"True Friend" canvas by Sue Plumb

Hi everyone! Sue Plumb here today to share my latest design team project with you - a mixed media canvas I created recently. I was inspired to create this because I wanted to make a decor piece to showcase the beautiful quote featured in the centre. 

I started my project with the quote card (which is from Flutterby Designs); and a 6x6" blank canvas. (You could use anything for your canvas focal point - a quote / drawing / photo or even a picture cut from a magazine!) 

Despite the fact the surface of the canvas was was pre-primed; I covered it with black heavy gesso using a foam brush, as I needed a dark background for my design concept.

*Design tip - when painting on a canvas, don't forget to paint down the sides as well - it helps when your project isn't always viewed from front on to carry the theme over the edges*

Once my gesso had dried, I took my canvas outside and spritzed it all over with Bling Colour Shimmer Spray; adding a few splatters for good measure. (You really need to try the Colour Shimmer Sprays on a dark background if you haven't already, that is when they are at their best!)

After the Colour Shimmer Spray had dried (so shimmery!) I adhered my quote; then it was time to add a little texture. I reached for my Bling Colour Paste and smeared it around randomly using a palette knife. Once that was dry, I added a doodled border around my quote with a Sharpie pen (yes, a Sharpie will draw over dry Colour Paste, just make sure it is completely dry and don't push the tip in too hard.)

Next, it was time for embellishments! I wanted to keep the embellishments to a minimum to ensure the quote remained the focal point; so I opted for some simple chipboard stars from Imaginarium Designs, which I embossed using Snow White Colour Embossing Powder. (I would ordinarily prime my chipboard with white heavy gesso before embossing with snow white, but I didn't want the stars to be too stark against the background, so I opted to emboss them from raw and allow a bit of the natural colour to show through.)

As you can see, I embossed the entire sheet. Some of these stars were super tiny, so it made the job a lot easier to simply emboss the entire sheet and just pop them out with tweezers when they were done. I then glued them onto my canvas.

The final step was to add some small "starry" detail using my white Sharpie paint pen. (I really love this pen! It has a fabulous fine tip and great flow.)

And here is my completed canvas...

Here you can see some of the close up textural detail the Colour Paste adds...

And check out the shine on those stars!

Finally, look at how gorgeous the Bling Colour Shimmer Spray looks against the black background - *swoon!*

This was a relatively simple, but very effective, project to complete; and one I am sure even mixed media beginners could feel confident with!

That's all from me today. I hope I have inspired you to pull out those Colour Shimmer Sprays and put them to work on some dark backgrounds! (Remember the black heavy gesso is ideal for this - you can grab it in the Colour Blast store HERE)

I will be back in a couple of weeks with another project to share.

Until then, happy scrapping!

Wreath by Rachel Dutko

Hi Colour Blast fans!

Its Rachel with you, and for my project today I have decided to create some home decor. I have made a wreath, which seems to be a popular DIY crafting item at the moment.

To start I applied different Colour Pastes to a piece of Kraft cardstock. (I used Kraft because it is a lot sturdier than white cardstock). I have used Deep Water, Lipstick, Just Blue, Bling, Envy, Fire Engine, Apple Of My Eye, Royalty, Sunshine and Tangareen Dream.

Once they were all dry (I left it overnight), I stamped a leaf image 
with black archival ink, then cut each one out.

The next step was to cover an embroidery hoop 

with Black Heavy Gesso.

I then stuck down my coloured leaves all around the hoop.

I added some frayed burlap all around the wreath behind the leaves.

I added only a few embellishments because the colour and shimmer of the 
leaves themselves are a feature.

A few close ups-

And this is what it looks like on my front door!

I hope I've given you some inspiration on how to use 

your Colour Blast products in a different way.

Thanks for looking

Rachel x x

Butterfly Box - by Lynn Good

Hi everyone, Lynn here to show you how I transformed a display box that I had sitting in my cupboard since ... forever!!

I painted the entire box with two coats of black gesso.

I used a Hero Arts stencil and Colour Blast paste - Apple of my eye, around the edges and sides of the box.

I filled in the gaps using an Art C stencil and Colour Blast Paste - Bling and Snow White

For the centre of the box I used a Crafters Workshop stencil - Butterfly Collage and Colour Paste - Bling, Singin the Blues, Sunshine and Dusty Charcoal.

I then mounted butterflies onto strips of acetate that I bend so the butterflies were in a 3D effect.

Some Close ups :

Thanks for stopping by and I have provided a link to the products used at the bottom of this post.

