Sometimes, I love to play with different paper strips and use them as a background on my page.  I typically choose a few different patterned papers - especially the double sided ones - cut different size strips in different widths and lengths, and then layer them in the back of my photo(s).  This is a great way to create a layout from your scrap pieces as well.

It gets even better if you have long stickers to mix in, like the chop stickers I used on this layout, created using Samantha Walker's Kokeshi collection.

Mix in some frayed canvas strips (or ribbons and/or trim) with your paper strips to add some texture to your page.  Matt your photo with them too!!

Layer in a few epoxy stickers - I used flowers and placed brads in their centers, placed some fans around the right side of my photo and  then added some buttons and the layout was complete!!

Grab some holiday photos and give this a try!!!

Products Used

Samantha Walker Kokeshi Bamboo Paper

Samantha Walker Kokeshi Stripe Paper

Samantha Walker Kokeshi Mini Epoxy Stickers

Samantha Walker Kokeshi Die Cuts

Samantha Walker Kokeshi Border Stickers

Hello Everyone!  I wanted to share my altered journaling page from a couple of month ago during the hectic Christmas holiday season! I thought i would share some of the technique i used as you can incorporate these into any theme or project!

I like to use different journals and I learn something new with each adventure. This month's page was created in my 5.5 x 8.5 Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface wire-bound journal ... (that was a mouthful!!) This journal is excellent for handling wet, messy, goopy mixed media mediums and will not disappoint! The journal lays flat nicely but the wire binding does get in the way and wet mediums can pool in the middle. I don't mind it so much, but for those that do Strathmore also makes a hardbound journal in various sizes with the same amazing paper.

I kept my page fairly simple this month. It's hard to know when to stop with art journaling and yet you can always go back and add more later!! I used a variety of Luminarte to create my background. I started by spraying a blank, dry page with a generous amounts of Luminarte Radiant Rain Shimmering Mists in Bashful Blue and Ocean Wave. I let the mists sit for a minute or two and then wiped them off with paper towels. Next I placed the trio of Christmas trees from the 12 x 12 Christmas Time Stencil Kit over the page and sprayed over the stencil with the Ocean Blue again - using the stencil as a mask. The result was a subtle image of the stencil - with color still in the background.

Next I used a background stamp and Manganese Blue Archival Ink - a permanent ink - and randomly stamped images on the page. I then used a dotted roller stamp and some gesso and rolled it onto the page. I tore a piece of Monarch Allegro paper and cut a few strips from the Noel Transparency and placed them below the masked image - this provided a base for my transparency girl to stand on. I also liked the pop of red the transparency strips add to the page.

 I added another tiny strip of paper and transparency in the upper right corner of the page.

 I found a Christmas quote from the internet and printed it out onto plain paper.

I dipped a pen cap into Silks Acrylic Glaze in Carmen - a luscious red paint and added a few small circles to add more red to the page. I added a resin star to the middle tree. Lastly I added some rub-ons in black and a red ornament rubon and viola - done ... for now anyway!!!  

Supplies Used:

Creative Imaginations:

• 28585 - 12 x 12 Christmas Time Stencil Kit
• 28069 - Monarch Allegro DS Paint it! Paper
• 21351 - 12 x 12 Noel Transparency
• 29317 - Preposterous Die Cut Transparency Shapes
• 29175 - Oceanside Resin
• 18894 - Swatch Book Impress-ons - Narratives
• 20224 - Swatch Book Impress-ons - Narratives

Luminarte:

• 26392 Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist - Ocean Wave
• 29523 Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist - Bashful Blue
• 29519 Twinkling H20's Grande (10 gr) - Ice
• SLK-102 - Silks Aacrylic Glaze - Carmen

Other:

• Archival Ink - Manganese Blue
• Gesso
• Roller Stamp
• Background Stamp

 Thanks for hopping over and enjoy the Holiday Craziness!!

 Hi, guys!  Shelley, here!

I wanted to share this altered "Dance" jewelry chest that I made for CHA Winter, 2013!  The paper collection I used is "Dance" by Art Warehouse.  I installed the tiny ballerina on the top of the chest.  You wind her up, and she dances!

The doors, sides, and the top are papered, as well as the edges of the doors.  The door handles and edges of the front insets are painted in Precious Metal Effect Paint in Silver.

I used paper on the drawer fronts, along with some stickers, ribbon, and eye candy!

