Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Live, Laugh, Love by Guest Designer Barb Black


Spring made an early appearance here in the Northwest and Mother Nature has been going crazy slapping a fresh coat of color on everything. Between the extraordinarily blue skies, cherry blossoms, forsythias, crocuses, daffodils, and tulips, it’s as if an art supply store exploded on the world. I love it!
 Nothing inspires me so much as nature’s colors and that’s exactly where the idea for this piece came from. 
I began by painting the dragonflies with yellow acrylic paint. While the paint was still wet, I used it as glue and sprinkled it with yellow glitter. I also painted “laugh” with the same yellow paint and splattered it with a little gold ink to give it more depth.
For the background I chose one of the tags from Gina’s Super X tag set. I didn't have a really clear idea where I was going with it, so I played until it felt right. That’s how most of my projects go, and it’s a fun way to work. No limitations - yay! 
I began by sponging blue, red, and pink paint onto the tag. Some of it naturally blended into a nice purple shade. I wanted to lighten it up a little so when it dried, I took a piece of sequin waste and sponged on white dots. The white dots were too stark, so I washed over the tag with diluted pink acrylic paint. Then I decided it needed more movement and I wanted to bring more blue back into it, so I got out my stencil and sponged on the blue. A few flecks of light green later and I was done!
From there, all I had to do was to stamp “live” and “love” onto the tag with white acrylic paint, and then glue on the other pieces I had made. Well, what’s spring without some bling? So, I added on the pink rhinestone flowers. To finish the piece off, I curled some pink wire that I had left over from another project and tied it on with some fibers. Now I have a little bit of springtime to hang in my house all year long!
Until next week - happy crafting!

Gina’s Designs Products Used

Other Products Used
Stampin’ Up! Whimsical Alphabet
Rhinestones and rhinestone flowers
Acrylic paint - various colors
Artist Glitter - yellow
Sequin waste
Stencil Girl Damask Stencil
Ribbon and yarn
Glue
 

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