Hey Pumpkin! Layout By Chrissi M

Hello Lovely's!

So I thought, being today is Oct 31st, I'd share a Halloween Layout with you. Now in Aus, Halloween isn't a big thing in a lot of areas, but we are lucky in our estate. Lots of costumes and lots of trick or treating in a safe place. Im lucky, when I noticed the date of my next post, I had just taken this awesome photo of my boys. There was a photo setup at our local shopping center and they couldn't wait to have their picture taken. So this is literally the most RECENT picture I have documented lol.

So I printed my photo, and got out my card stock. I had originally intended to just use white card stock, but I didn't want this layout to be like all my other mixed media layouts. I'm trying to mix up my mixed media lol. So I decided to use black and have the white as a focal point/mat behind my photo- with lots of Colour Blast Artist Inks. The bright Artist inks would pop beautifully off the black.

The colours I'm using are, Barley, Berry, Sunburnt and Soot. Quite halloweeny I think. I'm also starting with a wet page- wet on wet helps it to move freely and bleed together. So I have spritzed my page with water and then added drops my of colours straight to the page. I started with Barley and Sunburnt first.

After adding my colours, I spritzed with more water and than just moved my page around to move the ink. It gives a very free flowing, watercolour type of look. I kept adding more colour untill I was happy with the saturation.

Then it was time to add some of my darker colours. I added Soot Colour Artist Ink to my border- again, making sure I had some water down first so it would bleed and flow, and then to help the Soot blend into the Barley and Sunburnt, I added a few small spots of Berry to act as a transitional colour. Then I used the drooper from the Soot Artist Ink to throw some splatters on the page.

This is where my page took a turn, that at first I was not happy with. You may have heard me say that all art journal pieces go through a "Hot Mess" stage. A stage where it looks like, a hot mess lol. I felt that this layout did the same thing. The more I added, the more  I was unhappy lol. So I walked away and left it for the night, and came back to it this morning. When I came back to it, I was alot happier with it, and it just flowed together. It was a lot rougher, and 'Hot Messy' than I originally was going for, but than I realised it was a Halloween layout, and I could totally work with Hot Mess.

I wanted to add some texture to my background, so I got out my Colour Blast Colour Paste in Dusty Charcoal and one of the fabulous Colour Blast Stencils. This one came in my August Colour Blast Kit Club Kit. This is the A4 size 'That Way' Stencil designed by the lovely Michelle Grant exclusively for Colour Blast, and is available in the Colour Blast Store.

I'm using the Dusty Charcoal Colour Paste to add some stars to my background. I like that it is a subtle pop of texture, as you can see on the final piece, they aren't overly noticeable in the Charcoal colour. Take note, the colour of these pastes in the tub IS NOT the colour they will dry. I highly recommend swatching these out before using them. The colours are so vibrant and shimmery when dry and you will be surprised by the difference. 

To  finish off my layout, I matted my photo on some pattern paper from a Halloween collection, added cheesecloth behind it to add to the texture and feel of the layout, than added a few bits and pieces around. My background was my main focus for this page, and what I wanted to stand out the most, so my embellishing was pretty minimal. In the end, despite not liking where it was going to begin with, i love how this turned out. I feel like my background really did turn out perfect for this layout.

I hope you enjoyed my layout. Stop by soon for more awesome inspiration from the fab DT.

Chrissi xxx

Love Rocks by Michelle Henderson

Hi it's Michelle back again, this time with a cute little canvas I made (hopefully for a Xmas prezzy as long as they don't see this post lol)

I started off by priming the canvas with White Heavy Gesso.

I added some moulding paste through a Dina Wakely stencil. After that, I added a couple of extra smears to give some more texture. Let it dry thoroughly at this stage.

I sprayed the canvas with water, and sprinkled some Colour Shimmer Dust - just a very little! - near the edges. I sprayed water again from the sides, so that the colour was heavier towards the outside. I used Amber, Peacock and Duke.

 I felt it needed to be a little stronger once it was dry, so I added a little more of each...

 Once that was dry, I grabbed the stamps that came with the stencils. I used an embossing ink pad, and then brushed a little Colour Shimmer Powder in Amber and Duke. I sprayed it lightly with water and then stamped it on the canvas. To make sure it works, I needed to use a second stamp block behind the canvas so there was a surface to press on.

Ahhh! I think it was too heavy, but not to worry 😉

Next time I used the Amber and Peacock, and even less powder...

See how little I used?

It came out much better this time.

Once it was dry again, I went over some of the stamping with black archival ink.

Some close ups...

 I used my Posca pens to add some highlights and scribbled words here and there...

At the end, I added some strips with stamped sentiments, and that was that!

Hope you like it!

Runner Up by Charmane Koch

Hi Everyone! 

