Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Love with all your heart

Hi Everyone!  The sun is shining today which led me to want to work with happy colors!  Follow along and I'll show you what I made...
I'm starting with my favorite background technique - Wrinkle Free Distress.  I'm using Ripe Persimmon, Evergreen Bough, and Fossilized Amber + water.  Squeeze out enough to get a good bit of stain...at least a 4" circle.  Keep them close together without mingling the colors.
I'm using Ranger Manila Cardstock as my surface.  Lay the cardstock into the ink and push it down so it can pick up the stain.  Pick it up and dry with a Heat tool.  Go back into the stain as many times as you see fit, drying between the layers.
 I stamped over the dry surface using archival ink and the Patchwork stamp
This Stampers Anonymous stamp has two images of the patchwork.  I used the larger of the two sizes for the card.
The Tonic Distresser allows me to alter the edges of the cardstock.  It's a little tool I have had for many years and I still use it all the time!
 I cut a piece of black cardstock, then stitched the colorful background to the surface (this will eventually be mounted onto a card).
My stitching was a little white so I used Distress Collage Medium Vintage to slightly age the surface including the white stitching (try not to eat it because it looks like caramel sauce).
 I thought I could show you a better example using a plain manila tag.  The left side has a thin coat of the Distress Collage Medium Vintage.  You can see that it gives the surface just a slight age to it.
Next I cut some a couple flowers with Watercolor paper and the Wildflowers Thinlit set, one of my favorites from the CHA release.  I chose to use Tumbled Glass, Evergreen Bough, and a bit of Fossilized Amber.  I started water coloring the flowers by adding a wash of Tumbled Glass then little by little I added bits of Evergreen Bough with the water brush.  As you work from the top to the bottom the ink will dry allowing you to create layers of color.  The Fossilized Amber was added last wherever there was a bit of white paper still showing.
I decided the card front still needed something to let your eye rest.  Enter Textile Surfaces - I chose one of the linen self-adhesive fabrics and cut it into an oval using the SIzzix Stacked Ovals die.  I did stitch it to the card front...and even though my stitching is not perfect I'm cool with that.  Means it's homemade right?
I used Multi Medium to add the flowers to the card front.  You might notice that I clipped the flowers apart and moved the pieces around to give it more of an organic feel.
And to finish it off I added a sentiment from a Small Talk sticker book and a tiny Mirrored Heart.
I thought I was done, but then I decided to add brown speckles with the Distress Marker Spritzer.  I didn't want to get the over spray on the card front so I created a mask using paper I found in the garbage can (no joke).
How did I avoid getting the brown flecks on the flowers?  Easy.  I painted them with a thin coat of Multi Medium.  The MM acts as a resist and will allow you to wipe off an Distress Ink with a wet wipe.


Hope you enjoyed today's tutorial as much as I did making it.  I love the watercolor flowers!  This technique of adding the colors one by one and seeing how they react to each other can be so relaxing.  I really could have painted an entire garden! 
So here's to more crafting, more relaxing, more creativity!
now carry on,
paula



26 comments:

  1. Stunning work Paula, I have just bought the wildflowers dies, due to be delivered today.I can't wait to have a play x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stunning work Paula, I have just bought the wildflowers dies, due to be delivered today.I can't wait to have a play x

    ReplyDelete
  3. What great ideas again Paula! LOVE that patchwork and the stitching. Jenny x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love it! Those wildflowers are on my list of gotta haves!

    True story for ya. The very first Tim Holtz anything I bought was the Distresser! I had no idea who or WHAT a Tim Holtz was, but I thought the distresser was a cool tool and it fit nicely in my hand. Soon after, he came to Ruban Rouge for my first ever class with him. So he's had me from Distress!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the colors you picked. I keep forgetting that multi medium is a resist - thanks for reminding me. Beautiful project as always!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just beautiful! Wow is that stamp cool and the dies tremendous!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful! Love that background stamp.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful. This stamp has now moved to the top of my "must have" list. I love how you toned down the white stitching. Love love love it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So pretty! Thanks for sharing the how-tos :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Such a great tip for 'ageing' the stitching Paula. I love how you used the background stamp too, another one for my ever lengthening wish list.... x

    ReplyDelete
  11. LOL... on the caramel sauce ! Love your tutorials... wealth of information/inspiration; and such a beautiful project ! Yummy linen...mushroom mirrored heart...swoon !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Stunning! Beautiful watercolor flowers against that awesome background pattern!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beautiful Paula, love the background and wonderful idea to use the caramel sauce, I mean the vintage collage medium to age the stitching :o) Love the water colour painted wildflowers, definitely will have to get that die, it is lovely. Thanks so much for sharing it, Deb xo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Gorgeous Paula, love that background and the wild flowers are lovely. Love,the touch of stitching too, adding a touch more texture to your design. Tracy x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love the wildflowers against that background. Been thinking about this die so I am happy to see it used, it is beautiful. The way you framed this is gorgeous, too. Thanks for great tips, too.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Such a gorgeous card! I love the pop of the blue flowers and your background is wonderful :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I apologize to be in late !!!! As always your projects are fabulous! this card is full of fantastic ideas! Love the wildflowers and the stitched linen, background is absolutely amazing! An inspiration as always! Barbara

    ReplyDelete
  19. Cool project. I really like that stamped background. My guess is no crafter thought you were joking about getting in your garbage... We're all kind of "dumpster-divers"!

    ReplyDelete
  20. GORGEOUS!!! I love all the new background stamps, and how you've colored this one is wonderful. LOVE the sewn oval too...so striking!

    ReplyDelete
  21. A beautiful project. The background patchwork stamp looks fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! couple looking for couples

    ReplyDelete