Color Blocking

I love color combinations and how some colors you think won't work together perfectly complement each other. (Kind of like some marriages!)  Our challenge this week the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is to use a trio of colors.  You pick the medium and the colors you want to choose!

I am a huge fan of Project Runway and so happy it is on again and I get to watch every week.  One of the techniques they always talk about is color blocking and I decided to use that idea with my trio of colors.  I am going to walk you through my design process a little because it always goes sideways when I get going.

Here is my inspiration picture from pinterest with the color trio I started with:

You can even see my notes and what ideas I had. Sometimes I do this type of brainstorming watching t.v. and looking through magazines. (Gasp) I do love my magazines and flipping through old issues is one of my favorite things to do.

I liked the idea of the colors and the blocking so off to try it out... 

First I cut masks in the sizes I wanted my colors to be and used those to mask off sections along with other bigger scraps of paper.

Then I placed them over the areas to be protected and sprayed the sections the colors I wanted.

Here are all the different masks and papers I used in trying this out. You have to have dry pieces so they lay flat and cover and keep the edges sharp. The first sample you can see I had some bleeding of mist.  I must have done about 10 different versions of these with a variety of colors as I didn't like the colors I started with.

I even ended up with this version with a mix of mists using a stencil overlay.

After misting the sections I then came back in with the white gel pen to clean up the edges.  Then I played around with stencils. This was a failed attempt with a chevron using a pearls paint in the stencil and I didn't like how soft the effect was so I scrapped it. As well as the misting that bled into my coral area. :)

This was the original colors I tried and ended up messy so I tried stenciling over the top. I wasn't too happy with this either so back to the drawing board.

Finally I got several patterns with different stencils on the blocked areas that I liked.  I used embossing paste over the teal areas with a beautiful stencil.  I used the coral dye ink over the yellow areas with a stencil.  I used a coral dye ink over the lighter salmon color background and a stencil.  I finished the edges with white gel pen.

To accessorize I spritzed some paper and cut out some banners and butterflies.

For the pieces I didn't use they get kept and cut up for other projects if I decide in the future. I hope you enjoyed the wandering I did on my cards.

Products:   Heidi Swapp Color Shine -  Salmon, Patina, Mustard,      Wendy Vecchi - White Embossing Paste, Heidi Swapp Butterfly Stencil,     The Crafters Workshop Stencil - Mini Art,  Ranger Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral, Buttons, Simon Says Assorted Sequins,   Memory Box Butterfly Vine Stencil, Pearl,  Memory Box - Heartwood Stencil, Vellum, Stampendous Happy Birthday, Copic Marker - Yellow,  Memory Box - Vivienne (I see this is out of stock but there are so many gorgeous butterflies look at the Memory Box Die Butterflies and you will find another you fall in love with!)  I was lucky enough to be part of Dave's MB design team and all of his dies cut beautifully!

Come join in the fun and splash in some colors for a chance to win a Simon Says Stamp  $50 gift voucher!

Have a wonderful week!
Suzz

Sneak Peek!

Good Morning!  I don't have a new project to share yet... I have a few sneak peeks for Simon Says Stamp Stamptember that starts on Monday!

 As you can see there is a variety of goodies coming your way!  We will be sharing all the details on our projects in future posts.

Let's get this party started!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Adventure is a State of Mind

Yeah it is Wednesday!  Half way through the week!  I created a journal page for the Mixed Media Place Creative Exercise #11 the challenge is to use one of the Art Recipes from Finnabair's blog.  I followed the Under Pressure Art Recipe.   I cased the design from Finnabair.

 The challenge was to keep it simple use things on hand and keep the design cleaner.

 

I started with a touch of the color bursts/brusho in the background with a few strips of tissue tape.  I added some black embossing paste stenciled over the background.  I added a touch of the new ground espresso distress stain spray. 

I layered a tag, burlap, wood veneer and the photobooth image.  I added a few remnant rub-ons onto the layers. 

Have a wonderful middle of the week! 

Suzz

Golden Summer

My second project today inspired by the Words & Paintery August Color Challenge.  I am entering it into the Mixed Media Card Challenge - Butterflies. 

I started with a kraft envelop which I streaked with a mix of paints in the green, gold and browns. I then wiped away most of the paint to leave a soft palette.

