. The thing to remember is Don't Give Up.

Mixed Media Inspiration with Catie

Hi Everybody!

Catie here, with some mixed media inspiration in the form of a canvas I recently created.

First up (after priming my canvas with gesso) I used some Design Memory Craft Faber Castell Whipped Spackle.  This stuff is AMAZING!  It's a kind of texture paste, but is a smoother, lighter consistency, that is a little more flexible when it's dry. I used it with this burlap stencil, and loved the effect it gave.

Next I used some bubble wrap to imprint the whipped spackle while it was still damp.

I dried it off, then used some watered down glimmermist to start adding some colour.

And of course, I couldn't go without gelatos!

Then I started adding more colour with Dylusions spray inks.  I think I lost the yellow from the gelatos in the end, because I got carried away with making peacock type colours with the inks, but that's the beauty of mixed media - there is no wrong!

Next, I stamped some peacock feathers, and coloured them with Dylusions inks.  I love the shimmer that these mists have in them.  I fussy cut the feathers to layer up on the canvas.  The other thing I love about the Dylusions inks is how far they 'go'.  I'd spray on the canvas, add some water, and blend, add a little more water, and suddenly it would pick up surrounding colour from stray droplets around the area, and create even more rich colour to play with!

To create more texture in the background, I've used tissue paper, punchinella, plasterer's tape, sequins, gauze, a fabric doily (which I coloured with glimmermist and Dylusions), some feathers I found in my stash, in peacock-type colours and some metallic thread.  I used Mod Podge to stick all this down - I think my hands were covered in more materials than the canvas at one point!!

So, you can see how I've continued to layer up colours and textures til I was happy with what I had in front of me.  I also used some Liquitex gel medium over the inks, which gave a glossy sheen and really brought out the colours, as you can see in the bottom right image of the collage below. 

  

The whole point to this canvas was to work around a stamped image of a postcard that I wanted to use as the centre piece. I built up my background around the postcard, and then looked up some creative-type quotes, as this canvas was to be a gift to a lovely scrappy-friend.  The quote I used is by Robert Henri "The object isn't to make art; it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable".

Here are a couple more close ups for you....

and the finished product!

 

I hope this has given you some inspiration.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

Thanks for looking :)

Catie xo