I'm Back! by Amanda Southern

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Amanda
is back after a short break!

Hi Everyone

I would like to start this blog post with a big 'YAY' I'm back!! After taking the start of the year off due to work commitments I am so pleased to be back here with you sharing some art and also to be back in the fold of the wonderful That's Crafty! team.

Whilst I have been away Laura and Graham (owners of That's Crafty!) have been up to no good launching some more fabulous own brand products to add to their already comprehensive range for us crafters. With each product range we 'ooooh and ahhhh' over them but none more so than the newest addition to the range of MDF Chunkies!

So for my first piece back with you I would like to share with you my piece using the Chunkies ATC.

Here's What I Did:

The Chunkies come in kit form so can be decorated prior to assembly or can be assembled first, on this occasion I built my chunkie first. I gave the whole thing a coating of white gesso first before I started building my painted colours up. I started with a combination of Paperartsy Fresco paints using Smoked Paprika and Terracotta applied and blended with a paint brush. I then added Bora Bora and black using pieces of a washing up sponge. I buy cheap packs of washing up sponges and cut them into 1" squares great for applying paint to add texture. I continued with this until I was happy with the look. Next to add my stamped images, as I had built the chunkie I didn't want to chance stamping the images directly on to it so stamped my images onto Tim Holtz collage paper and applied to the Chunkie using matt medium. I laid the tissue over the entire side and then sanded the edges of the tissue away from the Chunkie making it look seamless. 

This image has a couple of places that weren't filled in so I added just a touch of white paint to the reverse of the tissue paper before I covered the Chunkie with it, I like the little touches of white. I also like that due to the texture created by the paint there are little creases in the collage paper.

I then added a selection of rub ons from Tim Holtz Remnant rub range using his remnant rub tool which makes the transfer so much easier, these were added also to the sides and top.

Once I had applied the Remnant rubs I wanted I sanded them back to give them a more distressed look. To then further blend them into my Chunkie I added more of the paint colours again using pieces of my cut up washing up sponge. 

I chose 2 sentiments from the stamp set and stamped then onto a separate piece of paper, cut them out and added them again with matt medium. I then covered the entire Chunkie ATC with Vintage Distress Collage Medium to give it a vintage coloured edge. 

You will also see on the pictures above I have given it some feet which were 2 small decorative cotton reels that I gave the same paint treatment as the chunkie.

What I Used:

That's Crafty! Chunkie ATC's - 5 Pack

Tim Holtz Theories Stamp Set

Tim Holtz Collage Paper

Black Archival Ink Pad

PaperArtsy Paints Seth Apter Limited Edition Set

PaperArtsy Paints  

That's Crafty! Multi Purpose Black Paint

Tim Holtz Collage Medium Vintage

Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs

Tim Holtz Remnant Rub Tool

Decoart Matt Medium

From my stash: Washing up sponge, decorative cotton reels, fine sanding block

A couple of The Tim Holtz products are currently out of stock but will be back soon.

It's been great to be back and I hope you have enjoyed what I have done with the Chunkie ATC, there are several other sizes in the Chunkie range and I love them all, so what this space!!

Have a great Tuesday and I'll see you next week

Love

Amanda X