February Mood Board Reveal 2 for OTRS

Hello friends!

In again today with a little card I made for the Feb mood board challenge over at Off the Rails Scrapbooking. Here's the gorgeously colored mood board:

Below is how I put everything together.

Step 1

I started off with a sheet of white cardstock (12" x 6") and folded it into half. Taking some papers from Maja Design, I trimmed them further into 2 sizes for layering - 5.75" x 5.75", and 5" x 5". Distress the edges and ink them.

Step 2

Take some distress stain and paint (I used the same shade) and color the edges of the white cardstock. Ink the edges again.

Step 3

Adhere the 3 layers together. I also added some twine underneath the second layer for a nice little bow later. Twine also because I saw the balloons in the image and the strings they were drifting from.

Step 4

To make my floral paper a little more interesting, I added some modeling paste over a stencil.

Step 5

And some splatters of color by mixing paint with liquid medium, both from 13@rts.

Step 6

Adding a die cut doily with the edges inked.

Step 7

Scrounge up a piece of canvas cloth and glue it onto the card, followed by pompom trim. I added the canvas for a fabric texture, which I figured the lady in the image must have been a fashionista (from the oversized sunnies of course!). Pompoms because they look like cute little balloons.

Step 8

Colored a piece of mini flourish chipboard (Blue Fern Studios) with a few different types of pigments. Assemble everything else (flowers, embellishments etc) and voila!

You can see the purple, deep red, pink and just a tiny bit of green. 

I didn't have anything stickers with "awesome" in it, so I guess being yourself is another way of being awesome :D

The Eiffel Towel trinket was just begging to be used after being hoarded for so long!

So that's all I have for today. Do check in with the blog for more details on the challenge!

love,

Easy Watercolor Christmas card for Off the Rails Scrapbooking

Hello friends!

How is your preparation for Christmas coming along? We are doing a lot of last minute gift shopping for the kids and their friends, as well as scouring the internet for yummy recipes that help this mummy look like a fabulous chef during parties.

Today I'm up on the OTRS blog with a easy card for you, along with a step by step tutorial on how I created it.

The card is based on our December moodboard:

As you can see, I'm a very pastel person so I've used the softer versions of the colors in the mood board.

Step 1:

Prime your white cardstock with gesso. Pick out the watercolor pencils that you will be using. Next, trace out the shapes on your stencil and shade in the colors. Lastly, using a small brush, add water to paint. It's ok to let the colors bleed out and blend.

Step 2:

Take the red water color pencil and trace out small triangles from another stencil. Repeat with the bleeding and blending with a small wet brush.

Step 3:

Using the Ranger's embossing pen (black or white is fine), trace out the red triangles and sprinkle black embossing powder. Heat to set.

Step 4:

Stamp around the edges with a border stamp (I used one with a lot of triangles) and adhere the cardstock on to a sheet of patterned paper. Then I made my title with a some Christmas title dies from Sizzix. To finish off, I altered a snowflake chipboard with some Shimmerz Texturez and sprinkled gold glitter on the edges while it was still wet.

And here it is, my easy-peasy Christmas card! Hope you found the techniques here useful!

A Wintry Layout for Off The Rails Scrapbooking

Hello folks!

I've been away for nearly 2 weeks now, hope I'm being missed! It was quite a roller coaster ride with my youngest going into hospital while hubby was away, and some awful drama at home which has not seen the worst of it. On top of that, my precious MacBook died on me - which means no photo-editing, no video-editing and well basically, I was severely handicapped. My lovely DT coordinators were kind enough to let me take the time off, and that coincided with the youngest going into hospital. But now that the MacBook is fixed, everything is back to normal!

Off The Rails Scrapbooking has TWO fantastic moodboards for this month's challenge. Being the non-Christmas project person that I am, I chose the wintry colours instead of the Christmassy ones.

(edited to add)

After this post was published, I saw the moodboard over at Scrap Around the World and what do you know, it actually matches theirs as well! So I'm entering this project for the challenge over there too. Even the red was a match LOL. And this below is their moodboard:

And here is my take:

Going for a minimalist watercolor look here with gorgeous Ayeeda paints and mists. 

Silver glitter paint from 13arts! Love how I can actually paint glitter on stuff now. And the "red" splatters are actually Metallic Pink paint from 13arts, mixed with liquid medium for a dimensional finish.

Gold glitter to accent my snowflakes and UTEE masking in the background. Tucked under my snowflake is Mini Ring Things chipboard from Blue Fern Studios, which I sprinkled gold glitter on as well. Paper layers are created with the fun Color Basics collection, also from 13arts.