Then I stamped the flowers using the brown ranger archival ink. I colored with watercolor pencils and added highlights with the gel pen. I added a touch of glitter on the flowers which I tried to capture in my first photo and mica flakes along the bottom. They photographed very dark but actually are a lovely bronze color to go with the browns in the images.

The stamps are Paper Artsy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Song in your Heart

I have been inspired lately by the colors in the Words & Paintery challenges.  August colors were a bit trickier for me to match up with my different paints, inks, and sprays.  I combined their challenge with the Vintage Journey Things with Wings.

I started with a bunch of backgrounds made with mixing inks on my craft mat and mixing with water. 

 I added a hint of tissue tape in the background with a soft touch of watered down white paint.  I stamped the Paper Artsy flowers over the background and colored them with watercolor pencils. I added the verse in the bottom right corner and finished with a few birds cut out from a scrap ephemera.

The stamps are from Paper Artsy and Verses Rubber stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Ticket... Get your Ticket...

This week the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge was inspired by my fellow DT member Sandra who suggested a ticket challenge.  Any type of ticket can be used in your art this week. 

I was inspired to  create a matchbox with a series of tickets that reside inside of the box.

I started with some mixed media papers with white paint mixed with water and splattered over the background.  I let them dry and then misted over the painted surface with a mix of color shine sprays.

I used these to create the matchox, drawer and multiple tickets.   I then went to town adding images, sentiments/rub-ons and white highlights.

Inside the matchbox there are a variety of tickets with fun images and different stamps.

Each ticket was inspired by images and stamps.  I had fun creating a variety of different vignettes with the tickets.

One of my favorite Hero Arts stamp with the dandelions spreading their seeds (as long as it isn't in our lawn!) 

I had picked out this image and found the fun sentiment from a Wendy Vecchi  and couldn't resist pairing them together.  Her hair reminds me of my grade school math teacher.  I swear you could have put a pencil in her hair and pull it out and leave a perfect ole.  She was the best math teacher I ever had and a lovely lady too! 

 The little girl is playing as a fairy queen with her butterfly wings and tiara. 

Here is a sailor inspiring the travel ticket.

This is a back to school inspired ticket. This cutie-pie had me pulling out the ruler stencil to pair with her. 

 I love this little boy image and he is just too cute.  I had to put him on one of my tickets.

I hope you enjoyed the ticket parade!

Products:   Heidi Swapp Color Shine –Primrose, Citron, Cherry, Mustard,,    Idea-Ology Big Chat Stickers, STAEDTLER Watercolor Pencils, Idea-ology - Tim Holtz - Occasions - Found Relatives  Mixed Media Paper,  Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Measured, Tissue Tape, Stampers Anonymous - Postal Stamps,  Stampers Anonymous - Type Stampers,  Stampers Anonymous - Tiny Things, Prima Marketing - Forget to Fly,  Wendy Vecchi - Domestic, Stampers Anonymous - Butterfly,  Stampers Anonymous - 2015 Butterfly, Hero Arts - Starburst Lace Hero Arts - Dandelion, White Gesso, Tassel, Gem, Stars, Paper Clip,  Wendy Vecchi - White Embossing Paste

Come join in and show off your tickets this week  for a chance to win a Simon Says Stamp  $50 gift voucher!

Have a wonderful week!

Suzz

Twisted Citrus

Citrus with a Twist.  Doesn't that bring to mind lemons, limes, and oranges?   The challenge this week at  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is Citrus with a Twist.   The challenge is to be inspired by citrus, fresh, or neon.  I kept seeing fabulous pictures of sliced citrus on line in the most beautiful colors.  It reminded me of the very cool Hero Arts Umbrella Fancy Die  and how it looked like the inside of the citrus.  I decided to create a journal page using the citrus colors and the umbrella tops. 

I thought it would be fun to create beach umbrellas from them and spread them out on  a journal page to get the full effect.

I started with misting over the die itself onto a bckground with the bright yellow colors. I repeated it multiple times across the background.

Then I played around with laying the umbrellas in different spots to get the right location.

I added the photo and words

And finished it off with some twine in the background to add a little more texture.  The umbrellas were cut and sprayed with the die in place to give it the lines on the umbrella. The grapefruit was sprayed without the die in a pretty salmon color and then sponged with dye ink over the die to get the darker areas.