Today I wanted to share with you a layout I created using Pinks - in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month! I have used Colour Paste in Lipstick, Colour Artist Ink in Cranberry & Colour Embossing Powder Blush.

I decided to use a photo of my Harmony girl with her Runner Up Best & Fairest Trophy from last year for Netball {She received Best & Fairest THIS year, but I haven't printed the photo yet!}

Anyway, I firstly started with a piece of Thick White Cardstock that I have covered in Thick White Gesso using a palette knife. I let this dry naturally.

Before adding Colour Artist Ink to my page I have sprayed water, as I didn't want a really strong background colour. After adding a couple of drops of Ink, I have then sprayed more water and moved the page around to manoeuvre the colour around.

I used a heat gun to dry the Ink.

Next I have used a star stencil and positioned them to go from bottom left corner across to the top right corner of the page. I have used Colour Paste Lipstick and used a heat gun to dry.

I have put together other pink embellishments, positioned my photo and added my title and journalling.

My favourite bit though is added the Colour Embossing Powder Blush to the edge of my layout which I think really finishes it off.

I rubbed Clear Watermark ink pad around the edge of my page doing one corner at a time.

I have then sprinkled a generous amount of the Embossing Powder along the edge - making sure I have a pre-folded piece of paper underneath so that I can pour the excess back into the container...

 Don't want to waste all that!!!

And how awesome does the Embossing look once heated? Love the texture on this!

 Here is the final layout:

Such a fun layout to create & as I said my fave is the Embossing edge! Will be definitely using this technique again!

Thanks for popping by & hope I've inspired you!

XO Charmane

Kisses, by Amanda Hartmann

Hi Colour Blast fans!

Some of my favourite colours used here, to create my very own background!

I started with a heavy duty sheet of cardstock. I taped off a 12x12 stencil to the cardstock. This allowed me to apply gesso through just two thirds of the stencil. I used White Heavy Gesso which is the perfect consistency for using through stencils; it is applied easily and does not bleed.

Once dry, I add colour. To create the colour on the two thirds of the page, I combined Colour Artist Inks and water. I used two complimentary colours - Calypso and Mermaid. I sprayed the page with water and then using a wet brush, I painted spots, pockets and splatters of colour to the page. I kept an equal mix of colour and white space. Adding water gave a water effect rather than a strong vibrant colour.

And here is my final page and some close ups.

I finished the page with a few simple embellishments, stickers and some black pen doodling. I also added some black splatter in Colour Artist Ink in Soot.

At times, I have left over colour when creating projects. Often I soak up the extra colour in some muslin material. This muslin is a perfect little detail to add in cluster.

Thanks for looking at my page today. Do you like creating your own backgrounds??

Amanda

"Never Stop Dreaming" by Anita Enright

Welcome Back Colour Blasters

For my share today I created a Dream Catcher canvas wall hanging.   I love having some of my creations hanging on my craftroom walls and since  need to use up my stash (to make room for more) I went for this canvas as my project base.

To start my project, using some plain white tissue paper and a really good gel medium I attached the tissue to the canvas base.

  

Once dry I did several coats of Heavy White Gesso to seal it and give it a great working surface.

I then chose an array of Colour Shimmer Sprays including Sunshine, Tangereen Dream, Apple of My Eye, Deep Water, Lovely Lilac and Envy and went crazy. As much as I liked the background there was too much colour and a little too much shimmer.  

To fix this I went back over the top of the colour with the Heavy White Gesso again so soften the background and I was happy with the end result. I forgot to take a second photo after the second coat.

 Next I got to add my favourite Colour Shimmer Dust in Lollipop and really hit with the water spray so that the colour got in to all the creases of the tissue paper.

I then worked on my embellishments.  I love the Celebr8 chipboard and adore the feather piece.  I firstly gave it a coating of Heavy White Gesso and then with a sponge and Colour Artist Ink in Slipper. I allowed each coating to dry but I just couldn't get the colour I wanted.... maybe I was too impatient to build it up.

So I quickened up the process and added some of the Colour Artist Ink in Slipper to some Heavy White Gesso and mixed it up in my pallet.  I made sure when I mixed it that it had a marbled effect so hopefully it would transfer like an ombre effect when it dried. 

I then mixed my Colour Artist Inks in Oasis and Mermaid together to make a more jade colour and then painted it on to some feather I made using a silicone mold.  They came up a great.

 Using the Colour Embossing Powder in Deep Water and Rose Petal and embossed a wood veneer wreath with a marbled effect. I then used the Deep Water Colour Embossing Powder again and heat embossed my title.

Using an array of Little Birdie Crafts flowers, a bit of bling and all the other embellishments that I altered using Colour Blast products I completed the canvas. 

Below are a full picture of my finish canvas and several closeups.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Until next time... happy crafting.

Anita E

xx