Along the bottom and top edges of the jewelry box, I painted with Turquoise Precious Metal Effect paint, then with the White Crackle paint!  The outcome was quite amazing!

The view from the top shows the inside of the drawers!

Thanks for looking!

Shelley

Products Used:

Dance DS paper

Just Dance foil paper

What You Love DS Paper

Jazz Foil Paper

Tap Foil Paper

Ballet Puffy Glitter Sticker

Dance Glitter Title

Love Dance Foil 5"x12" Chipboard

Pink Paper from Beautiful You 6"x6" Paper Pad

Bazaar Noir Sorcery Foil Paper

Viva Colour Brand by Splash of Color

 Turquoise Precious Metal Effect Paint

White Crackle Paint

Shelley, here with a fun altered piece made with Splash of Color's new HULLABALOO Collection by IOD!

But, first, let's check out this fantastic birthday collection!

Isn't this paper the best?  It's so beautifully colored, and has a vintage feel!  So many birthday collections are just very simple.  This one is SIMPLY AWESOME!

Here's my project!!

I took a wooden circus piece and used some of the new Viva Colour products and this gorgeous IOD line to make a fun little conversation piece!

On the bottom, I used Purple Precious Metal Effect Paint, covered with Gold Crackle paint.  It turned out really lovely!

On this side, I used Hullabloo DS paper and some sentiments from the sticker sheet.

On the top, I used Turquoise Precious Metal Effect Paint.  It has such a smooth, silky texture, that is just perfect!

I used Viva Colour Paint Pens in Dark Carmine, Sunny Yellow, Light Moss, Opal, Light Blue, and Graphite.  I also used the Violet Pearl Pen.  These are so fun to use, and the colors went well with this birthday paper!

To make the top banner piece, I used Jubilant DS paper, with Special Day DS paper underneath!

I painted the little wooden bars with Blackberry Viva Colour Precious Metal Effect Paint.  This paint is so shiny and easy to apply!

I hope you enjoyed this project and seeing the new IOD HULLABALOO Collection, which should be arriving at stores soon!

Have a great day!

Shelley

Products Used:

Hullabaloo Collection:

Hullabaloo DS paper

Jubilant DS paper

Special Day DS paper

Balloons DS paper

Hullabaloo 5"x12" Sticker sheet

Hullabaloo 12"x12" Sticker sheet

Jamboree DS paper

Viva Colour distributed by Splash of Color!

Dark Carmine Paper Pen

Sunny Yellow Paper Pen

Light Moss Paper Pen

Light Blue Paper Pen

Graphite Paper Pen

Opal Paper Pen

Violet Pearl Pen

Blackberry Precious Metal Effect Paint

Turquoise Precious Metal Effect Paint

Purple Precious Metal Effect Paint

Gold Crackle Paint

Hi Everybody.....Lynne here!

The other night...I was in the mood to play.....
with mist, paint and anything
else I could think of!!

I began with a natural canvas,
adhered some vintage dictionary paper.

Using a palette knife I added a thin layer
of Viva Colour ~ Silver Modeling Cream.

 With a fan brush, I applied a heavy layer of
Silks Acrylic Glaze ~ Coral Berry
aroung the edge of the canvas.

I then spritzed the Silks Acrylic Glaze rather heavily
with Solar Gold ~ Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist
to cause the Silks to run.

I pulled out a piece of gauze and cut out a heart
and adhered it to the canvas with
gel medium.
I then embelished the heart with a line of
Viva Colour ~ Gold Precious Metal Effect Paint,
filled in the center with
Viva Colour ~ Pearl Modeling Cream,
and finshed it off with
Viva Colour ~ Cream Pearl Pen.

What heart wouldn't be complete
with our words of love
and a bit of
Viva Colour ~ Champagne German Glitter.

Hope you've enjoyed my creative
journey of COLOR!!

PRODUCTS USED:
VIVA COLOUR
30118 Silver ~ Modeling Cream
30116 Pearl ~ Modeling Cream
30111 Gold ~ Precious Metal Effect Paint
30063 Cream ~ Pearl Pen
30130 Champagne ~ German Giltter
LUMINARTE
30555 Coral Berry ~ Silks Acrylic Glaze 
26400 Solar Gold ~ Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist
SPLASH OF COLOR
29155 Devotion ~ Words
29158 Life As Art ~ Words 

I had the opportunity
to pull out some of my
favorite "hoarded" scrapbooking papers.
You know....those ones that you
TOTALLY fell in love with when you aquired them.
Then you LOVING put them away,
waiting for the PERFECT opportunity,
the PERFECT picture,
the PERFECT project
to come your way,
so that you could use them,
to only shake your head and say "NAHHHH!!"
Well, I decided to ACTUALLY
use some of those papers. 

