A Candle in the Dark by Barb

The question I'm most often asked is, "Where do you get your inspiration?" 

It might be easier to ask where I don't find inspiration. Because, it is everywhere! All the time. I only need to pay attention.

The other night as we were about halfway through one of the wildest storms I've seen here in about a decade, the power went out. And it stayed out for five hours. We were lucky - some people waited almost three days to get the lights turned back on.

The power outage was an inconvenience, but we were prepared. We lit candles and admired the sound of the howling wind and driving rain. 

As I watched one of the candles flickering and throwing it's tiny light out into the big dark room, this cool Candlesticks set from Gina's Designs came to mind. As soon as the lights came on again, I was off and running... uh... painting!

The base of this project is a 7 x 9" canvas panel to which I applied acrylic paint. For the candle, I coated the base in gold Delicata ink. I gave the candle a real wax look by using a combination of irRESISTibles in white and shimmer. I used yellow irRESISTibles for the flame and sprinkled on yellow glitter while it was still wet. I love the way the flame catches the light!

Inspiration is everywhere. All we have to do is pay attention.

Gina's Designs products used

Candlesticks 

Other products used

Canvas panel

Acrylic Paint

irRESISTibles

Delicata ink

Glitter

Glue

Skeleton Photo-Bomb by Barb

It's October and I am going Halloween crazy! I couldn't resist playing with the new Skeleton Shape Set from Gina's Designs.

"Skelly" was easy to bring to life. I sponged gesso all over him, leaving the finish kind of bumpy to mimic bones. Then I gave him a coat of ColourArte's Silks in iridescent blue just for a little shimmer. Finally, to bring out his silly side, I glued on some googly eyes that I have in my stash.

The background is a canvas board that I coated with clear, chunky embossing powder, heat set, and then dripped alcohol inks all over it. The little village is made by stamping with black ink on yellow paper and then cutting it out. 

Since the big thing these days on social media is photo-bombing (intentionally showing up in the background of someone's photo), I decided to have the cute little ghosts photo-bomb Skelly. They were made by stamping on gray paper with gray ink, and then cut out.

From there, it was just a matter of gluing everything together. 

Gina's Designs Products Used

Skeleton Shape Set

Lightning bolt - coming soon!

Other Products Used

Embossing Powder

Ranger Alcohol Ink

Gesso

ColourArte Silks Acrylic Glaze

Rubber stamps from RubberMoon - Scary Neighbors & Ghoul Friends

Celestial Tag

Hello all you lovely chipboard lovers. Shanna here today I wanted to do some simple mixed media. 

I created the background playing with one of the new Tim Holtz color Hickory Smoke Distress Paint. I then went over some of that with Weathered Wood Distress Stain. 

I then splatter some white gesso on top of the tag. I used a favorite stamp from Viva Las Vegastamps and thought the plain chipboard really makes this tag pop. I finished the tag with the Tim Holtz small talk. 

I do hope you love the tag. I would love to see the what you create over on the Gina's Designs Facebook Group. 

Items Used:

Celestial Shape Set

Two Thought Provoking Cards

Hello everyone!  Barbara here, and I am in a card making mood.  It might be because I have several birthdays on the horizon, and I am in dire need of masculine cards.  My first card is made with the male recipient in mind, while the second card could go either way just by changing the bicycle.  

As you know, we have been featuring papers and embellishments from The Robin's Nest this month.  I love the quality of their products, and I know you will, too.

Directions:

Clockworks Penny Farthing Card

Cover front of 5"x7" kraft card with the brown herringbone print from the Regent Street paper pad.

Cut Graphic 45 paper to 5"x7", distress edges.  Tear a "V" from the top, large enough to fit a gear behind the opening.  Distress edges with paper distressor tool, edge with Vintage Photo distress stain. The stain gives the edges a burnt look.  Mist corners with water and curl around the end of a paint brush.  Let dry.

Stamp sentiment (One Penny for Your Thoughts) onto a fussy cut printed label from the Steampunk Botanica pad with black archival ink.

The Clockworks Penny Farthing was inked with Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress stains.  The two gears were inked first with Vintage Photo distress stain, then Tarnished Brass and Antique Bronze distress stains.

I could not resist adding a spinner to the center of the Penny Farthing (below). I love the two-toned effect on the chipboard from the two distress stain colors.

