Free to fly

Dear friends,

My new Icing Pastes are very versatile. My talented team uses them in so many creative ways! Today Tanyalee Kahler shows you her art-journal spread with amazing flowers. Delicious video tutorial showing how she created these amazing 3D petals with Icing Pastes awaits you.

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I was so excited when it was finally time to start playing with the new Icing Pastes from Finnabairs collection. They had been sitting on my shelf for some time waiting for the right time. 

My favourite creative genre is art journaling so I pulled out my Moleskine Watercolour journal and glued in a collage layer. I used vintage book paper and a napkin that I separated. I loved the floral print on the napkin and decided to use that as a starting point for working with the icing pastes.

I wanted the pastes to create some texture and represent the petals of the flowers. So, I went about painting the different colours onto the spread.

I also knew I wanted to create a whimsical feel and chose a sweet young girl from an ephemera collection and added some butterfly wings to make her into a fairy. I used the Don’t Forget to Fly cling stamp set to stamp some butterflies on deli paper for it’s transparency.

And as a final touch I added some fairy dust in the form of glitter and glass glitter to various parts of the spread.

Some hidden journaling filled the remaining white space, and a sentiment sticker created my title.

I hope you have taken some inspiration from my spread. And please try to get your hands on some of the beautiful new icing pastes. They are delightful to work with.

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store:

Dramatic art journal spread

Hello folks,

When we are about to go on holiday, usually we can pack limited supplies only, so many people decide not to create. But holidays are so relaxing that many people are more inspired and could joyfully let themselves to express their creativity. Tanyalee shows us that it is possible to create great art-journal spread with very limited supplies. We hope you would feel inspired <3

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Welcome back to another art journaling tutorial with Tanyalee. Today I am using minimal products to make a dramatic art journal spread.

My art journal pages typically start with laying down ephemera such as magazine clippings, book pages, text, tissue paper or gift wrap – and this spread is no different. I use Soft Matte Gel as an adhesive and to seal the collage so that wet media does not ruin them.

My second layer is generally acrylic paint in coordinating colours to the collage. In this case I have used Art Alchemy Impasto paints in Pitch Black and Azure. One of my favourite ways to use these paints is to blend them with my fingers and to spray them with water to create drips down the page.

I also love to add details to my spreads using dots and ink. Today I have used Opal Magic paint and Metallique Paint using the end of a paint brush, as well as white acrylic ink with a nib pen to create free illustrations.

And to finish off the spread I hand scripted a phrase, and added some ink splatters, because no page is finished without splatters!

And here is my video tutorial:

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, and I look forward to sharing another tutorial with you again next month.

Yours in messiness

Tanyalee

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store:

Altered box tutorial by Tanyalee

Hi guys,

Experimenting with new products, new textures, new materials is an essential part of being an artist. I suppose we all love to discover the new. Today Tanyalee will show you her attempt at using Finnabair's new products. 

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Hi everyone, Tanyalee here with an altered box tutorial.

This month I have jumped into the altered product artwork scene and am upcycling a box I found in my drawers. And I am experimenting with Finnabair’s new products as well!

I had this box in my stash of ‘things I can’t throw away’ hoping the right project would come along to make something with it. And when the new rust effect pastes, and opal magic paints arrived I knew they would be perfect!

I started off by covering the box with a coat of heavy gesso and then started adding texture with gauze, pieces of vintage book paper and string. Then I added some of the beautiful pale blue and green rust effect pastes from the Northern Lights range, as well as some paper paste. My colour scheme of ended up being pink and blue tones, so I chose matching opal magic paints and watered them down with my water spritzer.

Next I chose an alterable flower and some paper ribbon and glued that down using 3D Matte Gel. I keep adding colour until I was happy with the tones and then decided on the new melange and adhered them, along with some glitter.

Here is my video tutorial:

This project was really quick to put together and I love the pastel colour scheme.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, and I look forward to sharing another tutorial with you again next month.

Yours in messiness

Tanyalee

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store

Other supplies:

Vintage Book Pages

Gauze

String

Box

Art Journal Freedom

Hello again!

I believe that art journals are a very special art form - this is where you can express yourselves without any limitations whatsoever, it's you who sets your own rules on your journal pages!

Today we meet with Tanyalee whose gorgeous new art journal spread is a perfect expression of this wonderful freedom. I'm sure you'll feel instantly inspired!

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Hi everyone, Tanyalee here with an art journal spread tutorial.

My artworks are quite different to many you see using Finnabair products as I am predominantly an art journaler, and today’s tutorial is very true to my style.

I have created a floral spread using Impasto paints, image transfers and sketches.

First of all, I prepared my junk journal pages with Heavy Gesso as the paper is recycled cotton and soaks up way too much paint.

Next I chose a vintage botanical image and used it as an image transfer with Soft Matte Gel. The transfer worked beautifully, but as you will see, it didn’t end up suiting the spread so gets mostly covered with paint. It’s a wonderful technique to use in art journaling.

Once the transfer was completed and dry, I watered down some Art Alchemy Impasto paints to create a soft background. I also added some texture using Paper Paste and Finnabair's stamps.

My sketching skills aren’t the greatest, so I traced a picture of a model onto deli paper and glued that onto the background. The deli paper becomes transparent when glued using gel medium and it looks like I drew it directly onto the page.

Then I went to town with Impasto paints to create the floral crown on my girls head and face. I used layers of pink and white to create the petal appearance, and then highlighted with green and black for details.

Once the floral layer was completely dry, I went back in with a fountain pen and nib pen to add more details.

I also used a sentiment stamp and butterfly for some extra interest and finished everything off with some drawing ink splatters.

Please, enjoy my video tutorial!

I really like the soft finish to this spread, and hopefully my sketching skills will improve if I continue to use the tracing technique to draw faces. Only time will tell I guess.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, and I look forward to sharing another project with you again next month.

Yours in messiness

Tanyalee

Products used: