Donna's Art Journal ~ "Butterfly"

Hello my peeps! I'm on a bloggin' roll! It has been hard for me to consistently blog since we moved because I take care of my grand son to some degree on a daily basis. Some days I get him up, feed him, bathe him, and dress him. Then we have a very tight schedule of fort building, walking and leaf gathering, wonderful music time using pots and wooden spoons, playing with cars and singing and dancing... It is very important stuff, this!
A couple days a week I may just help get him ready in the morning so he can go to his other grandma's house. But then, on his mommy or daddy's days off (because I have this uber-soft-mushy-center-filling for this little guy), I end up watching him for their "quick" 2 hour visits to the store or I keep him at home when they are in a hurry to take or pick up someone from work, or if they just need to do another of those "quick" errands... and I always have said "Yes, of course I'll watch him." I mean... who could resist a face like his?

However, lately I'm doing a little better about "trying" to say "No" more often, thus, more regular blog posts and tutorials for you! And yet there has still been plenty of time for fort building, leaf gathering and singing & dancing. It's all about balance I guess.

Anywho... I've got a stepped out tutorial of an art journal page for you that I made when I had a couple hours to myself. The quote is from a Dave Matthew's Band song.

Here are some step outs:
The background was painted with some white gesso and dried then I added some of my original Mix'd Media Inx.

I began with the lightest color (Jasmine) and covered random areas of the background by bending the edges of the squishy pad back and using the rounded center to pat the Inx on, then I blended it in with my fingers.

 I used a stylus blender with Honey MMI around the edges.

I sprayed a light mist of water and the Inx became almost "watercolor-like" so I could blend it with my fingers (you can use an ink blender but I like to get my hands dirty).

I added some Patina in random areas around the edges.

I misted with water and blended the Patina in as well. I LOVE the way that these Inx react when you are using them on a gessoed surface!

I sprayed some Green Olive Smooch Spritz into a bowl and used a watercolor brush to add some vines and leaves.

I added a bit more green on the bottom and added a tiny bit of water splatters to give the leaves water spots and make some of the Spritz run.

I flicked some Ice Rink, Sea Breeze, Evergreen & River Mossy Spritz on the background, added a bit more water and let some of it drip.

I added some MMI in Truffle along the bottom and sides.

I then blended again with a bit of water.

I misted water in a couple spots to get extra drips.

I added a bit more water to the background then added more Honey MMI to the background above the vines using a stylus blender loaded up with Inx.

I blended with my finders and misted with a tiny bit more water to get the Inx to drip into the vines.

I used some Gloss Heavy Gel to decoupage the butterflies onto the background. I had printed the butterflies onto Crafty Chronicle pages a long time ago and finally had a use for them. I "think" I got the images as a free download on Pinterest.

I used a small paintbrush to apply some Truffly MMI around the edges of the butterflies to make them stand out from the background.

I blended the Inx into the background using water on the same brush.

I used my Sparrow CHOX to stamp the quote because I needed the ink to dry faster. I would have used the original Inx if I was going to emboss the quote.

And this is the finished page.

Product used:

Clearsnap/Colorbox 

Mix'd Media Inx (MMI) - Jasmine, Honey, Patina, Truffle

Mix'd Media Inx CHOX - Sparrow

Smooch Spritz - Ice Rink, Sea Breeze, River Mossy, Evergreen

Liquitex

White Gesso

Gloss Heavy Gel

Zutter

Distrezz-it-All (page edges pre-made)

Thanks for stopping by! Smooches ~D~

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Happy Birthday Tag with Tutorial by ~ DeeDee Catron

Hiya folks :) DeeDee back today with a How-To.

I've put together a little Happy Birthday tag using lots of fun Donna Salazar Products to really brighten up the piece.

The how to video:

Some close up shots:

DSD Products used: 

Clearsnap - Mix'd Media Inx {Pewter} | Mix'd Media Inx Chox {Midnight and Denim}

GCD Studios - Mix'd Media Stax 2

Zutter - Distrezz-it-all

Other:

7 Dots Studio

Glitz Designs

Viva Las VegaStamps! rubber stamps

May Arts Ribbons

cheesecloth, adhesive, flower layers, pebble, Micron pen

"Smile" Wallhanging with Tutorial by ~ Mistra Hoolahan

Hi again! Today I have  cute little hanging to share with you all.  This originally started

out as a card, but I kept adding layers and somehow it became a little hanging!

I love these little 'hangings', they are fun to make and I like to challenge myself to use only the things left on my desk after finishing a layout.  Mind you, since I drag out enough stuff to complete 20 layouts while working on one, it does leave me lots of choice LOL.  I've cut out some of Donna's little clouds from her Fun and Funky Cutout Sheet, as well as one from the Family Jeans collection. 

The ribbon was originally white and was 'dyed' using Donna's Denim Mix'd Media Inx for a perfect match.  Once it's dried with a heat gun the colour doesn't run, love it!

I also stole Donna's idea of feeding paper strips through my Dymo labeller... handy since I ran out of tape!  I love the soft subtle look of it.

And I know I've done them before... but I've done another Brick Wall Tutorial for you!  This one was created on the mulberry paper from Donna's Mix'd Media Stax and the soft paper gives it a whole different look I feel.  Brick Wall on Mulberry Tutorial HERE. {PDF Download through Box.net}

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you find the tutorial useful!

www.mistrabutterfly.blogspot.com

Love Canvas 2 by ~ Helena Johansson

Hi again! Do you remember the canvas I made last time? You can find the blog post HERE. Well, I loved making that canvas so much, I decided to make another one to go with the first. This will be the perfect present for someone!

I have also made a step-by-step tutorial on how I made this canvas, so that you easily can make your own.

Here's the second canvas. The first one had a touch of pink, this one has a touch of blue:

And here is the step-by-step:

Donna Salazar products used: Mix'd Media Stax 2 (script paper and crepe paper in small pieces), Love stencil, Embossing powder in colors Jasmine and Peridot.

Other products used: flowers, resin piece, cheesecloth, gesso and texture paste

Step 1: Paint the canvas using a sponge, just a thin layer.

Step 2: Arrange small pieces of paper from the Mix'd Media Stax 2 and a piece of cheesecloth on top.

Step 3: Paint with gesso to "glue" the pieces to the canvas. Don't paint all over, you want some of the script paper to show.

Step 4: Use the heart from the "Love" stencil with texture paste.

Step 5: Add some more gesso, using a sponge, but this time a thicker layer and only on a couple of spots. I have put some on top, bottom and the sides of the canvas. Then, before the paint dries, add some Embossing Powder, color Jasmine, where you used the gesso. Use a heat gun to dry. You will see that the texture paste will "rise" too, making the heart even more beautiful!

Here's a close-up of the fantastic texture:

Step 6: Arrange the resin piece and the flowers. Paint the flowers with gesso on the edges.

Step 7: Add some Emboss Gloss on about the same spots where you used the Jasmine powder, and then add some Peridot powder. Heat with heatgun.

Here's what my finished canvas looks like!

Now some close-ups of the finished canvas:

And of course I want to show you the two canvases together:

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you've enjoyed!

xoxo

Helena

Donna Salazar products used:

GCD Studios: Donna Salazar - Mix'd Media Stax 2

Clearsnap - Mix'd Media Inx Embossing powder - Jasmine

Clearsnap - Mix'd Media Inx Embossing powder - Peridot

Want2Scrap: Donna Salazar - Love stencil

Other products used

Petaloo flowers

Prima resin piece

cheesecloth

gesso and texture paste