Easter Gifts : Embossed Metal Book Cover

I need some Easter gifts and really racked my brain to come up with something non-chocolate. 

Then I remembered that some time ago I bought a few 10 x 10 cm, 100 page, chipboard covered books. They are lovely little notebooks and I knew they would make just the right gift once decorated. 

I painted the inside and outside of the front cover with Dylusions black paint, using a Ranger Ink Blending Tool & Foam and left it to dry. I also ran the applicator around the edges to make sure everything was covered with black paint. I have to say the finished look is really good. 

I cut a piece of Silver Creative Craft Metal Sheet to 8.5 x 9.5 cm and taped it over a texture plate. 

And then ran it through my cuttlebug.

If you don’t have one, no worries, use a paper stub to rub the impression onto the metal. It takes a bit of elbow grease and time but it works. Once you have the design, place the metal on a hard surface and begin defining areas more.

Working from front to back repetitively, push out from the back on a soft surface and neatening from the front, on a hard surface, until you are satisfied with the detail and the height of the raised areas.

This step is not necessary if you’ve used a cuttlebug or similar machine to emboss your pattern.

Because the design is what is known as low relief, there is no need to fill the back with beeswax. I removed the tape and then added colour with alcohol markers. Making sure I worked it in.

I rounded the bottom corners with a corner rounder and used a clear sealant to seal the pieces. When dry, I glued them to the front covers of the notebooks.

I applied more colour and sanded the raised areas with a sanding grip (use a soft cloth to wipe away any dust) and sprayed with sealant.

Magic happened and I now love it! The perfect Easter gift! 

Supplies:

10 x 10 hardboard covered notebook/s
Silver Creative Craft Metal Sheet
Dylusions Black Marble
Ranger Ink Blending Tool & Foam
Texture Plate
Cuttlebug or paper stub
Alcohol pens or Alcohol Ink
Glue
Spray Varnish

Life is a Bunch of Roses

Hi. Angie here again.  I’m still on my watercolour roll but using a different product this time.

I’ve had my pack of eight Brusho Colours in my stash for a long, long time, but never got round to using them before, so today I’m experimenting in my  small square journal.

I stamped my Stampotique 9046 Cabbage Rose image onto watercolour paper using Jet Black archival ink and used a  Pentel Aquash Water Brush Pen to colour the image using Bushos. I added a little shading here and there by picking up a little darker colour .

If you end up with too much paint use the corner of a tissue or paper towel to draw up a little water.

I used a white gel pen to colour in the dots and strips on the image to add a little extra detail.

Then I applied Ranger micro glaze over the image being careful not to go outside the lines. I had a little help from a que tip. 

I wet the entire surface of the page then sprinkled with the Brushos. I used a wet watercolour brush to smoosh the pigment around a bit but not too much that it spoils the star bursts and where necessary filled in as closely to the image as I could.

Stamped the border using black archival ink.  This stamp is not completely straight so used a black Posca pen to fill in where necessary and added some extra doodling.

To finish off stamped the sentiment “Life is a bunch of roses”.  You will see that the stamping is a little crooked, but then it adds to the charm of the page. I used by black Posca pen to go over the letters which accentuated them. I also went over her eyes with two little dots.  Then I outlined the stems and roses and her shoes.

There are so many different techniques you can use with Brushos. They are really vibrant and you need such a little, but most importantly there are so many different techniques for Brushos that they will be out and about again before to long.

Supply List:

Brushos Assorted pack of eight colours

Small [watercolour paper] experimental journal

Stampotique 9046 Cabbage Rose

Dylusions Clearly Alpha stamp

Dylusions Clearly Borders

Dylusions Word Love DYR34629 stamps

Set of small alpha stamps

Black Archival ink

Ranger micro glaze

Large No. 10 watercolour brush

Pentel Aquash Water Brush Pen - Medium Point

Black and White Posca pens

White gel pen.

Hi. Angie here again.  A happy March to everyone!  (I should have said that in the first post, but I forgot.)

I’m still on my watercolour roll, but thought I would share this page from my A4 Art Journal I have done some time ago.