Here is what I came up with...

I began my canvas with a mixture
of IOD ~ Beach Cottage
IOD ~ Loolah
and
IOD ~ Devotion
cut into various size rectangles
and adhered to the canvas.

This is where the "layering" began.
Using the Bon Soir stencil
I lathered on some gesso.
A bit of vintage lace.
A few spritzs of Seafoam and
Sweet Whisper
Luminarte Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist.
Blobs of Emperor's Gold
Silks Acrylic Glaze
and
Dabs of Cinnamon
Luminarte Radiant Rain Color Concentrate.

To create the heart,
I adhered a piece of IOD paper
to a piece of chipboard,
embossed it,
spritzed it,
sanded it,
distrezzed it
and colored the edges.

And what would one of my creations be
it if didnt' have a flower!!???!?!
I chose a Petaloo Canvas Flower,
spritzed it with water,
dipped the edges in
Sweet Whisper ~
Luminarte Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist.
I then took a paint brush
and added Seafoam ~
Luminarte Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist
to the center of the flower.
When it was all dry
I stamped on the flower
with Emperor's Gold
Silks Acrylic Glaze.

How about those leaves.
Layers of Silks Acrylic Glaze
Olive Vine
Ice
Emperor's Gold.

Sooooo.....today
I challenge you....
pull out those "hoarded" papers
and put them to use!! 
You may just
love what you come up with!!! 

Thank you Splash of Color for the invitation as a guest designer on your blog.

As a teacher my workshops often focus on the use of color and Luminarte Paints {both watercolor and the new acrylic silks} are a great choice on so many different textures.  On my blog Pearl Maple you will find tutorials on the themes of texture and color (or colour depending on what part of the world you are in).

The canvas project we are sharing today was part of a recent on line workshop with My Creative Classroom.  Using gesso or texture paste for the background lets all those paint colors shine.

Mail Art Canvas
Products used:

• Luminarte Silks acrylic paint in Solar Yellow, Olive Vine, Ginger Peach, Emperor’s Gold and Carmen
• Canvas 28 or 30 inches x 12 inches
• 4 mini canvas 5x7 inches (or cardboard as an alternative)
• Gesso or texture paste
• Fan brush
• Chipboard letters to spell out LOVE IS HOME  

The canvas is a jumbo sized project to show off all the different techniques we taught in the workshop on the leaf shapes and mail art envelopes that are decorative accents.

The canvas uses gesso or texture paste to achieve a worn barn board effect. The texture paste is pulled up and down the length of the canvas, leaving wrinkles or ripples and imperfections for interest. This is not smooth royal icing but a base for texture.

At the top left of the canvas scrape gesso or texture paste to mount the title Love. Negatives from chipboard letters are a handy stencil shape for letters.

Or if you have run out of some letters, why not try other shapes like this tiny photo frame.  To blend the title into the overall texture glue the letters in the corner and add more texture around the letters.  The hard part is waiting for the base to dry.

With the fan brush paint long stripes up and down the length of the canvas using the beautiful Luminarte Acrylic Silks ~ Solar Yellow, covering about 1/3rd of the canvas.  Add a few thin squiggles of Luminarte Acrylic Silks ~Olive Vine and some thicker stipes of Luminarte Acrylic Silks ~ Ginger Peach. You will find a fan brush makes quick work of thin washes of color.

Dry and add a top coat of Luminarte Acrylic Silks ~Emperor’s Gold all over the canvas and over the stripes of color. Some of the other colours will shine through from underneath or catch on the texture creating a nice variation in tones.

The mini canvas shapes act as a frame for the mail art and treated with the same background technique of gesso and paint.  For quick mail art simply cover envelopes with newsprint or dictionary paper. Glue the envelopes onto mini canvas shapes and then onto the large canvas.

Paint the other chipboard letters to spell out the words IS and HOME with Luminarte Acrylic Silks ~Carmen red. When dry attach to the canvas.

Add leaf shapes around the edge of the collage and you have completed a canvas featuring mail art, texture and lots of color.

Thanks for the warm welcome and hope to meet up with you all again soon.   
Mandy