June -- The Sampler + Tutorial

I've been still busy running around with all sorts of end of year activities and trying to figure out what I'll do for Riley's birthday party. If I would have realized it were June yesterday, I probably would have posted this adorable framed piece I made for The Sampler this month. I guess I haven't officially said but I am on the design team now. Here is the first project I had made.

If I would have known how it could have turned out, I probably would have taken more photos during the painting process. But here's a run down with what I had done.

Michael stretches canvas for me and this frame was one that was turned the wrong way for a profile piece. But I kept it anyhow. It was just plain, unfinished wood and I coated it with Golden  Titan Buff acrylic paint. It's an off-white color.  I had Delta's crackle medium but I never can get a crackle. Maybe it's because I'm impatient. But I continued to try to get a crackle. I used my heat gun to dry between layers. Yes even partially through the crackle medium. Probably why it will never crackle. I recently read that you can use Elmer's to get your paint to crackle too.

I added another layer of Titan Buff then another layer of crackle medium. I sometimes would leave the heat directed onto one spot and the paint would bubble. Once dried, I took a paper towel and used my nails on the other side to scrape some of the paint off. Where the bubbles were created a nice uneven texture in the wood. The parts I scraped off would create grooves. Next, I grabbed Golden's Interference Blue which is a white pearl like paint with blue metallic mica. I painted that on and the crackle medium again. The final layer was Golden's Turquois (Phthalo) which was a perfect match for the Webster's Paper that comes in the kit. I heated all that and again let the bubbles happen. I scraped a few more spots of paint off and it looked like a real antiqued piece just in a happy color.

There doesn't look like there was much done to the Webster's Pages  Seaside Retreat diecut paper; however, I did coat it with Pearl Glimmer Mist. Up in the top, left corner is a lighter circular pattern that resembles a compass. I placed the largest Tim Holtz Time Works mask in the kit within the compass. Then I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist Seafoam. The paper looks a bit yellow in the image above, but it's actually a nice blue match for Seafoam. You can see where I sprayed it above in the photo that goes around Riley's face.

I loved the paper so much that I didn't want to cover it up so I printed the photo on a transparency, which also gave it a look like there is glass in the frame. I grabbed a hibiscus flower I had purchased at dollar tree and added vintage glass glitter to the edges. Then added the Prima roses to the frame. I had some pearl beads in my stash so I used those around the flowers.

This really needed some seashells, so I cut the remainder of shells from the diecut paper then I bent and curved the edges to give it a real shell look. And the trim was left over from last month's Sampler kit. Now you may not have a Tahitian costume or the ocean near you but you sure can get the beach look by printing your photo onto a transparency and using up the natural goodness of the paper.

Even with the flu. . .

I scrap. I have these crazy moments when I buy papers that aren't quite me. I'm not into vintage but I couldn't help buying two sheets of Webster Pages. I guess they appeal because they are different. So I thought about what papers could go with one of them. . . none in my collection. I'm not good at mixing and matching paper lines. I've been meaning to try something out for a long time but never got around to it. I created a custom mask on my Pazzles and it worked beautifully. Placing it on the paper took a few minutes because it was a cut that wanted to tangle. Spritzed it with two colors of Glimmer Mist to give it a bit of interest. I commited myself to using my stash so I grabbed an old Fancy Pants Crush paper for background paper. Punched the stitch holes with the Pazzles and it didn't put it in the place I wanted so I just tore around the stitches. Used Prima flowers and felt. Went into my sticker drawer and out came an old Quick Quotes vellum piece. Felt like it was lacking interest, so I stamped a Glitz Girls distress stamp. As always, the layout didn't turn out as I had planned but I like it.