"Art Is......" Journal Page- Chrissi Mannix

Hi Lovelies,

Chrissi back today, to share an Art Journal page with you.

 I probably art journal more than anything else. It is my favourite creative outlet. I love experimenting in my journal. Whenever I get new mediums, the first thing I will do is open my journal and just play. I like to see how the mediums and colours work together, and most of the time, I end up with a page I really like.

Today, I really want to experiment with my Gel Plate, and Colour Sprays!!! I've used paint before, many times, but never colour sprays and I was very curious how it would turn out, and I have to say, I love it!

I started out by playing with, what would be my focal image- I HAVE to have a focal image on my pages, its a me thing lol. I used Colour Sprays in the colour's Saffron and Carribean- (which I'm almost out of, its totally my fave). I sprayed these liberally over my gel plate.  

Then I just got some good old copy paper and pulled up the ink. I replaced the paper in different sections of the gel plate, and reapplied more colour spray when I wanted more colour. I continued doing this until I was happy with the coverage. 

When I was happy, I then dried the page off with my heat gun. I wanted to add some interest to the paper, so I grabbed a collection of background stamps, and randomly stamped these over my page. 

I drew out my shape and then cut it out. Simple.
So using my mixed media supplies I made my own personalised paper, and focal image. Now to move on to my page.

While I had my Gel Plate out, I decided to use it to make my backround aswell. I did the same thing, using a different colour palette. I applied Saffron, Sunset and a small amount of Bubblegum Colour Sprays.

I applied the Gel Plate directly to my journal. Again, I reapplied the colour and gel plate untill I was happy with the coverage.

So this is what I like to call the Hot Mess stage of an Art Journal page. This is the point where it looks like a hot mess, and I would probably not be very happy. BUT, I have learnt too work past this stage. Very important, and remember that it is just a background.

Now this is where things start to come together. I start adding my layers. I'm using some Black Heavy Gesso to add some stenciling, and some splatters around my page. I also use a makeup sponge to randomly go around my page.

Now its starting to look a bit better, and I'm much happier. Now to add my focal image. 

Before I added my heart, I wanted to give it a mat of some kind. So I decided to use one of my favorite textures- cheesecloth. I dyed it by spraying it with Road base colour spray. 

To finish off my page, I layered the cheesecloth and my heart, using gel medium to adhere. I then added staples, once it was all dry, just to add some grunge.  I went with a contrasting colour to really make this pop. I then outlined it using a water reactive pencil and bled the lines with some water. And that's my art journal page. I hope you enjoyed my play with gel plates and colour inks, I sure did. I love finding new ways to use my tools, other then the way they were originally intended. 

Chrissi xxx

Seriously Cute- Chrissi Mannix

Hi Lovelies So here it is, my first ever Design Team post for Colour Blast!! And let me tell you, it took a while for me to be happy with a project to share with you for my first ever project lol. I made, and started numerous projects before I was happy.

This project actually started off heading in a completely different direction, but I wasn't happy with how it was going, so instead of scrapping the whole thing, I decided to use the background piece I had made and just rip it up.

I started with what would have to be one of my favorite Colour Blast products- Colour Shimmer Dust. I wet my page a little first, then added small amounts of Duke Colour Shimmer Dust to my page. Then I added some water from a mister bottle to spread my colour around.  I love watching it react with the water.

I continued adding water and spreading the colour around. After blasting with my heat gun, I decided to add some more colour. I wanted to try adding some Colour Shimmer Dust to some Gel Medium. Due to the gel medium drying clear, I was hoping to get a vibrant colour. I hadn't done this technique before and was really curious to see the result. I will definitely be doing this again, especially on an art journal page. 

I mixed some gel medium and some Peacock Colour Shimmer Dust together with a pallet knife, on a stamping block. Then using my palette knife, I spread the mixture through a stencil onto my background.

My favorite way to add splatters to my mixed media backgrounds is to use the Colour Blast Heavy Gesso. I find that they stay lovely and opaque and with a little bit of water, make awesome splatters. Be warned, this CAN be a messy technique, but always a staple of mine to use. I have mixed a bit of White Heavy Gesso with a small amount of water onto an acrylic block, and have used a paint brush to throw some splats at my backround.

  Once I let all this dry, I wasn't really  happy with it as a whole, but I did like the parts where I had stenciled my Colour Shimmer dust mixture. So I decided to do something I don't think I have ever done, I decided to use a part of my background as a photo mat onto a whole new piece of plain card stock.

This is where the layout takes a rather dramatic turn, but ends up being something I'm very happy with. Now I'm a very big mixed media scrapper. I'm messy, and like things bright and chaotic. I found that adding this piece to a fresh piece of white cardstock made this project seem a lot cleaner and neater (not something I'm use to lol) But I do like how its something different to my usual style of layout, with still my pops of mixed media and colour.

I decided to off center the piece to the right of my layout, and while I was waiting for the gel medium mixture to dry, I added some cotton thread underneath my photo, which i backed with foam for dimension and added some acrylic chevrons as small embellishments. 

As I was looking at my page, I felt like there was alot of white space left- I'm not usually one for white space lol. So on a whim, I had an idea. I decided to use my left over pieces from the original background to cut out some shapes. Being a photo of my son and I, I went with hearts. I hand drew hearts on the left over scraps, from when I cut down the piece to mat my photo and got some awesome mixed media heart shapes with different shades and textures. It was great to be able to use up the whole background, considering I wasn't happy with how it turned out originally. I cut these out and placed them around my layout. I added a few bits of bling here and there to make little clusters and then added my title using some word thickers I've had in my stash forever.

 In the end, I love how this layout ended up. I sure hope you enjoyed my first ever post, and I cant wait to share more exciting things with you using the fabulous Colour Blast Products.

Chrissi xxx

Fun Rainbow Boots with Melinda Sweetman

Hey, hey and happy weekend!! Melinda here with you today to inspire you with some creative fun to hopefully get you creating!

Here is my page

You Tube process video is available here and this one is a bit of a quick one!! When my idea came together in my head it was super quick to put together and I had a page in less time than I would normally, winning!!!

And here are my step-by-steps

First up, textured white cardstock - my absolute fave to work with - and some Black Heavy Gesso. I put a small dollop on my work surface and added a little water - enough to make the gesso more like acrylic paint and less gesso like. I used the brush to randomly paint onto my page some black stripes making sure that I started and finished each of my lines in a different place.

After that was dry (super quick!!) I added more water to the left over gesso on my desk and added BIG splatters! I'm really sorry, no photo's or video of that process but super easy!! Load up your paintbrush with the watered down gesso, hold about head height over the page and squeeze the bristles and you will get big splatters. Love them!!

To be honest, this page has sat on my desk for a couple of weeks awaiting the inspiration to continue, so the black gesso was VERY dry when I picked it up again. I cut some whimsy-ish scallops on my cameo and then pulled out my BRAND NEW (I am so so excited to have some in my stash!!) Colour Artist Inks. And of course, rainbow colours for my first project with them!

I used some colours straight out of the bottle and I did mix a couple to get just the right colour. From left to right. Or ROYGTB (yep, I made up a new rainbow with NO purple!!) Red, Orange, Yellow - Citrus, Green, Teal-ish, Blue. And I simply painted them on each scallop with a paint brush.

After they were dry I stitched each coloured scallop over a black stripe and then added rainbow splatters in each colour.

Add the photo and a title. A little journalling and page completed! I love how this one came together and those Colour Artist Inks are so fun and vibrant! I can't wait to play again with them!! 

I have a couple of close ups to leave you with!

I hope you enjoyed this page and I'll see you again later in the month!

Melinda