That's Crafty!: April 2020

Hi Everyone

Welcome to my Thursday weekly DT post.

This week I decided to set myself a bit of a challenge. I allowed myself to create with:

ONLY ONE stamp or stencil, not both!

ONLY ONE kind of medium - either paints, inks, crayons, or sprays.

ONLY HINTS of THREE colours (with black and white)

ONLY elements/ embellishments that were laying around my desk; leftovers from projects I have created over the last couple of months.

I also limited myself to the use of ONLY ONE larger tool from the following : A Paper Trimmer/ Guillotine, a Die Cutting Machine, a Gel Plate or a Stamping Platform.

So not too many restrictions really says the 'arty girl' who always seems to have an 'ingredients' list a mile long!!

Heres my resulting Art Panel / Art Card...

I worked on white card that I later mounted onto a panel of That's Crafty! greyboard. It was the leftover piece from last weeks project.

I created with a stamp and paints.

The stamp I chose was a Carabelle Studios Art printing plate (letters) and the paints were randomly selected from my stash. I simply went with whatever my eye and hand went to first which were 2 PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic paints (China, Steel Grey) and one Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint (Eggplant).

The art printing plate is actually designed to be used with a gel plate but as I'd limited myself to the use of only one tool and I'd already used a paper trimmer to cut my card to size I couldn't use a gel plate.

So I hand stamped with the plate instead. I stamped repeatedly with each of the three colours of paint, one at a time, finishing with black. This built up layers of colour and stamped detail.

Heres a few close ups

So that covered the one stamp, one medium, three colours part of my challenge, now it was time for the elements/ embellishments part. My desk had quite a few of those lying around but what exactly they were and whether they would work with my background remained to be seen!

I guess I got lucky as I think on the whole they did!

The 'bits and pieces' I used to create the focal feature were some die cuts (Seth Apters/ Spellbinder dies) , some die cut circles, a circle embellishment and a That's Crafty! Greyboard clock hand.

The circle embellishment was created by stamping into a triple embossed painted circle using just the circle part of one of PaperArtsy Mini stamps (EM52) designed by Seth Apter. It was actually blue so I simply painted it with black acrylic paint and then caught the raised ridges with white paint.

I also came across a couple of 'words' which I added to the top left....

...and bottom right of the panel.

Ok, you may not think the words 'Creative Freedom' are the 'perfect fit' given that I limited the amount of products and tools I used but I actually found that creating with fewer products and tools was (for me) quite liberating and I found I was still able to create freely inspite of the limitations.

Products I used:
White Card
Black Acrylic Paint, White Acrylic Paint
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints: China, Steel Grey - you could use any blue or grey paint . See some here and here
Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint: Eggplant
That's Crafty Multi Surface Adhesive
Carabelle Studio Art Printing Plate: Letters designed by Alexi ( APCA60006)
Paper Trimmer.

Products that I used to create the elements/ embellishments that were lying around my desk:
That's Crafty Greyboard Panel
That's Crafty! Greyboard Bits and Pieces: Small Clocks
Seth Apter/ Spellbinder dies: Loop de Loop, Robo Bar
PaperArtsy Mini Stamp EM52 designed by Seth Apter
13Arts Tiny Text stickers
Versamark ink Embossing Pad.
Clear Embossing Powder
Heat Gun

Why not have a go at setting yourself your own creative challenge or maybe get a friend or family member to set one for you. I'm sure you'll have fun.

Take care and stay safe

Amanda

(ink-a-pink)

This week I've made a little hide away tree house, because who doesn't need a hide away
tree house from time to time.

I started by preparing the foliage, I used some That's Crafty! greyboard leaves. I added a little air dry clay to make acorn shapes it doesn't matter which colour as it will be painted over, I pop a little glue on these to hold them in place, I also used some teabag paper on the leaves to add a bit of texture.

I used soft body gel to adhere some Art Stones to some berry sprigs.

I pop those pieces to one side to dry, while I start working on the front panel of the shrine, I adhere some cogs and then add some art stones in the gaps and some Sand Texture Paste in areas.

I pop this to the side to dry and pop the main body of the shrine out, I take a little time to make sure I know which way up everything is going to be assembled and I paint with some white gesso. I then stamp the back panel the sides and the top panel and colour them, this week I'm using Distress Crayons, I use them like watercolours, scribbling a little onto a glass mat and then using a brush and water.

I assemble the main body of the shrine and pop it to one side to dry.

Then I start the rust effect, If you are familiar with the Daily Art Rust and Patina kit I'm using products from that and technique number one; I use grey paint first and dry that off, then I use a little Yellow paint and my water spray to spread it around, I then use my heat gun to dry it off, I do the same with Red Ochre paint and Saddle Brown paint drying between layers. I then use a layer of bitumen with my water spray and dab off any areas that are too dark and dry off again, I added a tiny bit of Patina Wax in places too.

I adhere this to the front panel to the main body and pop to one side.

then I take the leaves and berries, I start by added a layer of metallic paint, I then use a layer of matt paint and the some bitumen that I use my water spray with until I'm happy with the look.

I add them to the front of the shrine and I use one of the beautiful bronze 13arts butterflies to not only look pretty but cover the ends of the branches.

I make a little stand by stamping the bottom of the stamp on a piece of card and folding in half to stick my character on and create depth and dimension.