I glued bits of music and dictionary paper onto my cardstock [avoiding the centre as its where my focal image will be] and used Derwent art bars to create the background. Next, I brayered over with a small amount of Gesso. I used Wild Plum Adirondack Colour Wash mixed with a little water and Ranger Mustard Seed Distress Spray Ink in a pipette to create the drips.

I drew my circles for the dream catcher and used a black Posca pen to outline and doodle and other Posca colours to complete.

Printed my sentiment onto tissue paper, cut it out and stuck it onto the page. Stamped and coloured the butterfly then stuck it down.

I cut the feathers from some watercolour paper scraps. Drew the dangles and coloured them in. Then stuck the feathers down.

Hi everyone,

Angie here!

I am now officially the blog lady and I am sooooooo excited!  I really have a passion for art and troll various blogs on a daily basis admiring the various art works. There are so many fabulous artists out there and every day I am inspired. 

Watercolour painting is becoming very popular in all forms, from really realistic to a more free flowing stylized art form which I must say is more my kind of thing. 

I’ve just finished a watercolour workshop with the fabulous watercolour artist, Caryl Park [Find her on Facebook at Passion for Arts and Crafts] and feeling so excited about water colouring.   

Watercolour poppies with a little help from my friend the stencil, is the inspiration for today’s easy project.

Materials and tools 

If you are new to watercolours, I don’t believe you need expensive supplies to start having fun and making art! And, it really depends on the project. If I was creating, say a page to frame for somebody, I would probably use good watercolour paper and good paints and brushes but today I am having fun in my practice landscape art journal so I’m using pretty cheap supplies from Stencil Art.

• Paper: I used heavy weight cartridge paper
• Brushes:   Stencil Art stocks a good variety of watercolour brushes from cheap to the really good ones which are quite expensive. I like using those with a nice round tip for poppies. For this particular project I used a number 8 brush for the petals and a number 1 brush for the stems and leaves.
• Watercolour paint: you don’t have to buy the most expensive kinds to start painting . I used a basic watercolour set. I squeezed mine out into a palette but you can use a white plastic plate for mixing your colours. I used Gamboge Yellow, Yellow Ochre, a touch of Scarlet Lake and Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Rose Madder and a mixture of Apple green and Sap Green for the stems and leaves.
• Uni Posca Paint Marker PC-1M Ultra-Fine – Black and White
• Ranger Distress Ink - Peeled Paint around the edges of the paper seems to always finish it off.
• Two empty yoghurt containers of water for wetting and rinsing brushes.
• Stencil-Art Poppies stencil

Instructions:

Using a HB pencil and the Poppies stencil, I traced the outline onto heavy weight cartridge paper and used an eraser to lighten the lines so that they were just visible. For this image I went over with a pen so that you can see the lines.

I used a mini mister to spray my watercolour palette and then prepped my paint. Using the pencil outline as a guide I picked up two different shades of colour and using not more than two brushstrokes per petal [for the side on poppies] filled in the colour.

Oranges and yellows look nice with pinks and reds so I’ve used warm colours next to each other on the colour wheel and played around with some simple brushstrokes, just trying to stay loose and free and not thinking about it too much.  

For the side on poppies, I started at the outside of the petals and used a lot of pressure so that the bristles splay out, then dragged a little, and lifted the bush up.

I repeated this for all petals varying the colour by picking up more of one colour than the other.

While the petals were still wet, I picked up some sap green on a small brush and painted in the calyx. If the petals are wet enough the green will be drawn slightly into the petal giving the calyx a softer more natural look.

For the full on poppies I used a similar technique but used more brush strokes and did not lift the brush up to the same angle.

I used a combination of greens and a number 1  brush for the stems. The leaves are not difficult to do but I would practice first, same technique as the petals but much smaller strokes. I used a number 1 brush.

I applied my favourite Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint around the edges to give the page a finished look.

Last but not least I used my black and white Posca Paint Markers to fill in the poppy seeds and do a bit of doodling around the edges of the poppies, stems and leaf stems. 

I really enjoyed doing this page and I hope you do to. Give it a try!