Shabby Garden Barn Doors and Peeled Paint

Hello there dearies! I am back after a month long break and ready to share with you all my newest design. I have been decorating my home and am wanting to put barn doors up in my kitchen and in my bedroom for a rustic vibe. It is on my to-do list but I needed to get the idea out of my head and with the new challenge over at Anything But Cute, I knew this was a win win situation. I give you my version of a Shabby Garden.

The doors are on hinges and open to reveal the secret garden elements inside. 

Lisa the Fantabulous, of Mermaid Crafts, is our hostess for this month at Anything But Cute #16, and the theme is inspired by her mood board of this Shabby Garden. 

Here is what she would like to see: For this challenge, we are asking you to take a stroll through a romantic shabby garden. Create any mixed media project strongly inspired by the mood board. Think flowers and plants in cracked pots, peeling paint bird feeders, distressed timeworn furniture, crumbling statues, soft pastels and feminine accessories. Don't forget to tell us how the mood board inspired your project and have fun!

This is an 8x10 reverse canvas. I used cardboard from a box to cover the front. I cut out the middle with an exacto knife. Then I added a Layer of white gesso and when dry peeled back some of the cardboard. Next came a layer of DecoArt white chalky paint. The inside lip of the canvas was painted with the chalky paint as well. 

While the chalky paint was drying (it really doesn't take long though) I started constructing my barn doors. I used the backing from a calander. The doors got the gesso and white chalky paint base. 

While many people use wax to create the peeled paint technique, I found it didn't give me the look I wanted (I really did try it). I randomly painted chalky paint (Relic and Turquoise) over the white base. Then tried the wax layer. Blah! 

So I re-did it with CHAPSTICK! Yeppers, I seem to have an abundance of Chapstick laying around and liked the smell (hehe!) so I swiped it over the areas I wanted to "crack and peel"! It worked like a charm and you can see the "cracks" it created after I painted over the Chapstick with the white chalky paint. 

After the top layer of paint is dry, take a sanding block and GENTLY sand over the areas you want to distress. This will reveal the colors below and creates a wonderful peeled paint shabby look! TIP-I also used this technique of the Chapstick on my shabby wall shelf in my bedroom! Works great! I also stamped a rose design using the shadow stamp technique. You can see these on the gram and the front and back of the doors. 

Anyway, I used a plain piece of scrapbook paper to make my background. I heat embossed a stencil design and a word stamp from the Artistic Stamper, then I scraped off some of the embossing powder before I used my hearing tool. I used white and grey EP. Then I grabbed a pipette and dribbled my shades of blue from the DecoArt media line and spritzed with water to create a watercolor effect. 

After the background was dry I added some stamped feathers, small flowers and sprigs. I used ink around the edges of the small white flowers to give some added blue color. 

And there you have it! My take on a Shabby Garden. This was a challenge and out of my comfort zone but it was a totally BLAST to design! Hugz and Carpe Diem!

Closed Doors

Sneak Peak! :)

Open Doors!

I would love to share this Shabby design with these challenges:

Stamps and Stencils-Time to Take Flight

Emerald Creek Dares-Best Moments of Summer

Some of my best moment this summer are planting new flower beds and learning how to make a butterfly friendly "bird bath" (you add flat marble stones to it so the butterflies can stay above the water)

Southern Ridge Trading Co-Anything Goes

The Artistic Stamper-Anything Goes

A Vintage Journey-Stencil It
I used the TH flourish stencil on the frame and the background inside the canvas

Mixed Media Place-Be Inspire by the mood board. 

I used the blues and the overall shabby feel of the board and was inspired by the over hanging tree path. 

Earth Day at Anything But Cute

April showers bring May flowers right? And also Earth Day! What do you think of when you hear the words Earth Day? Mother Nature? New growth? Earthquakes? I think of it all, but mostly what natural found items I can try to make art with. Tree branches, moss, flowers, bark and such are among the list that helped me design this reverse canvas.

Our new challenge at Anything But Cute is: Earth Day (celebrated on April 22nd). Hosted by the amazingly talented Samra of Paper Talk with Samra. Here's what she would like to see: Create a mixed media project inspired by this mood board (picture below) and the beauty of our planet. Please tell us what inspired you. Entries for this challenge can be eco friendly, or even recycled/upcycled items, or a depiction of the sea, mountain, river, forest, flowery meadow.....let's celebrate our planet! 

