Gesso Layering

Hey again, Peeps. This is just a short post today on what I call Gesso Layering. Mainly, you just take lots of items from your craft room, glue them down to your surface, and cover them with gesso. You may need a few coats if you want to cover an item well. 

This is a card I made. I find the texture gives much visual interest.

I started out with just a piece of cardstock. Then I looked at all the bits that were laying around on my craft table. You know- those little bits from your past 20 projects. 

I also used a Key Mask that's available in my Etsy shop here. I'm pretty obsessed with keys. I keep waiting to get tired of them, but I never do. If you're interested, check out my key table here. I still enjoy this table as much today as the day I designed it.

I ran my card edge with an Inktense block (more on that in a later post). I foresee more playing with these.

I also grazed a Prima flower with the Inktense block.

I went over the flower with a little water to spread the color, and liked it so much that I colored another small one to layer.

A little button, glue, and some twine, plus a sprinkling of micro beads over some Collage Podge, and a sprinkling of Perfect Pearls with a spritz of water.

I truly adore giving small masterpieces as thank you cards. I feel it gives due honor to the person who blessed me. 

I also colored the edge of the cardstock to punch it up a bit.

And, I'm linking to Creative Jumpstart 2014

I hope your day is just fantabulous!

Fondly, Tami

Inspirational Mixed Media Project

Hey again, Peeps. I'm loving doing canvases lately, and this one is no exception. I played with a faux encaustic technique, which was way too much fun.

I started by layering scrapbook papers, dress pattern paper (a "normal" household item, used as suggested by Nathalie Kalbach in her Creative Jumpstart 2014 class, music paper, and vintage flash cards. Next time, I need to not duplicate the flash cards, but I'll take care of that later. 

I added lots and lots of layers, including swirls that I cut out with my Black Cat cougar, canvas tape, a bird cutout, canvas flowers, dot stamps with gesso, and my new Rubber Stamp Peelings technique.

My canvas flowers are an obsession.

This one has two flowers.

You can see the Rubber Peelings Technique under the lower flower. Do you remember my hand-carved stamp post here and here?

Well, I was getting ready to throw the rubber peelings out, and like a true mixed media hoarder artist, I thought, "I bet I can use these...."

So, I glued them onto a piece of cardstock, waited for the glue to harden, then I applied white gesso on top. It gave me some very fun texture.

Here's a decorated side.

A little mica paste for some shimmer, and some stamping on top of the wax for more depth and dimension.

Some more mica paste.

And here you can see the translucency of the wax. I just melted (carefully) some beeswax in my melting pot, then I brushed it onto my canvas using a natural bristle brush (I believe synthetic will melt). I stamped on top with a dot stamp and some gesso.

And, here's one of my original sayings. "She decided she wouldn't mind what people thought of her, and she became more of who she was intended to be," born out of something I learned when I turned 40. It was a very valuable lesson, and it has brought me much freedom in my life. Yay!

And, there you have it. A new canvas. 

Thanks for looking again!

Fondly, Tami

More Techniques!

So, Peeps. I'm just doing a little mixed media fun with my Creative Jumpstart course, which has been great fun. I've learned several very cool techniques which I'm very excited to use. 

Here's one of them.

I started with a wood board, about 5x7. I painted it with some Versailles green chalk paint, and then I used gesso on the flat part.

I just collaged some paper using Collage Pauge. 

Then I dabbed paint onto the paper with bubble wrap. I love how this lightens things up. It's a technique I use all the time.  

Another view of the bubble wrap printing.

One of my favorite techniques is to use Viva Decor Transparent Paint Pens on jute or twine. It looks kind of like raindrops. Here, I just used a glue dot to hold it in place over some hand-dyed crinkle ribbon, then I used my glue gun to permanently adhere it.

A little random stamping with a "spot" stamp.

This adds more texture or visual interest.

Here, I used molding paste through my Rectangular Grid stencil that you can find here.

And here's the paste using my Hexagrid tag stencil.

I used a bird cutout, covered it with black gesso, and stamped with the dot stamp again, just for a little interest.

The dots pulled up a little bit of the gesso, which was a fun surprise.

Then I partially covered the bird with a Viva Decor silver glitter stamping paste.

Here's a canvas flower, covered with gesso, stamped with archival ink, covered with some Distress Stickles, and fastened with a vintage button.

I had some leftover paper straws from the holidays, so I cut them down, cut into them, making little strips, covered them with gesso, and glued them under the flower. This is going to be a new fave!

Another straw under the flower.

I like a theme to my pieces. This one is hope. I have a good friend going through cancer right now, and I've been trying to speak hope into her life. So, I think this will make it to her doorstep.

And here she is, all finished. I can't wait to give it to my friend. I "hope" she likes it.

And, I hope you liked it as well. 

May your year be filled with hope!

Fondly, Tami