Art Recipe Wednesday: One-of-a-Kind (of course!)

Hi there friends it's me again!
I hope you've enjoyed the projects from our great CT Members - Carole and Linda:) Aren't they amazing? Just as a reminder - you can easily find them again if you will subscribe to our Pinterest Wall - all the Creative Team projects and much more inspiration from these talented ladies is waiting for you there!

And today is my turn - I've decided to put myself into schedule (and with my sense of controlled chaos it may be big challenge!) and post new Art Recipe for you every Wednesday... Good plan? I hope you like them and projects I'm making for you will give you a hint of inspiration!

Today I've got a scrapbook page named roughly "One-of-a-Kind" - and I'm thinking about Andrew, my hubby, who else?

You will be surprised to know what was the source of the inspiration  - deep, deep in all the layers there is a secret thing hidden: an old broken string from his favorite toy - electric guitar. As he knows that he's not allowed to throw away ANYTHING made of metal without my permission he passed it to me together with the packaging he had left from thing out the new one...and this is how the story started!

If you will take a closer look you will find both the string and the white and red packaging - but this is not all - next to typical Prima embellishments such as beautiful trim, some washi tape, Mechanicals - Roses or Light Bulbs (Junkyard Findings) I was able to fit some elements, from radio, instant coffee leftovers, can opener, pieces of string in 3 colors and a tag from the store. Can you also see 3D Foam Squares? I guess using them as embellishments is my new addiction. Oh well.
I have to admit - using findings, little bits from my "rubbish boxes" together with paints and some pretty "branded" pieces is my favorite way of creating. I can't resist the beauty of rusted metal, histories hidden in the piles of old buttons or old book pages...

Colors were totally inspired by the palette of the string packaging and  kraft tag: although reds, pinks and browns are not typically "masculine" colors I think I managed well: the final effect is a marriage of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso, tea stain, Primary Elements mixed with water and some Izinks in shades of Gold, Pink (!) and Red. There were some black final touches added of course - some stamping and some splashes of Indian Ink, but in general page is in nice warm tones... and he didn't complain when he saw it!
Ok - time for more details!

Here is the list of the supplies I used to create this page and short step-by-step:

1. I started the whole project on the plain white page (there is something magical about them, I think!) applying couple of layers of Art Basics Heavy Gesso  - mostly around the place I wanted to put my composition. It added a bit of texture and more warm white color. As gesso is a primer, slightly resistant to water based sprays colors of them on the area covered with gesso will be lighter than on the naked white paper. (you can read more about Gesso here)

2. When the Gesso was dry I took Prima Elementals Honeycomb Stencil (12x12'' size) and sprayed Tea Stain and Primary Elements mixed with water to get nice, red and brown background pattern. I dried it all and started layering  in the place I wanted to use the photo: I used some masking tape for nice, warm, semi transparent texture and 2 kinds of Washi Tape - TH Tissue Tape with Music Notes and Washi with pretty abstract red flowers (love!!!).

3. Next step was building the layers under the photo: old papers I had in my collection together with string packaging, kraft tag, random pieces of ripped canvas, a bit of white and kraft trim... I used craft glue and staples to put it all together and finally mounted it all on the background with 3D Foam Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L) - some of them I also used as embellishments on the page!

4. Finally it was time for embellishing: I added all the bits add bobs I was able to sot on my table including pieces of colorful strings (one styled in a nice looking bundle!), metal guitar string, pebbles with vintage texts, metal rose, light bulb, tin opener, pieces from old radio... just name it! Again - i used my craft glue and also smaller version of 3D Foam Squares. 

5. When everything was put together it was a moment for adding more color: I carefully sprayed a bit of Garnet and Black Orchid Primary Elements with water in the middle of the project (covering the photo with paper towel!) and made it run a bit adding a hint of Tea Stain. When the project was dry I added a bit of stamping around my composition for the extra contrast - it was Prima Vintage Vanity Honeycomb Stamp together with Jet Black Archival Ink.

6. Finally I added some more color using Izinks (acrylic pigment inks) - I applied them on my pebbles, metal embellishments and watered them a bit with water mister, if needed. To finish I put my paintbrush into them and added some colorful splashes. I repeated the same step with Black Indian Ink - for extra contrast. Voila!

Here is the list of products fro our Mixed Media Place Online Store:

I hope you enjoyed - and maybe you will try similar solutions yourselves? 
Fingers crossed for you!

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But before I finish I have one more announcement:

Have you ever wanted to have "a piece of Finnabair" somewhere at home? Collage, card... or maybe something more useful as Tote Bag for your shopping, a mug or pillow? Or... a mobile/tablet/laptop skin or case? Now it is possible - here it is - at Society6!

Listening to your requests, hints and suggestions I decided to start my first ever online shop where you can buy items with prints of my projects - and to be honest I'm very excited to see how popular they got just in the first days after opening the shop! Than you so much!

Great news is - from now to Sunday there is FREE Worldwide Shipping - so you can save a lot! How great is that? I hope you will pop in and check it - and maybe follow the store for the future... :)
What do you think about the idea?

Wishing you all a great creative week