Til next time Happy Crafting :)

Colour Paste - Bling	Colour Paste - Snow White	Colour Paste - Sunshine	Colour Paste - Apple of my Eye
Colour Paste - Singin the Blues	Colour Paste - Dusty Charcoal

InLinkz.com

Two Hearts by Lisa Oxley

Howdy Colour Lovers, Lisa here with a Colour Blast Blog update.

******************************

Its recently been Valentines day, which I love, because, its about Love .

Giving Love, Acknowledging Love, Spreading love, Being Loved .

And whats more lovely that a wedding? .

These are 2 of my wonderful Belguin friends who, invited us to their special event,

 but alas, financial restrictions made it so we were unable to attend. ho hum

Lucky for us they Honeymooned here in Australia and

 I was able to enjoy their company and swipe their photos to use in my layouts,

so I have created 2 similar pieces , in the spirit of celebrating love.

When I create backgrounds, I usually use the stencil I am creating with more than once.

( To get the most out of ones wet mediums and to keep flow going.)

 While creating both pieces, I worked wet, hence the mottled distribution of colour on the piece below. I then used a stencil and textured the Royalty and Fire Engine textured colour paste on in a random shape, creating an illusion of a heart. When the texture was dry, I enhanced the heart form by  #1 using drippy black house paint #2 using a black pen and a few off cuts of Hambly Transparency.

I love the effect the Colour Blast Colour Paste creates, adding an extra relief element, it is a lovely enhancement to any layout you create.

Love and Blessings to you all, see you next month.

Lisa

Colour Blast Flora and Fauna Prints by Elisa Ablett

Hi Colour Blast friends, Elisa here from the Design Team with my first blog post as part of the Colour Blast team and I am so excited to show you what these amazing Australian products can do!

I decided to make a set of four home décor pieces using the Colour Blast Sprays, Colour Pastes and Colour Embossing Powder in a resist watercolour technique and four 7x7 frames. I used a smooth watercolour paper as my base and made use of the frame matting as well. Here is the finished product, simply so colourful and full of shimmery goodness.

Here is a close up photo of the gorgeous Colour Blast products that I used to complete the project;

and they can be found here - Colour Blast Online Shop

I thought I would post each frame separately first and then post the techniques used underneath -

To start my project I picked four of my favourite stamps (in flora and fauna designs) and a few different stencils. I traced around the inside square of the matting (using it as a template to show the area I had to work within) on my special smooth watercolour paper. Next stamp with Versamark ink and emboss with Snow White embossing powder, repeat this for each frame with your favourite stamp in the theme of your choice. Warning!! the Mica from the powders can remain on your page, so I used a paint brush to clean off the areas where it shouldn't be. I also used a static stamp pad over my paper prior to stamping to clear off dust, dirt etc. I  stamped on the mat and embossed the mat as well, as you can see from the close ups below.

Next I used Snow White Colour Paste through a stencil (using a palette knife) on each mat that came with the frame. Just a few small patches on each of the frames, another way to create texture and add interest to your piece, it also is another way to create a resist technique. Dry each mat thoroughly.

Once dry choose the Colour Shimmer sprays you want for each frame, for the above mat I chose two of my fav colours, Envy and Deep Water, also have a spray bottle with water handy as well. Spray quite closely to your project, layering each colour by drying in between. Pay particular attention to where you applied your Colour Paste, that way you get a lovely patch of intense colour and shimmer. Use the water to disperse the colour and tilt your project to create drips and patches of colour.

In the photo below you see the embossed stamped image ready for the next step which is using the Shimmer Sprays as watercolours. Use a tray to separate the your colours (take the lid off each and tip a small amount in the tray or use a pipette or dropper to move your colours to the tray). To start I spray quite close to the embossed image with my water mister then I use a brush to introduce the lighter colour (Rose Petal) to the background of the flower, tapping my brush here and there to create a few splats and drips. Dry each layer thoroughly.

I then introduced the darker colour - Royalty, loading my brush with the colour and tracing around the petals of the flower with the intense colour making the colour pool around the edges of the embossing powdered image. This is your 2nd watercolour resist technique, the first was the Colour paste and spray on the mats.

 You can see the intense colour and shine in the above photo, the sprays make a great alternative to metallic watercolours and by using the resist technique you can achieve many different effects with the one product. You can use a lighter embossing powder  to achieve a subtle print like I did, you can use the same colour embossing powder as a complimentary colour or use a contrasting colour to make your image really stand out amongst your watercolours. Once dry I used a sepia toned stamp pad and a textured background stamp, covered my main image with spare paper (a mask) and stamped randomly over the edges to give more depth.

Here are some close ups of each project -

and here is a great chart that shows the amazing colours available, each colour has a corresponding Paste, Powder and Spray.

I hope you enjoyed the techniques that I shared with you and thank you so much for stopping by the blog, make sure you leave some love....

Elisa xx