Being Inspired
I have been sharing this project today over at Calico Craft Parts and a tutorial on my blog here for the Primroses. However the mixed media background was inspired by my lovely friend Brenda Brown (Bumblebees and Butterflies).
I always adore the grungy mixed media backgrounds created by Brenda as they always look so beautifully shabby chic and are always the perfect foil for the wonderful embellishments she layers on top. In a recent blog post creating with mini printer trays she created a most stunning background using a combination of tissue tape, stamping, gesso and paints. I really just had to give it a go and she has kindly allowed me to share my take on her background.
This project is just so fabulous. You can access all the details on Brenda's post HERE.
I have used slightly different products but tried to get the same effect.
I started with some randomly placed Tim Holtz tissue tape on my birch banner. (It had a light coat of gesso to give it a bit of tooth.)
Next a bit of rust - I have used Prima Rust Effect Paste which goes on quite thick but you can spritz it with water to get a more uneven covering.
Then some stamping with black archival ink - again quite random. I was a bit worried that the large numbers would be too heavy but I needn't have worried!
And here's the magic bit! Scrape white gesso randomly over the whole project with a palette knife leaving some areas free of any gesso and others with just a light covering.
For the final layer I added some DecoArt Quinacridone Gold around the edges and when that had dried blended Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Oxides around the outside edges and slightly into the middle.
Spritzing the Distress Oxides and then mopping them up a bit before blasting with the heat gun has added some lovely rusty colouring.
A slightly different effect to Brenda's but I love the different random layers I managed to achieve. Next time I will let more of the stamping show through and perhaps be a bit braver in the size of stamps! Also a different surface rather than using wood might allow the products to sink into the background more and create a different effect.
A very enjoyable process and one that dried quickly enough to enjoy it in a single sitting! Thank you so much Brenda for always providing so much inspiration and all your detailed steps which allow us to give them a try.
I hope you will hop on over to Brenda's blog to see some of her other wonderfully creative projects and tutorials. You will be soooo inspired!
I always adore the grungy mixed media backgrounds created by Brenda as they always look so beautifully shabby chic and are always the perfect foil for the wonderful embellishments she layers on top. In a recent blog post creating with mini printer trays she created a most stunning background using a combination of tissue tape, stamping, gesso and paints. I really just had to give it a go and she has kindly allowed me to share my take on her background.
This project is just so fabulous. You can access all the details on Brenda's post HERE.
I have used slightly different products but tried to get the same effect.
I started with some randomly placed Tim Holtz tissue tape on my birch banner. (It had a light coat of gesso to give it a bit of tooth.)
Next a bit of rust - I have used Prima Rust Effect Paste which goes on quite thick but you can spritz it with water to get a more uneven covering.
Then some stamping with black archival ink - again quite random. I was a bit worried that the large numbers would be too heavy but I needn't have worried!
And here's the magic bit! Scrape white gesso randomly over the whole project with a palette knife leaving some areas free of any gesso and others with just a light covering.
For the final layer I added some DecoArt Quinacridone Gold around the edges and when that had dried blended Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Oxides around the outside edges and slightly into the middle.
Spritzing the Distress Oxides and then mopping them up a bit before blasting with the heat gun has added some lovely rusty colouring.
A slightly different effect to Brenda's but I love the different random layers I managed to achieve. Next time I will let more of the stamping show through and perhaps be a bit braver in the size of stamps! Also a different surface rather than using wood might allow the products to sink into the background more and create a different effect.
A very enjoyable process and one that dried quickly enough to enjoy it in a single sitting! Thank you so much Brenda for always providing so much inspiration and all your detailed steps which allow us to give them a try.
I hope you will hop on over to Brenda's blog to see some of her other wonderfully creative projects and tutorials. You will be soooo inspired!
As always thank you for joining me today!
Jennie x
Comments
TFS and huge hugs
Annie xx
Alison x