This is my first attempt at a reverse canvas. I placed some elements I knew I wanted to use and took a picture. Not very Earthy yet, but layers and paints and creativity will turn this into a Spring Earth Day design. :)

Now it's time to play with some paper. I trimmed out a rough shape and then cut out the middle section to leave room for my nest. I edged all sides with Ground Espresso Distress Ink and used a Rubber Dance script stamp to add some stamping. Then added some small little butterflies as well. I then used some texture paste that I tinted with Primary Elements to make it blue, I pulled the blue colors from the mood board. 

I used a bit of washi tape on the inner edges to help ground the front of the canvas and get rid of the space between the canvas and wood frame. Then added some moss, some grass (element from the mood board),some flower sprigs, and pieces of a stick. I also painted a chipboard butterfly blue (another element I pulled from the mood board).

The small eggs were made from polymer clay and then painted a light blue. The "spots" on the eggs were made with a brown Archival ink pen. 

I glued everything down with a hot glue gun just because I wanted to see the end result fast and couldn't wait for other glues to dry. Lol! 

The large chipboard in the left corner and on the bottom are painted the same way. I laid down a base of white gesso, applied DecoArt crackle glaze-dried naturally, then added the script stamp.  When the glaze was dry I swiped some Raw Umber antiquing cream over everything, heat dried it and wiped it back. Then I applied the blue paint randomly with my finger. And it is done! Show us what Earth Day means to you and remember to check out what my talented teamies have made! Hugz and Carpe Diem!

I would like to share this reverse canvas with these challenges:

Southern Ridge Trading Co-Anything Spring

A Vintage Journey #40-Spring is in the Air

Craft Stamper Take It/Make It April-Spring Flowers

I used lilac flowers

The Artistic Stamper-All Things Distress 

Creative Artiste #13-Anything Goes with Option to use Chipboard, Stencils or Flowers

I used chippies, a stencil and flowers

Rubber Dance Stamps April-Stamp into Spring

Creative Embellishments-April Mood Board

I was inspired by the blues, the black filigree, and the butterfly in the board. 

Vibrant Colour in a Mixed Media Tag!

Hello and Happy March! Its time for another challenge at the wonderful Anything But Cute! Our very vibrant and fantabulous hostess this month is Branka, from Vintage Handmade. Branka makes some amazingly vibrant and colorful designs so her challenge theme was meant to be. Can you guess what the theme is based on my tag? So bright and colourful!

Crazy for Colour is our theme for March and this is what Branka is looking for: "Spring is coming-a time of the year that brings amazingly beautiful colours! To celebrate it, we would like you to create a mixed media project using VIBRANT COLOURS. It can be a tag, a card, an art journal page or anything else. Just be sure it's vibrant!' Love the badge for the challenge!

Now to be honest, bright colors are a challenge for me so I headed into this design with determination and channeled Branka! Hehe! I made an extra large tag out of some heavy duty white paper/matboard. Then I dabbed some Alcohol in Pool and Wild Plum onto my craft mat and also splooped down some Colour Arte Silks in Vintage Mint and swiped AI paper through it. Pretty and vibrant!

While I was still deciding on the chippies to use I stamped out 4 butterfly stamps and "painted" those with the 3 colors I used on my background. I colored inside and outside the lines-dern art teacher said I could never paint, haha, look at me now!

Fussy cutting is not for the weak handed, nope! And some good scissors are a must! It seemed to take dayssss to cut out my butterflies but I got er done! I wanted to make 2 butterflies that were layered 3 deep and seemed to be 3D! It took some doing but I finally figured out how I wanted both to look and I think it turned out pretty dern good. Hard to get a picture of though. 

The picture above is the butterfly in the lower left corner of the tag and the picture below is the butterfly in the upper portion of the tag. In real life this is full of depth and dimension!

I used a rather large stamp and some bright blue embossing powder to add the design in the lower left corner. 

My chipboard corners were painted with Colour Arte Radiant Gel-Guatemalan Green and glued to the tag with TomBow Multi. I did add some Spanish moss under the chippie. And the butterfly antenna were made out of black wire. 

The sentiment "Off the Beaten Path" was stamped onto vellum and heat embossed with green embossing powder. I chose those words because bright colors are not my norm and took me down a new path. :) And there you have it-A Bright and Vibrant Tag! Can't wait to see what you create! Remember to stop by my teamies blogs and leave em some love! Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I would like to share this large tag with these challenges

Try It On Tuesday-Feminine and Fancy

Our Creative Corner-Return of the Challenge
I chose September 2013-Forgotten Things-My bright blue embossing powder has never been used, the corner chippies have been hoarded for some time now, and the black wire for the antenna is about 1.5 years old and this is the first time I have ever made antenna for any butterfly.

