September Arsty Addicts Layout Challenge: Handmade

I just adore the monthly Artsy Addict's (Marion Smith's online group) challenges!  This month's was to create a layout from items you made/modified yourself including the background page.  Right up my alley!!!  I like to tie my photos into the theme for these challenges (I know it's corny) so I knew right away I wanted to use this one picture of our cat Mikey that shows off the classic feline silhouette to play up the "art" theme.  He truly is a work of art!


Leonardo Da Vinci was right: The Smallest Feline is a Masterpiece

My usual creative process usually goes like this:

1. Select a photo(s)
2. Choose a color scheme
3. Pick a background
4. Add a title
5. Add embellishments

Since everything was to be made from scratch all I really needed to decide beforehand is what color scheme I wanted to use.  I have been loving the heavy body acrylics lately and there is a shade of purple (Prism Violet by Liquitex) that I adore.  I also have Glimmer Glam in a fabulous shade of teal called Mermaid.  Purple and teal - sounded like a great color scheme to me!

I prefer to use canvas or a canvas pad for acrylics when I paint, especially with heavy body acrylics.  Watercolor paper and cardstock don't seem to hold up as well and they curl quite a bit.  I also really like the texture of canvas and it lends itself to dry brushing as you've seen in some of my other posts.


Acrylics on canvas paper with a dry brushed coat of Glimmer Glam

I used 2 shades of purple and a red to create the background thinning the paint with a bit of water as needed. I added some white in the center to help lighten it and begin to create a focal point.  I like to keep my edges darker.  To help blend the colors together, I prefer to use my favorite tool:


Painty goodness

Once the background was completely dry, I used a fan brush on the Mermaid Glimmer Glam to lightly brush across the surface.  I started at the edges first and pulled the paint into the center so most of the color remained on the edges.  Glam is pretty sheer so what I ended up with in the center was mostly the chunks of glitter which gave a nice texture.  Layer 1 was complete!

For layer 2, I added a floral vine stamp around the edges and a text stamp using black ink.  I then did another layer of glam over the top once the ink was dry.  For the photo frame, I painted fiber paste onto the background with, you guessed it, my finger.  I love the texture of the fiber paste!  Once the paste was dry I applied some silver glimmer mist with a paint brush.  Once that dried, I lightly went over it with a black marker letting the marker skip a bit over the texture.  I then added a bit of Glimmer Glaze in a teal shade to give it some color.  I mounted my photo with dimensional adhesive dots to help it stand out from the background.

Fiber paste photo frame, aluminum and H2O color paper title

Ever cut open a Coors Light can?  They are a lovely shade of pale teal inside.  I love to die cut and emboss it.  Hubby is always a good sport and makes sure the cans are empty (his favorite part) and clean and he cuts them open for me.  After die cutting and embossing the letters, I rubbed them with a bit of black permanent ink.  Once adhered to the page I lightly drew around them with a maker to help them stand out and look more "artsy".  For the word "Art" I decided to channel Julie Balzer and hand cut the word!  First I wrote it with a yellow H2O soluble oil pastel and used water to blend out the color.  I then stamped over it with the same text stamp used on the background and then wrote over it with a black marker.  I added some silver ink dots as well.  I wrote and then cut out the Leonardo quote from H2O color paper and then used a yellow water color pencil to add color and stamped the words with the text stamp to add texture.

For the flowers I die cut crinoline and painted them with various shades of Glimmer Mist.  I love using crinoline for these types of flowers!  Crinoline is the stiff fabric often used in slips under hoops skirts.  It's flexible but stiff enough to hold it's shape nicely and it takes color very well. 



Painted flowers waiting to dry. 

 I cut five layers for each flower and folded 4 of the layers into quarters to assemble them into dimensional flowers (see earlier blog post).  I added some Glimmer Glam to the edges to help give them added sparkle.  A jewel in the center and some ribbon vine for stems and the flowers were done!


Crinoline flowers.  You can also see the texture from the fiber paste photo frame and the chunks of glitter from the Glimmer Glam on the background in this shot.

For the finishing touch I added another crinoline flower and chipboard flourishes to the corner of the photo.  I stamped and used a black marker on the flourishes and then painted them with silver ink and teal Glimmer Glaze.  Glaze is more dimensional and opaque than Glam.  It's also shimmery and does not have the chunks of glitter that Glam does.  I love to use all of these coloring media together.  More painty goodness.  :)


Glam vs Glaze.  The teal and chunks of glitter on the background are from the Glam and the teal on the photo frame and flourishes are from the Glaze.

All in all it was a fun challenge and I feel totally back to my stamping roots again - yay!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies used:

• Purple Prism and Alizarin Crimson heavy body acrylics (Liquitex)
• Titanium white heavy body acrylic (Golden)
• Purple studio paint (Claudine Hellmuth for Ranger)
• Mermaid, Luscious Lavender, Chandelier, and Lipstick Pink Glimmer Glam (Tattered Angels)
• Waterfall Glimmer Glaze (Tattered Angels)
• Banana Pudding, Cotton Candy and Peacock Chalkboard Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)
• Silver Sugar, Cherry Limeade, Spring Violet, Key Lime Pie and Purple Pansy Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)
• Clear stamps (Heidi Swapp for Tattered Angels)
• Teal jewels (Creative Imaginations)
• Vine ribbon (May Arts)
• Black permanent ink (StazOn)
• Black Slick Writer Marker (American Crafts)
• Chipboard flourishes (Maya Road)
• Fiber paste (Golden)
• Water soluble oil pastels (CretaColor Aqua stic)
• Water color pencils (Karat Aquarell Steadtler)
• Tim Holtz Grunge Flower die (Sizzix)
• Olivia font die (Cuttlebug)
• Crinoline fabric
• Water color paper (Strathmore)
• Canvas paper for acrylics (Canson)
• Glossy and Matte Accents (Ranger)
• Fabritac (Beacon)
• Zap dots (Helmar)