In this photo, you can see the gold gear that I slipped behind the torn away paper, and on top, I added the second gear with another tiny spinner.

Before adhering the stamped label with foam dots, I heated a section of film strip to "wrinkle" it.

My next card could be either feminine or masculine, just by changing the bicycle to a boy's bike.

Life is a Beautiful Ride Card

Cover front of 5"x7" kraft card with The Robin's Nest Saffron Honey paper.  Distress the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

Use the reverse side of the Saffron Honey paper to punch a decorative strip and adhere along left edge of card.

Use a Versamark pen to color the bike, and heat emboss with Glacier embossing powder.  The tires were heat embossed with Midnight Black embossing powder, while the pedal, handlebar, and seat were heat embossed with Black Puffs embossing powder.

A tiny pieceof olive green paper was glued behind the basket section, while two larger metal gears were glued to the wheels.  A tiny watch part was glued above the pedal.

I cut apart one of the chipboard pieces from the Mixed Media Fragments 2 set and colored the arrow with Vintage Photo distress stain, then dabbed the Peeled Paint Distress Paint randomly over the top.

The other section I cut away from the Mixed Media Fragments 2 set were colored with the Peeled Paint Distress Paint and adhered to the card, as shown.

I cut apart a piece of the chain border and colored with Antique Bronze distress stain. Then I dabbed the chain randomly with a Versamark pen, and heat embossed with the Glacier embossing powder to give it a patina.

I used Big Chat Stickers and Label Letters to form the sentiment "life is a beautiful ride".

Supplies:

Gina's Designs:

Clockwork Penny Farthing

Steampunk Shape Set

Chain Borders

Mixed Media Fragments 2

Bicycles

The Robin's Nest:  Saffron Honey

Rubber Stamp: One Penny 4 (PaperArtsy)

Kraft 5"x7" pre-folded card stock

Versamark Ink Pen

Black archival ink

Embossing Powders: Glacier (Zing), Black Puffs (Ranger), Midnight Black (Mark Enterprises)

Distress Stains: Vintage Photo, Black Soot, Antique Bronze, Tarnished Brass

Distress Paint: Peeled Paint

Paper:  Steampunk Botanica, Regent Street (Recollections)

Decorative punch (Martha Stewart)

Tim Holtz Ideaology: Film Strip, Spinners, Brads, Label Letters, Big Chat Stickers

Watch parts, metal gears (my stash)

Prismacolor Metallic Silver pen

I hope you enjoyed my cards today and are inspired to make some with chipboard shapes in mind.

Please check out the links to The Robin's Nest Store and Blog.  Don't forget to visit Gina's Store, Blog, and Facebook Group so you will always be privy to all the wonderful happenings  

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful, creative week!!!

Barbara
  

The Sky is the Limit Art Journal Page

Hello everyone  Barbara here.  Today I thought I would do a bit of art journaling.  I love using my Gina's chipboard, and since we are cross promoting with The Robin's Nest this month, I knew these two products would work beautifully together.  

To begin, I pulled out my Cottonwood Arts Canvas Notebook.  I love this book because it has canvas covered chipboard pages, making it so sturdy for adding heavier embellishments to the pages.  

Cut The Robin's Nest Fleur/Stripe Tropicana paper in half, adhere Stripe piece to the left and the  Fleur piece to the right, using matte medium.

Spritz paper with water and randomly remove only the top layer of this two-sided paper, leaving the stripe or the fleur side showing.  This looks really cool, but not sure if the camera is picking up this cool textured effect.

Add torn strips of joint tape to the center and sides of both pages to disguise the paper edges that did not cover the entire pages.

Paint both pages with a coat of the Vintage Mustard chalk paint, wipe away with a baby wipe or damp paper towel.  Dry thoroughly.

 Mix Ultra-Matte Varnish with Burnt Sienna Fluid Acrylic to make a glaze and spread over pages with a Spatula.  This will enhance all of the textures from the papers and joint tape.

To tone down the orange color, I spread the Medium Grey Antiquing Creme over both pages with a baby wipe (or damp paper towel).  I don't know if the camera can really pick this up, but I think it looks like marble, or maybe granite.  What do you think?

Paint a thin line of the Cerulean Blue Fluid Acrylic along the top edge, hold book vertically and spritz with lots of water to make the fluid acrylic run and leave these beautiful striations. 

