Hi all you Butterflies!!!
Helen here with a little something for you showcasing some new products I have never used before! It’s always exciting using new products, but also a bit scary as you are never too sure how things will turn out! But that is the fun of art journaling… experimenting and trying new products, as well as getting those emotions out and down in a spread!
The first thing I did, was use a plastic card and spread some DecoArt Media Gesso over my pages. I am using a 5” x 8” journal this week! I love the DecoArt Media Gesso as it glides over the paper so smoothly and dries instantaneously!
Once that dried, I used the Torned Circle large stencil by France Papillon and a foam pad and pounced DecoArt Chalk Acrylic in Keepsake through the stencil at the edges of my pages. Frances stencil are durable and take a pouncing for sure!!
After that layered dried, I took my spatula and applied a thick layer of DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackle Medium over the entire circle area. This is where I was a bit nervous, as this product I have never used but thought... it can’t be too hard!! I helped the drying process a bit with my heat tool.
I then took a brush and applied a layer of DecoArt Chalky Finish in Yesteryear over the entire page, leaving some gesso areas peeking through the middle.
I then took my heat gun to this, and instantly, the crackles appeared in the circles! I love how quickly these appeared and how much of the Keepsake chalky finish showed through! The crackle even worked over the white gesso!
To pop out the edges of my circles, I outlined them using a Stabilo All black pencil and blended those out using a blender pen.
Of course I need to use some stamps for a bit of interest, and Frances’ Illusionary Artists Rock’n Rust stamp set by France was my go too! I used some Archival ink, Watering Can and Black, my 2 favourites!
I then made my little embellishment for the page. I stamped out the dragonfly, Illusionary Artists Creepers and Crawlers by France Papillon, and colorized this using the DecoArt Chalky Finish in Keepsake that I watered down and a bit of sepia Archival ink for the body. I cut out a piece of cork, colorizing this with the Keepsake and added some plastic mesh.
And Voila! My finished experiment using new products, and also a new color scheme for me too!
I hope I have inspired you this week to try a new product or two!
You may be surprised, as I was, of the outcome!
Keep creating!
((HUGS))
Helen
Used products:
Stamps: Illusionary Artists by France Papillon "Rock'n Rust", ”Creepers and crawlers”
Stencils: "Torned circle"
DecoArt Media: Gesso, Weathered Wood Crackle Medium
DecoArt Chalk Acrylic in Keepsake and Yesteryear
Stabilo All black pencil
Stampin’ Up Blender pen
Archival ink, Watering Can and Black and Sepia
Cork sheet
Plastic mesh