Crafting with an Attitude #13-Anything Goes

Time Out Challenge #51-Easter/Spring
I chose Spring! Butterflies and bright colors remind me of Spring! And Happy 2nd Birthday to you!

Morgan's Art World #5-Include a Sentiment

Creative Artiste Challenge #12-Anything Goes

We Love 2 Create-Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes

Shroom Mixed Media

Ahhh yes! The creative hat has been worn and probably worn out for a bit. My muse is workin but I think I am confusing her. There are so many wonderful techniques and ideas to try and that's what I am doin. In all honesty, I am following some advice and trying to figure out my style. Some people are Shabby Chic, others are Vintage, and still others are 3D Queens, or Abstract. I'm on the journey to discover what I am. Make sense? Lol. Here is a LO I tried. Granted, this is only the 3rd LO I have ever done so we know there's room for improvement. :) Enjoy!

The picture was the inspiration for the colors and the feel of the design. I used a 12x12 cardstock paper that had a not so pretty design on the other side. I really wanted just plain white and luckily it was only patterned on one side. 

I laid out my idea, took a picture to remember where things might go, and then went to town with sprays, H2O's, mica powders, stamps and texture paste through a stencil. 

This paper warped so BAD! I was kinda freakin out a bit but then got the bright idea to iron it back flat. It kinda worked so I kept going. The picture below is after ironing.

I ended up ironing the paper twice. Yes there are small creases but that's okay because I have a secret that will fix it! 

Now, while the paper was drying after the ironing I got to work on painting the chippies. I used black acrylic paint for the base and then poofed on some Primary Element Powder-Green Apple (the same green is on the paper as well), spritzed it with water and done! The mushrooms were painted with Inka Gold-Turquoise and also just the Green Apple. I forgot to take pictures of that step. 

I added all of my elements and decided to ditch some and add others (hence the fairy and corner piece are gone). I popped the picture up on some foam dots, the paper layer behind the picture was created with DI Twisted Citron and Mermaid Lagoon and then splattered with water. The small blue design tucked into the rips of the page is made from polymer clay that I stamped into and sprayed with LSG sprays.

To finish off the design I splattered some DecoArt Misters in Cyan Blue and Turquoise and Titanium White. I then added a bit more stamping and ghost stamping (another first for me) and some cheesecloth. 

Now for my SECRET-to get my paper to lay flat again I laid it face down (before adding the chippies, picture, and flowers) and spritzed the backside with water. I gently swiped my hand around the entire page and then set HEAVY books over it. I waited 2 hours for the page to dry and lifted the books off, it worked! My page was flat again! Wowzers! Now I know. Hehe! 

I am going to pass this layout around to these wonderful challenges:

Creative Embellishments March Challenge

I have used The CE "Believe" chippie and the branch chippie (I cut it in half). I was inspired by the greens and the mushrooms in the pic.

ColourArte Challenge-Green Valley

The Artistic Stamper-Springtime

Emerald Creek Dares-Take it to the Irish, Bring On the Green

Live and Love Crafts #45-Signs of Spring

Shabby Something?

Hello y'all! Keeping with my goal to try many different styles and colors, I have decided to delve into a more feminine canvas today. Now, anyone that knows my blog understands I tend toward the darker color palettes but this design is none of that! Eek! I received some new LSG sprays for Christmas (from Alleystamp.com) and am using these today. Talk about a new path, and a new beginning.

I started with a 5x7 canvas and some gesso. Then added some script stamping randomly. I totally forgot to take pictures while I was working on the background. Oops. I then added the HS stencil and some texture paste. Once that was dry, I grabbed my LSG spray and sprayed it through the HS stencil to get a soft pattern. 

I painted the gate with white acrylic paint and the ornate frame was painted with Inka Gold-Turquoise. I used the LSG sprays to spray the small flowers. The leaves are made from a mold and Clay and painted with Luminarte Lucky Apple Primary Elements. The cheesecloth is added for texture. A MS branch punch was also used to create more texture. 

The butterfly was heat embossed and then "painted" in some spots with my new Liquid Pearls-Pewter. The sentiment was stamped onto vellum and little dots of the LP was added to the banner. The square green gems are new as well. I then splattered the entire canvas with all the colors I used and stamped another script stamp with Adirondack Mushroom ink. 

I know I forgot some steps but I was in the zone and just kept trying different things. :) Carpe Diem right? Hugz! ~Niki

I would love to share this design with these challenges: 

More Mixed Media-Blue

Stamps and Stencils-Oh So Blue

Mixed Media Place #16-New Beginnings

Stamplorations Stencil Sunday #27-Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers-January Mixed Media Challenge

September Tim Tag of 2015

Well it has been a doozy of a week so far. I have been laid up with a back injury since Friday. Apparently pain meds and muscle relaxers make me silly for art. I had so many ideas in my head but not much made sense so I did my tag.

