Embrace Life || Scrapbook Layout

Hi all,

I have a layout to share today using a watercolour background.

I had just bought the Pink Paislee 'Fancy Free' chipboard sheet and I wanted to use them to make a layout. I grabbed a piece of 12x12" white cardstock and mixed up watercolours to match the colours in the chipboard sheet. Then, I painted circles in each colour, making sure the layer below was dry so that the colours didn't go muddy. Once that was all dry, I stitched more circles using the sewing machine.

The picture is of Nathan and I in York recently. It's our go-to place if it's a lovely day and we fancy a walk around and a nice burger. We like the Slug & Lettuce as it's right by the river, and we always make sure we get a window seat.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Steampunk Mixed Media Piece

Hello, crafty friends!

I have a mixed media piece to share with you today and it's something I wasn't sure of at first but I persevered and once I finished it I was quite pleased with what I achieved!

I've been wanting to make a piece like this for a while - I had a bag of MDF gears from Things To Alter just begging to be used!
Then I saw this video on the Finnabair Art Files channel on Youtube...  (link) and decided to loosely follow along with it. I'm not great at mixed media and I don't have many supplies but it seemed simple enough so I had a go.

You can find out how to make this following the video, but I'll explain the colours I used, etc.

 Once I had applied the (many layers of cheap) gesso (seriously, The Works gesso isn't great..), I used modelling paste to stencil gears. The stencil is by Scrapberry's. I added dylusions spray inks in Fresh Lime and Chopped Pesto, adding water and letting the inks run, until I was happy with the effect. Basically, just play around!

Once this was dry I used a brown watercolour pencil to outline the edges of the gears and then added some water. The darker edges brought more dimension to the gears.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Peacock Layout Using Resist Techniques

Hi all,

A new layout to share today showing how to make a scrapbook layout using some resist techniques.

I did have a video for this but I wasn't happy with it, so I'll explain the resist techniques I used here.
Firstly I took a white wax crayon and doodled leaves up the page. I then stuck down some peacock outline stickers and went over the whole thing with watercolour. The white of the crayon shows through. I removed the outline stickers and the white of the page behind them shows up brilliantly.

I took a board (packaging from a shirt) and embossed it with an A4 peacock embossing folder. I went over it lightly with Gelatos and rubbed them with my finger to blend them together. The embossed areas stay white.

The feathers are made with dies by Xcut and the ends coloured with a silver Sharpie.

Thanks for stopping by, any questions then leave a comment!

Emily xx

Limited Palette Layout

Hi all,

A new process video to share today, showing how to make this layout using a limited palette of monochrome with a pop of yellow.
I normally post these on Tuesdays but I'm going to Chester next week with Nathan for our anniversary so I wouldn't be here to share it.

Thanks for stopping by, any questions then leave a comment! 

Emily xx

Tutorial Tuesday - Watercolour Cards

Hi all,

Today I'll be showing you how to make these simple watercolour cards.

To start with, you'll need watercolour paper (or a heavier paper that won't warp when you add paint) and some watercolours. They either come in a palette or in tubes (I prefer the tubes as the colours are more vibrant). 

Measure the size of the paper you want and lightly mark this on the paper so you know where to paint.

Squeeze a little bit of each colour you have chosen onto a palette (or anything plastic if you don't have a palette - the paint will wipe off). Take a wide, damp brush and paint a stripe of each colour side by side onto the paper. The colours can overlap.

To assemble the flamingo, cut two flamingos, one in black and one in pink. Chop the legs and beak off the pink one and stick the pink onto the black. Both papers are by Xcut, adhesive glitter paper and adhesive chalkboard paper.

Here's a picture of the finished article. I added a brad in each corner for a bit of interest and a die cut sentiment in the same chalkboard paper as on the flamingo.

A second card using the same watercolour technique but with a sentiment die cut from the centre. (Xcut dies). I used the cut out leaves in each corner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Fuengirola Harbour Mixed Media Layout

Hi all,

A new mixed media layout to share today.
I took the picture one evening at the harbour on holiday in Fuengirola. Though it rained a lot, by the evenings the sun had come out.

I've been wanting to up my mixed media game recently, I've been trying various different things but it either looked a mess (on the other side of this layout!) or didn't look 'enough'. I've been inspired by 7 Dots Studio for a while now but they always seem dark and dull (though still beautiful).
I'll explain briefly how I did this but I am planning a Tutorial using this process in which I will explain more in depth.

1. Using acrylics, paint an area of the paper, be as messy as you want.
2. Using a damp (but not wet) brush, use your fingers to spatter paint around the layout (consider your colour scheme here)
3. Once dry, add backing paper, tags and washi tape. 
4. Stamp around the edges of your main coloured area. 
5. Spatter more paint over the layout
6. Add your photo and gems/dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

More Than Words Challenge June 2016

Hey everyone,

Just stopping by to share my entry for the June 'More Than Words' challenge and you can find out more here 

Here's my entry:

The theme this month was...

I was inspired by a picture I took (but can no longer find!) at the Beatles exhibition in Liverpool when I visited a few years ago. The word 'imagine' was tiled on the floor surrounded by red, orange and pink flowers.

I wanted to try something different this time so instead of making a conventional layout I threw some paint and spray ink at a (just over A4 size) board and worked from there.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx