Pawsitively Creative : July 2017

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Blues and Metal

Today is the day that I can share my second guest design for Xandeous Crafty Stash! I enjoy working with metal trinkets and tid-bits and Naomi (the owner of XCS) was kind enough to let me have a play. With so many wonderful challenges going on I wanted to create a design that fit all so I decided to keep it blue. For some reasons blues are more easy for me to work with. I have been working on trying to create more layers, texture and composition in my designs. Exploring the possibility is what I am enjoying right now. Here is the final result.

I started by applying black gesso to my background board (compliments of Autumn from Sew Paper Paint) and adding some stenciling with black modeling paste.

Then I had to decide on the composition of the pieces. Every metal piece you see is from Xandeous Crafty Stash! The paintbrushes are from my stash. Everything was glued down with multi matte medium.

Once you have everything glued and in its place, apply more black gesso and cover it all up.

To add even more texture I randomly slopped on some texture paste. That's the white gritty lookin stuff in the picture below.

A thin coat of DecoArt Prussian Blue Hue was brushed over the entire piece, then another thin layer. Once that was dry I kept using different DecoArt blues to create different layers of blue colors. Cobalt Teal Hue, Cobalt Turquoise Hue and Turquoise Water. Around the edge, where most of the texture paste is I added some Quinacridone Gold. And some Q-gold in other random spots.

Then came the dry brushing using different shades of white. The best white I use for dry brushing is DecoArt Titanium White.

I would like to share this design with these fun challenges:

Creative Artiste #28-Anything Goes

More Mixed Media-Anything Goes Optional twist of Pastel

Happy Little Stampers Mixed a Media Challenge-Texture

Mixed Media And Art Moodboard

*I was inspired by those lovely paintbrushes and the textured wall.

An Inky Mess-Anything Goes Mixed Media

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Galaxy Card with Distress Ink

Wowzers! Can you believe we are more than halfway through 2017!?! Say what! Pretty soon the summer will be over and that means back inside out of the cold. But enough about that glum price of news. I wanted to try to create a galaxy card using distress ink and because our new challenge over at Mix It Up is all about Distress Inks/Distress Tool, I had a go. Enjoy!

I started with some heavyweight white card stock and began blending distress ink colors. I went from the lightest color to the darkest and spritzed my card stock with water along the way.

Next time I'll try using watercolor paper instead. :) I heat dried my card and then added the darkest distress ink-black soot.

Then I smooshed black soot and mermaid lagoon onto my craft mat and spritzed with water. I added the ML randomly to the card to create an almost blue swirl. Then I did the same with the black soot. And heat dried it again. I then watered down some white heavy acrylic paint and splatter the entire card to create some "stars".

While my card was drying (under a heavy book) I got started on the stars. I used some Snow Cap alcohol ink on the rusty stars and poured some DecoArt glitter to those while wet. Once everything was dry I added some TH chitchat stickers and glued the stars down with a hot glue gun. Viola!

My first attempt at a galaxy card. Whew! The best part about this technique is there is no set pattern or colors to use. Just enjoy the process. Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I would like to share this design with these wonderful challenges:

Scrapki-Wyzwaniowo-Beauty

What is more beautiful than the galaxy we live in. :)

LTSCB #99-Anything Goes

Creative Embellishments-July Inspiration

I was inspired by the night sky fireworks and the stars.

LTCCB #12-Anything Goes

Crafting By Design-July Anything Goes

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Altered Tree Bark

Hello all! My have the hands been busy this summer! Between my crafting and my power tools, I don't know what keeps me more happy. I have decided to alter a piece of a tree trunk that was leftover from a recent cut down. The tree was dead and needed to be taken down because it was so close to the house. This piece is for my guest spot over at Xanderous Crafty Stash. She has everything from metal trinkets, bling bling, rhinestones, lace appliques and so much more!

I started with applying a white wash to the bark just to lighten it up a bit.

After the wash I used multiple stamps with black Archival ink and added some more interest to the bark.

While that was drying I started heat embossing all of the wonderful metal trinkets from Xanderous Crafty Stash. Each metal piece got at least two coats of embossing powder just so I could make sure none of the metal peeked through.

I layered the metal pieces to create a butterfly and some metal coral colored flowers. Then I added some moss and grass. The sign "This Way" is from Prima.