Grateful

Happy New Year, Everyone!
The first day of a brand new year that we are so excited to start with a beautiful inspiration.
New Year, New Ideas - Have you ever tried painting with Mica Powders? Marta has and with such amazing results!

Hi & Hello everyone !

Welcome in 2016 ! It's Marta Lapkowska here and I am delighted that I can start my new year with you guys !

Recently I am in love with creating small pieces of art...  I called them 'Tiny Art' :)

Here is my first project of the new year, from my 'Tiny Art' series which I hope you will enjoy.

Did you know that you can use Mica Powders to colour ? Use them like painting powder ?

I will show you in few steps how you can colour your stamped image. I used same technique to colour the whole project.

To start, stamp your image and choose your mica colours. I decided to play with the beautiful dreamy stamp from Dream On set.

To colour your image, all you need is a brush and some water. Dip your brush into the water and then into your Mica Powder.

I added some dark and bright shading by using both Black and White Gesso. Then I cut out my butterfly.

Lastly, I attached my cut out butterfly onto my project.

All the elements were glued with 3D Gloss Gel that holds everything together so perfectly.

I used exactly the same technique for all the other elements of my small assemblage, i.e. painting with the same Mica Powders as the butterfly and shading with 2 colors of Gesso.

I hope you have enjoyed my make and found it inspirational.

I wish you all the best for this year, many creative journeys and never ending creative mojo. :)

Hugs, Marta xx

Products used:

Friends Who Love Art

Hello, Friends!
Let's say a warm welcome to another member of my Creative Team!
I've been a fan of Linda's art for a while now - admiring her endless creativity and positive energy she shares with the world...
And she's a girl after my own heart - altered objects? vintage photos? a sense of humor? Yes, yes and yes! I really had to have her join my Team! :)

Hi, everyone!

I started out as a watercolor artist years ago, but when I found stamp, inks, and altered arts, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven!

Vintage photos and found objects get my pulse racing. Three dimensional altered art is probably where I get totally lost in the design, but journaling has become another love I share with this fantastic Creative Team.

My blog header says it all: "There is nothing more fun than having Friends who love ART."

Today, I’m thrilled to be sharing my Altered Clock from Finnabair with all of you.

If you'd like to create your own altered frame - here's my tutorial - hope you'll feel inspired!

I started with the back. Since these are all new products to me, I thought that was a safer place to begin. After removing the back, I painted parts with Heavy White Gesso. Then, I added a swath of Copper CrackleTexture Paste with a palette knife.

(All the new products are explained in great detail on these links to Finnabairs’s blog: Art Basics, Art Ingredients, Art ExtraVagance.)

When the crackle was dry, I used Fresco Paints to add various blues to the white gessoed areas. I also added some Distress Inks in the cracks of the crackle and the edges of the blue paint.

Then I stamped the Fishnet Clear Stamp randomly with black Archival Ink. Heatset.

Finally, I added stenciling with the Prima Flourish stencil using a foam square and black Archival Ink.

Now, onto the outside of the clock, I painted Heavy White Gesso in a splotchy pattern around the clock. Then, I added more Fresco Paints in the turquoise family. When dry, I used a sponge brush to add Copper Crackle Paste blending the edges with the blue paint. Let it dry or use a heat tool.

  

Next, add the Threading stamp around the clock with both black and coffee Archival ink. Don’t put the stamp on a block, just roll it here and there stamping a small portion of the stamp.

 

Using the back of your clock, trace it onto the White Resist Canvas-Scales and cut out. Glue to the back with Soft Matte Gel. Add Distress inks in orange and yellow to the canvas area. Note the “resist” area will not take the color. This is so cool!

Stamp a background using Stamps and Adverts and Adverts with black archival ink.

I added a bit of Heavy Black Gesso to the Large Clockface and the edges of 2 wooden blocks. The blocks will be your base for the picture of the children. Then, I spread some Soft Gel around the circle and sprinkled a bit of Luminousand Ebony and Ivory Glitter into it.

The next step is to put together the collage inside your clock. I used the picture of the children from Found Relatives by Tim Holtz and edged it with a pen. The medium size Bottlecap is filled with Soft Matte Gel and filled with Plum, Licorice and Zinc Glass Beads. These are so gorgeous!!! I used Mini Flowers, a Washer #1, and a Numeral 5 as well that I glued on with 3D MatteGel. This stuff REALLY is great for gluing heavier pieces.

I picked out some Prima flowers and leaves to add to the outside. They seemed to want to be sprinkled with something….so I broke out the Art Sugar! I used a small brush to add some Soft MatteGel and then dipped them into the jar. Shake them off a bit and you’re done!

The outside is decorated with Mechanicals and some small Junkyard Findings and a Lady Bird Butterfly.  I also added a bit of Black Sand Texture Paste just to see how it worked.

Add your collection of little flowers to the front with 3D Matte Gel, tie a tattered and torn piece of black tulle around the top, and you are DONE!

Hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. I’ll see you back here again next month….big hugs!