That's all I have for today. Remember to hop over to the OTRS blog and find out how you can link up your project and win a fabulous prize.  Also, I'll be back tomorrow with my video post for Blue Fern Studios featuring the gorgeous new paper collection Sanctuary.  

Stay tuned!

Splashing Good Times for OTRS

Hello friends!

I'm in today to share a layout I created for Off the Rails Scrapbooking, with some tips on how to use up stash as well as a fun way to use your Ranger's Distress Stains.

Here's the very simple layout:

I used white card stock for my background and some of my friend Olga Heldwin's new paper collection (available at the 13arts store). 

For my background, I upcycled some old Thickers which I have not used for ages. It doesn't matter what color or font you have, just cover them with a layer of gesso and they are ready to be altered. 

To create the splatters, all I did was point my Distress Stain bottle downwards at the card stock and gave a very gentle but firm tap. If you want more dramatic splatters, just hold your bottle a little higher and come in with a little bit more force. 

And that's all I have to share with you for today. Thanks for dropping by!

Little thoughts goes a long way with OTRS

Hello friends!

How has your weekend been? I'm back in on a Saturday while my beef rendang (that's a Southeast-Asian beef curry, absolutely yummy!) is simmering in my brand new Dutch oven. Hooray for weekends when we have friends over to join in my culinary adventures :D

I have two projects for Off the Rails Scrapbooking to show you, and both are made with papers and chipboards from Blue Fern Studios. The first is based on this month's challenge:

What a pretty and vibrant color palette! Although I managed to make it all sweet and pretty with the new BFS paper collection Montage for a mixed media card:

The background was created with 13arts Ayeeda Matte Paint in Blue, and some stenciled designs using Ayeeda Acrylic Modeling Paste. I also added some random stamping as well.

The chipboard (Marakesh, Blue Fern Studios) was painted with Bourdeaux Pearl Mist from 13arts and dabbed with some Ayeeda Gold Pearl paint. Love the shimmery look it adds. The sentiment for the card came from one of the sheets of Montage paper.

My second project is a quick and easy mini-tag which I made for my mixed media workshop students at Made With Love. This was created with another Blue Fern paper collection Ombre Dreams.

I've used papers from Blue Fern Studio's Ombre Dreams collection as my background. This particular sheet is white-washed with bits of color, so it was perfect for whatever other mediums I wanted to add on subsequently.

I mixed in some Lindy's Stamp Gang's Magicals to tint the soft gel I was going to spread over a butterfly mask for the background. After that was some simple stamping with a word stamp.

Next, I took a chipboard which I cut out a bird cage with a Sizzix die and painted some metallic distress crackle paint over it. If you're using crackle medium, prime your surface with gesso first as it will help the medium to hold.

Lastly, it was adding bit of splatters with a mixture of Ayeeda Liquid medium and black acrylic paint.

Here's a close-up where you can see the stenciled soft gel butterflies better. Soft gel is a wonderful alternative to texture paste and it retains whatever color you add to it (it dries transparent), and still give a subtle look where your background paper is still visible. 

That's all I have for today. Thanks for dropping by!

love,

Mini Canvas for OTRS

Hello crafty folks!

The weekend is here and I have a fun project for you today that you can try out over the weekend.
This is a mini-canvas with a configuration box and I've used lots of 13arts goodies to alter them. Below is a step by step photo tutorial that I've put together for you.

Step 1:

Prime your canvas and configuration box with gesso. I've used 13arts' acrylic primer for this, and the configuration box used to hold some of the Prima resins in my stash.

Step 2:

Using Ayeeda Paints in Matte Caramel and Matte Peach, dry brush the exterior of the box and layer the darker colour over the lighter one. There is no need for full coverage here and allow some of the gesso to peek through for a more rustic look.

Step 3:

I forgot to snap a photo of the mists I used, but they are Ayeeda Chalks in Pastel Green and Turquoise. Water down the mists to get the desired shade. Following that, I used 13arts acrylic modeling paste over one of their stencils and used it to create a grid pattern.

Step 4:

With Ayeeda Paint in Matte Pink, apply over a stencil randomly.

Water down the paint if you like.

Step 5:

Some random stamping with black archival ink.

Step 6:

One of my favourite things: altering chipboard! I'm using the Wild Flourish Bundle and a piece from the Vintage Lock set and altered them using the paints and mediums shown.

Step 7:

Assembling the pieces. I'm using some chipboard stickers and flowers, as well as resins from Prima to fill out the cubby holes in the box.

And voila, the project is done!

Some closeups:

A bow covered with Pearl Gold from Ayeeda Paint.

Thanks for joining me today, and have a crafty weekend!

love,