A card..... just like that

This card came about so easily and so quickly..... it just made itself in a matter of a few minutes! I was in the middle of making another card but had to stop to make this one first.... Does that happen to you too sometimes... or is it just me....

Of all the cards I've made,this one is definitely a hot favourite

CAS Card - Gold and Black

When I first read the challenge at Beyond Grey Challenges, I nearly jumped - Black and Gold...... so trendy...right! A gazillion ideas went through my head as always - vellum, wood veneer, confetti (shaker card), sequins,  chevrons, stripes, white on white texture background, a glitter bow..... and the list is endless really.

So, I cut out several pieces of water colour paper and went to town with gesso, texture paste and twinkling H2Os. Here are two of the completed cards. 

Both cards have been made in exactly the same way, except the base of the blue card is black and the pink one has a white card base. The Polaroid frame has been made using a chevron black washi tape on white cardstock. Also, linking both cards to Simon Says Stamp - Keep it Simple Wednesday Challenge. 

Ive one more post today - another card..... here is a sneak peek. See you all soon. Cheers.

Guest Designer post - Lulupu

My blog has been rather quiet this month.....not that I've been short of inspiration, just short of time to post all that I've been upto. First up, I was very happy when approached by Lulupu to create a layout and tutorial as a guest designer for their current challenge #29 - Vacation/Holidays/Travel Theme.

It's my first ever tutorial and I'm nervous as to how its going to be received. As always, I've created a mixed media layouts using texture paste, gesso, paints, spray the works :) and had lots of fun getting my hands dirty.

 

When I started making 12X12 layouts last year, I found it very overwhelming, now it’s one of my favourite. In today’s step by step, I'll share with you my process for creating a very simple grid sketch, mixed media layout using 5 photographs from one of my trips to Europe.

Step 1: Choose a background paper. Mine had vintage/Paris graphics on it which were quite prominent. Apply a thin layer of gesso using a roller/foam brush to get a fairly even application. Using a wet wipe (baby wipe) remove excess gesso from areas you want to highlight (On mine I removed gesso from the butterflies). Can you see the difference gesso creates?

 

Step 2: While the gesso is drying, on another plain paper, layer the photographs and PP.  I find grid layouts very easy specially for multiple photos. I changed some of the elements later, but this step always helps me as I change my mind a zillion times!

 

Step 3: Now comes the fun part. The gesso has dried, its time to bring the paints /sprays out. Using a pencil, draw a square to outline the grid inside which the photos are going to be placed. Use washi tape on the inside border of the square. Spray blue paint around the border (I used acrylic paint and a toothbrush as I don’t have the specific blue colour in a ready spray form). Add a border stamp using black archival ink, once the paint is dry. Any stamp with geometric pattern will do. Its to add interest and define the border a little more. Then go over the borders with texture paste mixed with Fevicryl cherry red pearl paint through a small dots stencil. Now, my background looks like this. The remaining texture paste was randomly applied around the border and inside the grid as I didn't want to waste it.

Here is a close up…… can you  see the 6 layers? PP, gesso, washi, spray, stamp and finally texture paste.  See, mixed media isn't so difficult , you can do it too.

 

Step 4: After everything is dry, the final step is to stick down all the different elements that were prepared in step 2. I changed some of the elements, used pop dots below the photographs and completed the journaling. Ta –da……… all done

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy isn’t it. I hope you feel inspired to make a layout and share it with all of us at Lulupu

Current Challenge#29 - Vacation/Travel/Holidays Theme where only layouts are allowed.Take out your best picture form a Vacation /Holiday.. Or maybe some place you want to escape to this summer. Just scrap about it and show us!

 

Another CSI case solved :)

This time again with less than an hour to go, I uploaded my page into the CSI gallery. Case #117, another very interesting set of prompts from the CSI team and what lovely colours too. Everytime I see a CSI case, my mind starts building a page but I almost never complete my layout in reality,  on time to enter it.

Its the time I take, dilly dallying to decide on how to layer and what embellis to use, that takes forever. So, this time I decided to 'let go' and started sticking all the papers right away, so I didnt have the option to change my mind.
My background has been made with layers of stamps, paint and texture paste. Ive used both masks and stencils playing alongwith the criteria at offtherailsscrapbooking. For evidence, Ive used circles, rub-ons, arrows and numbers and Testimony my topic is something mind boggling.

As always the layout is about my lil bundle of mischief my son who can go blah, blah, blah nonstop from the minute he wakes up and even through his sleep! Isnt it truly amazing how kids pick up language. My bubba has picked up words from 4 languages and knows exactly who understands which language, so uses them appropriately and along the way he has made up words too which we all understand so have started using in our everyday talk. Years from now, hopefully this layout brings back a smile.

Also entering this into Anything but cards - Color Conceptions