Linda

If you feel inspired by today's tutorial and feel like getting to know Linda better, you can visit her blog to see more of her amazing Art, say a friendly hello on facebook or follow her on instagram.

Art x 3 [Brand New Lines!}

Hello, Friends!
Do you remember I promised you more of my new releases with Prima? :)
I'm getting more and more excited as I can finally show you the new mixed media goodness!
I can't wait to hear what you think!

If you go to Prima blog you will see that there are three lines: Art Basics (all sorts of gels, pastes and gesso your hearts desire) , Art Ingredients (art sugar, glass beads, glass glitter, mica flakes) and Art Extravagance (texture pastes in differents colors and shades) all of them created to make your art journeys even more exciting. :)

But that's not all...

In this post you will find some amazing artworks created by Prima artists using my new products - we all hope they will spark your imagination!

As for me, I'd like to show you my canvas collage in which I played with my new "art babies". :)

You can find the full product list over here.

Keep an eye on Prima blog as this whole week you will have the chance to get to know my new products better.

One of the most amazing feelings in my life is seeing my products in your hands and in your artworks. Nothing makes me prouder than inspiring someone else to create...

I would also like to tell you that we have the first batch of my new products in our Mixed Media Place store! New masks, resist canvas and metal frames are waiting for your creativity!

Sending you my very best wishes
doing a happy little dance :)

It's good to be challenged (from time to time) - Prima and Mixed Media Place

From time to time I've got the pleasure to participate in challenges organized on my favorite craft blogs. As most of us I enjoy a bit of inspiration and a dose of challenge - it gives me a good kick to start my project:) Maybe you will join the fun and play with us too?

First of all - here is a layout I made for Prima Build-A-Page challenge this month. The Sketch was lovely... and I had to make it "my way, I simply couldn't help myself!

Gypsy Stylin' - Prima BAP 

This photo of me and Rae is a keepsake from my Tour in Australia and NZ, we had a lot of fun there including dressing up as Gypsies and ehm... horses ;) Please don't ask why:)

Project is based on Prima Sunrise-Sunset paper collection, Resist Canvas flowers and leaves, Prima paper flowers and vines, Junkyard Findings and my Mechanicals.
Color is made with sprays - I used Primary Elements Pigments from Luminarte. Most of the products you will find here, in Mixed Media Place store :)

The second project is my Mixed-Media Journal cover - and I made this as a part of the challenge on Mixed Media Place Blog. This month we focus on acrylic paint - and my choice were Silks from Luminarte - beautiful, shimmery, vibrant paints I use all the time in my projects!

The cover of my journal was of course decorated with one of my stencils, some flowers and Mechanicals - my metal embellishments from Prima. The colors I used are from Emperor color set and Empress color set.

You will find more details about both challenges on the blogs I linked above - I hope you will join the fun and play with us! Have a great creative day!
xoxox

2 faces of Sizzix - I'm back from The Netherlands!

Hi again! I just got home from my last trip - wonderful classes in the Netherlands :) Although coming home took me about 9h longer than I expected the experience was just wonderful. Lucky me:)
I had the pleasure to teach 3 days of classes - and let me tell you the students were simply amazing: talented, sweet, kind-hearted, supportive and crazy creative. Let me show you a bit of the photos... hmmm... looks like photo-relation from one of the classes, "Steampunk  Love" is now posted on Sizzix.uk blog, here!

And here is what else you can find there: how about one of the new layouts, which I made during this class? It is all based of course on 7 DS and Prima products, including my collection, "Sunrise-Sunset" and my beloved "Mechanicals" - all colored with Luminarte Pigments and Silks.

Or maybe something lighter, inspired by new 7 Dots Studio collection by Anai - "Queen's Heart"?

I hope to see you on Sizzix blog, more details and photos are waiting for you!
See you soon!

Steampunk Love - retrospection :)

Today I'm sharing one of the sample layouts which were done my Australian and NZ tour.
It's hard to create a good layout teaching a class - this is not surprising... this one is not bad, I quite like the shape, colors and texture Igot thanks to marriage of 7 Dots Studio. Prima Mechanicals and some super fun add-ons created for the tour by Rae from Scrap Matrix... I hope you will enjoy!

Most of the supplies you can buy here in Finn Store in Mixed Media Place shop.
Here is the product list:
7 Dots Studio - Dreamer: City Lights, Daydreaming.
Prima Marketing: Mechanicals: Numbers, Washers #2, Brads, Roses, Bottle Caps, Flowers Medium.
Sunrise-Sunset: X-Radient, Aura, 12x12 Checked Stencil, Paper Roses - Gold, Paper Mini Roses - Copper, Wooden Icons - Borders.
Luminarte: Primary Elements Pigments sets: Firefly, Cowboy. Silks sets: Cowboy, Empress. 
Scrap Matrix: Chipboards, wooden cogs, lace and pebbles.

And here is one more thing - my Friday Sizzix project! Would you like to check how to make this cute, simple Spring Pocket Envelope? Jump to Sizzix blog today - you will find full project and product list waiting!

See you soon!