Place open balloon frame onto polka dot side of The Robin's Nest Smoky Chevron paper and trace around it with a pencil; cut out.  .

 Paint a wash of the Patina Green Antiquing Creme with water over the paper, let dry.

 Paint open balloon frame with a wash of Quinachridone Violet mixed with water.

 Adhere paper balloon cutout to page.

Glue black birdcage veil trim to the back of the balloon, let dry.  

 Trim excess veil from around chipboard and adhere over print paper.

 Cut the checkerboard texture sheet into irregular shapes and paint with Carbon Black acrylic paint.  Apply a coat of Clear Crackle Glaze over the checkerboard squares.  (TIP: I used my finger to spread the crackle glaze).

Paint compass with Burnt Umber fluid acrylic.  When dry, add Golden Opal Twinkling H20 for extra shimmer.

Adhere to page and add highlights around the compass with Titanium White antiquing creme a a wet paint brush.  Use your finger to wipe off any excess creme as you work your way around the compass.

Stamp Morroccan Fence and Crackle background stamps with black archival ink all over background for added texture.

I found these puffy stickers in my stash, so I used them to write "The Sky is the Limit".  I used a bit of white glue to ensure they were adhered well.

Paint "Explore" word ribbon, key plate, and balloon basket with Burnt Umber fluid acrylic. 

Use your finger to apply English Red Oxide and Patina Green antiquing creme over key plate and the "Explore" banner, then Iridescent Gold fluid acrylic to give it a super metal look.  Dab tiny spots of Patina Green over that to bring back some patina.  Insert tiny brads through holes in key plate and adhere to balloon.

 Adhere basket to a scrap of the Diamonds paper and trim excess when dry.

Adhere the key plate to the balloon, add some jewelry chain between the balloon and basket and adhere to page.

Adhere the Explore word banner to the top of the balloon.

Cut two banners from the sheet and paint with Primary Magenta mixed with Titanium White fluid acrylics.  When dry, add tiny letter stickers to spell out "There are no limits".  Adhere to balloon.

I used Titanium White fluid acrylic applied to a bottle cap to make circles on both pages.  Imperfection is key, here.  I seems to look better if the circles are not perfect.  I also added some white splatters about the page.

I added shading to the puffy sticker letters with the liquid pencil to help them pop off the page.  Because it is rewettable, I was able to use a baby wipe to remove any areas where I felt there was too much shadow.

The very last thing was to add some bling, so I used The Robin's Nest Blue Skies Archival Seeds, which just happened to be the right color, around the page.  I think they really added just the right touch.

Supplies:

Gina's Designs:  

Mini Display Tray - Hot Air Balloon; Texture Sheet Checkerboard; Compass; Texture Sheets Fiesta; Keys and Plates; Word Ribbons 3;

Robin's Nest:

 Tropicana Fleur cardstock; Saffron Diamonds cardstock; Blue Skies Archival Seeds

Cottonwood Arts A2 Canvas Notebook (6.75 x 12) Journal

DecoArt Media™: Matte Medium; Ultra-Matte Varnish, Clear Crackle Glaze;   Antiquing Creme: Medium Grey, Titanium White; Fluid Acrylics:  Carbon Black, Burnt Sienna, Quinachridone Violet, Burnt Umber, Primary Magenta, Titanium White, Interference Gold

ColourArte: Twinkling H20s Golden Opal

Drywall Joint Tape (self-adhesive)

Vintage Mustard chalk paint (FolkArt)

Moroccan Fence stamp (LaBlanche)

Crackle clear stamp (Kaisercraft)

Black Archival Ink (Ranger)

Kraft Mini Black Alphabet sticker (Jillibean)

Tiny screw top brads (Tim Holtz)

Jewelry chain (Hobby Lobby Metal Gallery)

Plastic bottle cap

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Derivan Liquid Pencil (Rewettable)

As always, I hope you enjoyed my step-out tutorial, and that I have inspired you a bit to do some art journaling, especially now that you see how beautifully The Robin's Nest papers work with Gina's spectacular, yes, I said it, spectacular, laser cut chipboard.  It just doesn't get any better than that!

Please check out the links to The Robin's Nest Store and Blog and of course check out all the things happening over at Gina's Store, Blog and Facebook Group.

So, thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative weekend!  Oh, and feel free to visit me at my blog, Black Hole Art Studio. There is always something going on there, too.  

Barbara