The weather is dreary here so my pic doesn't capture the vibrancy of this tag. The only reason I was able to do the tag this month is because of my love for alcohol inks and a very sweet dearie from the Tim Holtz addicts FB page. Without her, I would not have had the AI paper. 

I did all the techniques Tim did but not exactly the same. You can see his Here. The picture below is of my trials before I decided on the perfect background one for my tag. Love doing this technique! Messy and fun! 

 The texture paste had to dry and I didn't want to activate the embossing powder I had added to it so I waited, and waited, and waited!

I used the package backing from a stamp set to make the "frosted film" butterfly overlays. The packaging doesn't take heat well. Lol! 

I also added some Glossy accents and sparkle embossing powder to the transparent texture paste because I only have matte. I am happy with the results even though it still is a bit muted. 

I would love to share this tag with these sweet challenges: 

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 1015

Rubber Dance Art Stamps-Anniversary Challenge!

I used the September colors of red, orange, and yellow. This is a celebration for their one year anniversary! 

The Mirror Crack'd-Tic Tac Toe/Art Shrine. 

I used the bottom row-Free Choice, Frilly and Funky, Texture. The colors used in this design are more girly/frilly than I usually go with. Hehe! Broaden those artistic horizons!

NBUS Challenge #5

My NBUS are the transparent texture paste, the bottom 2 butterfly stamps, and my Alcohol ink glossy paper, and the alcohol ink technique

Guest Designer over at Rubber Dance Art Stamps

Hot diggity dog! I was asked to guest design for Rubber Dance Art Stamps for September. The owner, and very talented lady, Bibi is such a sweetie! She, and her team design some awesome sauce stamps! There is such an array to choose from and shipping is fast! I had the honor of working with a few of these stamps and here is a sneak peak of what I came up with:

If you would like to see the entire design please head on over and check it out HERE! All of the stamps I used can be found at the Rubber Dance Art Stamps Store, along with a plethora of other stamps.

I hope you all are having a lovely week! Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

Art journaling and a bully?

Hello lovely artists! I do hope your week has been going amazingly well. This is my very first time with an art journal (it was on clearance and I thought hmmm-possibly?). I did this art journal because I recieved a rather tumultuous email from an anonymous cyber person. This is my response to the email:

The basic gist of the email was to call me out as lucky, but not an artist, mixed media or otherwise. The person sending the email wanted to know how I was on a specific design team when I don't have the talent to even compare to my teamies. Mean words, and something I pondered for over a week. My dear hubby told me he earased the email and said, "put your feelings into a new art piece". So I did. All I really want is something beautiful to say-the sentiment in this art journal is my way of saying:hey, I can create anything I want and feel good about my talent. I may not be the best and I am still new to mixed media, but, I sure do enjoy the process! I especially enjoy the wonderful people I have met through my art. So thank you to the person that sent that email to me. You got me down for a minute but you will never knock me out! 

Now for my process:

I started by spraying LSG sprays and then inking up the entire background with my Papillon stamp set. 

I then added some Sea Breeze DecoArt acrylic paint with an old credit card and stamped a flower image (Rubber Dance Art Stamp-thanks Bibi!) with the same acrylic paint. 

 I then added some washi tape in random sections and fussy cut my butterflies. I edged all the butterflies with a Copic marker and placed them as if they were growing. 

I then added the cluster of flowers. I dabbed some matte mod podge on the flowers then sprinkled some pink distress glitter over that for some sparkle. My buddy Bubbles-aka Pamellia of My Little Craft Things taught me that trick for the flowers. 

Here is a sort of close up of the two pages. (Picture above and pic below)

The chit chat stickers were edged withy black archival ink. 

Thank you for stopping by and reading a bit about what has happened. I don't usually share personal emails on here but this one struck a nerve and I am sure I am not the first person this has happened to. I am just so happy to know that blog land is such a wonderful place to share this. Ya'll are awesome sauce! Carpe Diem! Hugz!         ~Niki

I would love to share this design with the following lovely challenges: 

Frilly and Funkie-Things with Wings

Fussy and Fancy #144-Things with Wings

613 Avenue Create #134-Anything Goes with Optional twist of Shabby Chic

All Sorts Challenge #321-Use a Butterfly

Studio 75 #7-Butterfly

Let's Craft and Create #103-Butterflies or Birds