Hello! I hope you all caught the Hochanda show on Tuesday as if you did you might have spotted this which is one of my samples and I'm delighted to be able to share the how tos with you today. You might need a cuppa before you start as it's a bit photo heavy!

Step by Step

The first thing I did was to prepare the background so I gave the greyboard tag a coat of gesso just to give a good base to the further additions of paint layers. I then took a sheet of copy paper and created hill shaped masks from it, 2 for each side of the tag, making sure the layers would overlap. I put these in place one at a time starting from the left and used a soft pencil to draw the hill shapes onto the background.

I then painted in the sky using light blue, teal and white multi surface paints which I applied with sponges. I made sure I had a place near the top right that remained mostly white as I wanted to add the sun there.


I added the sun with mustard yellow multi surface paint using the burst stencil to create the rays, then coloured the centre to make the full sun.


I painted in the hills using lime and green multi surface paints to add depth and once the paint was dry, used a mix of diluted black and grey multi surface paints to outline the edges. I used water to soften the edges and add a little shadow for emphasis.


Once the background was complete, I created a little heap of small flowers which I stamped onto scraps of orange, pink and yellow Gelli papers in my scraps box using black ink and cut the images out. I used a contrasting marker in the centres.


I created a tree to give the scene a woodland feel using one of the greyboard bits and pieces trees which I added a pattern to with the bark Dinky stencil. I painted it using chesnut brown and grey multi surface paints then used the basil flat matte spray spritzed on to give the apprearance of lichen.


I stamped a number of the shroom house shapes and a selection of shrooms onto smooth white cartridge paper using black ink and coloured the images with watercolour markers, cutting out the images when dry.

I then decided the background needed a bit of texture so I used the fab new squiggles Dinky stencil in shades of green, yellow and blue to add a pattern to the hills, sky and sun. As you can see in the above detail photos, the effect is quite subtle but I think it adds a little something extra special. You'll notice that the squiggles on the hills also have dots which I did with green multi surface paint and it gave quite a textured look.

I assembled my tag, starting with the tree which I glued on with 3D gel adhesive, adding the flowers at the end of the branches with the same glue until I was happy with the overall effect. I tucked some shrooms in behind the tree and added a cluster of tiny ones at the front.


I then added my shroom village, placing the images on first and deciding on the placement before gluing them in place with multi purpose craft adhesive. I glued on the few more shrooms to pull everything together.


I finished off with the shroom text stamped on a scrap of paper using Archival cactus flower ink and cut into word tiles and tied some torn sari ribbon through the top.


Supplies:

That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Shroom Sweet Shroom by Melina Dahl (brand new!)
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Fleur by Donna Gray
That's Crafty! Surfaces - Greyboard Tags Pack (these are very big at 7.5 ins wide)
That's Crafty! Dinky Stencils - TC116 Burst, TC117 Squiggles
That's Crafty! Bits and Pieces Greyboard Sheets - Trees
That's Crafty! Flat Matte Spray - Basil
That's Crafty! Multi Surface Paints - Black, Chestnut Brown, Green, Grey, Light Blue, Lime, Mustard Yellow, Teal, White
That's Crafty! White Gesso
That's Crafty! Mediums - 3D Gloss Gel
That's Crafty! Multi Purpose Adhesive
Ranger Archival Cactus Flower Ink
Extras - Scraps of Gelli Print (or patterned paper) in Orange, Pink and Yellow, Marker Pens, Scrap of Torn Sari Ribbon, Smooth White Catridge Paper, Fine Paint Brush, Make-Up Sponges