Saturday 25 April 2020

Creative Time



Good morning.
I hope you are keeping well and safe in these uncertain times.
I am so very grateful to have a hobby that distracts me!!
I've been watching a few videos now that I have some time and I've been playing around with some new ideas and techniques.  That's how this card came to be.
Before that, I have to say if my picture looks a bit weird, it's because my camera hates purple.  No matter what I do, it will not photo purple and turns them into blue.  Well for just this time, I wanted purple and not blue! lol  I ended up having to take the picture with my tablet so this is what I got.  I love creating but the picture taking and the editing is truly my most disliked part of the whole process!

So here's what I did.
I wanted to create a card with a textural background.  I took a piece of heavy white cardstock and spread some white Gesso over it as though I was buttering a piece of bread.  Not too thick, but just enough to roughly cover the surface.  It dried so quickly as well because the layer was thin.  You don't need to get every last inch covered, just a rough skim coat.
When that was dry, I applied some acrylic paint using a brayer over the top using a light hand.  Before the paint was dry, I rubbed over it with a paper towel, removing some of the paint.
The Gesso will act as a resist leaving behind some white areas.  The background resembled a woodgrain which I love.
I made 2 panels at the same time.  Here is a picture of what they looked like after they were dry and before I cut them into card fronts.



Then it was time to add some interest. 
 I stenciled some circles using the Messy Dot Grid stencil from A Colorful Life Designs using some Peacock Feathers DOX ink, then added some black stamping randomly along the edges to help ground the design.
I placed the piece into my Misti and stamped the sentiment from Rubbernecker then glued the flowers onto the front and then onto a heavy white card base.


Thanks so very much for coming by and taking a look.
Discount Code for A Colorful Life Designs
*Just use the code KarenFan10 to get a discount on stencils and masks.*


Supplies
Stamps- Live, Laugh, Love (Rubbernecker); Bitty Grunge (TH); Faded Type (TH)
Inks- Versafine, DOX
Paper- heavy white
Accessories and Tools- Messy Dot Grid stencil (A Colorful Life Designs); Gesso;
Acrylic paint (Dollar Store); Wildflowers (TH); Misti (My Sweet Petunia); 
paint palette knife; Speedball Brayer

18 comments:

cuilliesocks said...

So beautiful Karen, love the stamping and your colours, amazing background too, Kate x

Christine Alexander said...

Beautiful Karen, I love the gessso resist background :)

Verna Angerhofer said...

Beautiful background and a beautiful card.

Cath Wilson said...

One of my personal favourite techniques and something I did last week - but can't show it yet :-( Love this.
Digital photography is a minefield with the interpolation. Scanners can be worse, removing all the little shades and hues and making them a uniform colour - it drives me to distraction because that's the thing I love the most!
Thank you for your lovely email... so sorry I haven't yet replied. Health problems but I'm slowly catching up. I so enjoy your blog posts.
Cath x

nancy littrell said...

OMG...you did it again!!!! Gorgeous gesso, acrylic brayered background for your grunge style stamped, stenciled background and die cut flowers..Wow!!! I will be trying your technique...I am totally inspired again...Thank you, my friend. Stay safe and creative. Love and Hugs..Nancy

Bonnie said...

Another awesome background, Karen! I love the purple and turquoise together with the white wildflowers! My camera doesn't like purple either.

Michele said...

Beautiful! Thanks for the description, I may have to try this technique.

Glennis F said...

That looks wonderful, what a great technique!

Mac Mable said...

Thanks for the steps Karen and what an artsy and creative card. I love the way you did the unique background and the purple looks fabulous x.

clelie said...

GORGEOUS...GORGEOUS...GORGEOUS!!! Appreciate all the trouble you went through to share this! ♥

Ellie Knol said...

so very different.. only the bluez (ok, and purple) and the style made me recognize it was yours.. have to try that technique.. !!

Pat said...

This looks distressed but also very pretty Karen and I love the stamping and stencilling to add to the background and the white die cut flowers look great over the top, and a lovely sentiment too. x

kiwimeskreations said...

this is a fabulous result to your 'playing' Karen - loving your new techniques and the results. I too find my camera turns purple to blue, but my phone gives a better colour...
Stay safe
Blessings
Maxine

Lori m said...

Gorgeous backgrounds, so pretty, hugs, Lori m

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

As I've said many times here, you make everything you do sound so simple. However it all looks so wonderful, I love the background and your white effect stamping.
Keep safe and well.
Faith x

Vicky Hayes said...

What fabulous backgrounds Karen! Lovely to see what happened when the purple one took on new life as a card too. Vicky x

Loll said...

Love that amazing background you created Karen. There's so much visual texture -- it's awesome. And wonderful layering of stencils --- great mix of designs. The colours are fantastic, and the stamps and die-cuts are icing on the cake. xx

MDNewbie said...

Where did you get the chicken wire stencil or stamp? I have been looking for one like yours.