Products:   Hero Arts Umbrella Fancy Die     Heidi Swapp Color Shine – Salmon, Ranger Distress Stain Spray – Twisted Citron, Dylusions Lemon Zest Spray  Dylusions Pure Sunshine Spray   Idea-Ology Big Chat Stickers, STAEDTLER Watercolor Pencils, Idea-ology - Tim Holtz - Occassions - Found Relatives Bakers Twine, Mixed Media Paper, Ranger Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral 

Come join in and show off your twisted citrus this week  for a chance to win a Simon Says Stamp  $50 gift voucher!

Have a wonderful week!

Suzz

Color Bursts

I have been busy with other projects that will be shared in the future and was happy to have time to play around with some new color bursts. 

 I was trying out the brusho's and color bursts and found the color bursts worked better for these because of the squeeze bottle on the bursts which allowed me to squeeze the colors in puffs where I wanted it. 

I stamped the image using versamark onto mixed media paper.  Then I puffed a light dollop of color on the versamark areas.  I used a very find tipped paint brush to ensure the versamark and a light coating of color on the surface.  The remaining powder is fine on the the background.   Then I spritzed with water.  The first card was spritzed lightly so most of the powder did not fully explode and dissipate.  On this card I will need to seal the surface because if it comes in contact with water it will continue to exude more color and lose the speckling.

The next card was spritzed to a lot more spreading of the color. I used a baby wipe to pick the excess color.

 I added the touch of blue after I finished the orange.  I just sprinkled a touch of blue powder and hit it with a touch of spray and again dabbed up excess water/color with a baby wipe.

For my last card I followed the same process but added a lot of water to the flowers and picked up excess with wipes/paper towels.  After it dried I added the blue with sprinkling the powder, wetting with water and then taking away excess color and water with baby wipe dabbing the color.  I repeated until I got the effect and color I wanted. 

Products:  Hero Arts - Wildflower, Penny Black - Tiniest Thing, Memory Box Sentiment - Birthday, Ken Olivers Craft Color Bursts.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Suzz

Homegrown

How is your garden growing?  This summer we have had a cooler summer with lots of rain which means our garden is just flourishing!  My hubby really has the garden and does all the work.  The only garden I create is in my art.  The challenge this week at  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is Homegrown. 

I decided to focus on creating my own garden without the weeds!  I created a journal page celebrating the flowers of summer.

I started with placing a bunch of brightly colored paints in my journal after I gessoed the pages.  I poured the paint in the middle and closed the pages.  When I opened them I had lovely mix of colors.  I just laid a stencil in the puddles of paint and placed it around the edges to pick up the burlap effect from the stencil.

After that dried I decided to create my butterfly on a scrap paper. I cut it out and stamped it again on the journal page. 

I added my flowers with a hint of watercolor pencils in the flower.  I added shading around the flowers.  I then applied a touch of black embossing paste in the background along with some chicken wire stamped. 

I added some highlights to the flowers with a touch of white gel pen to make the flowers pop.

The butterfly received his own highlights as well.   This garden is a lot less work than the outside one!

Products: Stampers Anonymous Perspective, Ranger Dabber - Twisted Citron, Ranger Distress Dabber - Mustard Seed Ranger Dabber Paint - Ripe Persimmon, Signo - Uni-Ball White Gel Pen, Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Burlap, Wendy Vecchi - Black Embossing Paste, Gesso, Darkroom Door Chicken Wire Stamp, Stampers Anonymous 2015 - Flowers, Stampers Anonymous - Live your Dream, Watercolor Pencils, Waterbrush,

Come join in and show off what you are planning this week  for a chance to win a Simon Says Stamp  $50 gift voucher!

Have a wonderful week!

Suzz

Adventure Awaits You

Things with Wings is popular!  The Vintage Journey Challenge and the Frilly & Funkie Challenge are both hosting a things with wings challenge.  I have been busy playing with Brusho Color Powders and decided to use one of my backgrounds to create a things with wings card. Tim brought Brett's work to Stampers Anonymous in a previous release and I love the images he draws and was happy to bring one of his images to my card.

 I had every intention of using some butterflies I had stamped and cut out from my color powder backgrounds, but these sneaky wasps landed on this background and I went a completely different route!

I stamped the frame and shadowed it with touches of blue.  I masked the outside and stamped the gent from  Stampers Anonymous drawn by Brett W.   The wasps are Art Gone Wild.  The stickers are from the new idea-ology chit chats.  Loving the different options in the book!

Have a fun weekend!

Suzz