Gesso This, Gesso That

Early last summer I ran across a fun project on Heidi Swapp's website, a Father's Day wallet. Here's the link for you to check out. Briefly, a 12 x 12 paper is turned in to a mini photo album "wallet" by taping off sections then covering with gesso, then paints & stamping.I only snapped one photo of my process but Heidi has good directions on her site. I made two "wallets". For the top blue one, "wallet #1", I used the wonderful Fluid Arcrylic paint by Golden. Peeking from underneath is "wallet #2" colored with Ranger Butterschotch Color Wash and Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I got all excited about the project & forgot to take additional pictures! Tape is used to create a grid, then gesso is applied. Add paint, ink, stamping and photos for a delightful (in this case, Father's Day) photo wallet.

This Christmas I pulled out the gesso again for our Christmas cards.  The poinsetta on the front is made from grunge paper. Some music text is added then cut the poinsetta from the Tim Holtz die. The cut flower was embossed with the Tim Holtz embossing folder. Random sweeps of gesso across the flower give a nice surface for the Faber Castell Gelatos, which I use to color all 60 flowers. (Today is the first time I've picked up a Gelato since this early December project!)







The cut poinsetta with old book paper and a coat of gesso. Then embossed with the Tim Holtz Poinsetta embossing folder (far right). Three colors of Faber Castell Gelatos. First, using a sponge rub Butter Cream into the debossed areas of the flower. Gold Champagne is applied directly from the crayon then rubbed with my finger to soften. The last coat is Coconut, applied from the center outward to highlight the embossed areas.  The leaves (above) are also grunge paper cut from the same die, gessoed, then sprayed with Ranger's Color Wash in Color Lettuce. The edges of the leaves are hightlighted with a gold leaf pen - yum!

 

And last, but not least is some muslim, cut in triangles. Two are stitched to each other with batting sandwiched between.  Then, the fun!  Randomly add gesso; I like to use my finger. Important: don't cover the the whole piece. The spray will take differently to the areas with and without gesso. This gives instant interest when sprayed with Butterscotch and Lettuce Color Wash spray.

That's it for today! Go play with some gesso!

Debbie

 



It's been a while...

Yikes, some kind of flu bug bit me.  It started with days of sleeping and a sore throat. It's ending (hopefully) with a bit of a cough and more sleeping :-) Actually, all the sleeping may be from a crazy week.  I was able to chaperone my son's 6th grade class on a field trip to COSI (a fun, hands-on science museum in Columbus, OH), then Friday was the always inspiring monthly Art Journal Class, and Saturday turned into a nearly all day (you ladies that were there know what I mean!) Pan Pastel Workshop:Holiday class.  Lots and lots of fun, however, all that fun culminated in a 3 1/2 hour nap on Sunday!
Here's our Holiday project: (One more class on Saturday,Novemember 17 & since it is nearly full, possibly a Friday daytime class will be added. Contact Marco's Paper, 937-433-7030 for class information.)

Speaking of Pan Pastels, I will be offering the first workshop in this series in early December.  Pan Pastel: Inspiration is a fun way to start the journey into Pan Pastels. We look at adding texture and layering color, plus a few other fun techniques. This project would also be a wonderful Christmas gift! Contact Marco's Paper, 937-433-7030 for class information.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to have some fun ideas, tips and techniques coming soon!

Enjoy the Journey!
Debbie Cosenza

Sometimes I think I'm weird

...but I just love looking at this!

 

This is what happens when white card stock meets Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks. This is the background for one of the cards in my next Tim's Techniques class at Marco's Paper in the series.  We revisit  Distress Inks (by Tim Holtz). And Distress Embossing powder, Dry Stickles glitter, Perfect Pearls and a fun background technique. Distress Inks have been around for awhile and should be a staple in every one's crafting stash (IMHO!).  Here are the cards:



Enjoy beautiful colors!

Debbie

Under the weather...

...so to speak.  Not like the East coast, but just feeling poorly. Hope to be back up to speed soon with new class info.  Speaking of the ocean, I'll leave you with a former Grungy Monday challenge from L3 Studio.

 



This was a fun one! Three On The Edge Tim Holtz dies, one embossing folder, various colors of Paint Dabbers & Perfect Pearls, sand paper, Rock Candy Distress Stickles, and probably more things that I can't remember right now!

 

Debbie

Fall pumpkin...

...Stephanie style!  As I was browsing Stephanie Ackerman's blog a few days ago, I came across a fun pumpkin project. I made a few minor changes. Here is my version:

The changes include using a fake pumpkin from Michael's (because I want to use if for more than one season :-)) and using newspaper (because I had a pile of it).  I did stamp various patterns with Distress Inks, Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge, all over the paper.  And I did use PPA (Perfect Paper Adhesive) both to glue and to coat (once again, because it is what I had!). After the paper was glued to the pumpkin and then coated on top, a little Tarnished Brass Distress Stain was used to give a bit of shimmer.  It needed a little more depth, so I grab my Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain, dabbed a bit on my craft mat & rubbed it into the crevices (ok, a confession - I did start on the underneath of the pumpkin because I didn't know what was going to happen, but the coating of glue let the stain smear and blend.  Except...where there was no covering of glue the newspaper sucked in glops of red - not quite what I was hoping for!)

The leaves are die cut from Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die using newspaper, stained with Peeled Paint Distress Stain & sprayed with a little Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearl Mist.  A little green floral wire made a great vine.



Just another view, but mainly I included this photo because of Jonathan's (my son) drawing in the background!  Visit Stephanie's blog to view her creative take on pumpkins!

Happy Fall!
Debbie

Preview of the next Tim's Techniques

Here's a quicky preview of November's Tim's Techniques class (Tim Holtz that is!).  It's all about Distress Inks! Well, not all, because there are many other things to enjoy also, but the class will focus on Distress Inks.  If you are not familiar with them they are a dye ink that is formulated to work well with water and still maintain their color.  We'll also dabble with Distress Embossing powder, Perfect Pearls and a few other goodies.  Hope to have all the details on the Marco's website by the end of the week!

Let's get inky!

Debbie

Gettin' Grungy

Today's project is blast from the past.  In my previous blog life I participated in Grungy Monday by Studio L3.  Linda, who runs the blog, has created a wonderful community with whom it is delightful to explore the products of Tim Holtz. This card was in answer to a challenge involving Distress Inks.

This wonderfully easy technique enables you create a watercolor effect using Distress Inks, a stamp and a few sprays of water.  Begin by inking the stamp with various colors of Tim Holtz Distress Ink. I've used Tim's Stampers Anonymos stamp, Nature's Discovery #cms049, with Distress Inks Broken China, Spice Marmalade, Peeled Paint and Wild Honey. After the stamp is inked mist with water, just a couple of spritzes to activate the ink. Stamp the image onto the page.  For the background image, don't reink the stamp, just mist with water to reactivate the ink and stamp the image again. Voila, a lovely watercolor effect for your project!

Now, go stamp!!

Happy Weekend,
Debbie