Visible Image Wednesday.

Hi Crafty folks.

Today is Wednesday so of course this means I have a card made using Visible Image goodies , I have been busy with the Autumny/fall feel time of the seasons therefore I used colours appropriate to this time of year before getting all pink for raising awareness and funds for Breast Cancer research which is so important to all of us in many different ways. So today I used the wonderful Winter tree which I had been coveting for so very long and finally Helen treated me to it after the Aly Paly show which was amazing along with some other wonderful goodies including this fabulous sentiment entitled simply " What really matters ". 
and Colours of the wind.

So Here is today's card.

I was really pleased with how this one came out as I simply love these colours so warm and vibrant.
If you would like to learn how I put this one together then please keep watching and read on.

I started by  inking my Winter tree stamp with Versafine archival ink in Sepia and used just the branches to adding some low hanging broken branches across the top and upper sides of the card. I also stamped the whole tree to the bottom left in the same ink.

I used a template of a circle here to rub a little scattered straw Distress Ink off the circle to give a yellow glow.

I stamped out the sentiment also in versafine but black onyx this time.

 I used a light grey promarker to give a slight shadow to the tree and make it look like it is more 3D from the page.

Starting to use more of that same Scattered straw distress I rubbed a little around the edges of the age allowing a couple of spots where the ink streaks further onto the page.

 I used a range of warm tones to further enhance the edges and drag some colour into the picture too, I used next wild honey and then rusty hinge and Vintage photo still using just the same piece of cut and dry foam as we did at the show, those of you who took my little make and takes will know or if your an inker like me.

I also added some gold sakura stardust and metallic pens to highlight the tree, you can also paint with them if you used a wet brush so I added a light wash of warm goldy mica sparkle in paces too, which is very hard to pick u on camera of course.

 I further enhanced the tree , the non shadow side with the metallic pen which you can see the light bouncing off here.

 I also added some white gel pen on the very highlighted arts of the tree and a highlight to the sentiment and of course the edges of the branches too.

I added a light spritz of water in places to spread out the ink a little with a brush and give it that water painted feel and while it was still damp I brushed on some Blush Perfect pearls mica powder, these have their own binding agents so no need to set but if you new the card would be handled a lot once you had finished you could spray a fine mist of hairspray into the air and waft the card through it but don't spray it directly onto the card as it will leave either a wet patch or stain and the paper will have a transparent look to it spoiling all your hard work.
You can see in the picture above the mica shimmering on the card in random places and it took on the colours of the ink but also had a pinky coral tone to it too which really looked good with these ink tones.

 So from here I wanted to add some mat and layers and I used cream gold and a redy Burgundy pearl for the outer edge to bring out the tones in the perfect pearl.

 You can see the tone of the red card better in this one .

And here, you can start to see the ink layers and the mica  but also the shadow and the highlight on the tree.

Lastly I used the small little tree stamps from the Colours of the wind leave set which I love and used them to create the little mixed leave montage along the bottom of this card, I used Iced spruce, Vintage photo , fired brick and Rusty hinge and once they were all dry I went back in with some metallic pen washed over with a little water brush and some white highlights in places and grey shadow too. As before.

 Here is a close up of the ink layers and how the leaves stand forward proud like they do because of the shadows and highlights etc.

The finished card again and the mats etc. I truly hope you like this card as much as I do.

So here are the stamp sets used.

 What really Matters.

 Winter tree.

Colours of the wind.

I hope you enjoyed this one and maybe try it for yourself or something like it as this could easily be a picture for the wall , or other art , it doesn't have to be a card , it could be a tag or a wall plaque too.

let me know what you think or if there is something you would particularly like to see me break down for you in the comments below and I look forward to seeing you with something different tomorrow.

Huge crafty hugs to all.

Love

KIM 

XXXX

Visible Image October Challenge

Hi folks..

Over on The fabulous Visible Image blog today a new Challenge has started so that means we had a winner for The sentiment challenge in August who was Wendy McCarthy, congratulations Wendy , what a lovely  Tag you made and beautiful colours. Well done £20 worth of stamps too whatever will you choose, I want everything so I am guessing it will be a struggle to decide.

Now not only is it a new challenge starting as today is October 1st, which is The colours of Autumn but the postage is free for this month too for UK and Overseas, how cool is that.... wow! Helen and Mark are being amazingly generous as not only all of the above but there is some huge discounts on already brilliant prices on a number of sets too.. they include , Ink splats, Free your Imagination,Immortal love, The Tree Trio and Sleigh Silhouette. I think there will definitely be a queue while stocks of these brilliantly deep etched and fabby stamps last.

So my inspiration to go up on the blog today for The colours of Autumn is a small canvas that I created , I hope you like it.

It measures around 5x3 inches and I just love the colours and all the movement I have captured into it. I used several techniques which I will share with you below.

• First I took my canvas which was already primed so no need to gesso this time and I gave it a coat of deep red almost Burgundy acrylic and blasted with Mr Hotty the heat gun.
• I then covered it in crackle medium and left to dry out.
• I then used my Fresco acrylics , in Haystack and hey pesto and worked it over the canvas I used another orange too but can I remember the name... nope .. getting old me thinks or lack of sleep. I Also used a tiny bit of London bus which is a red. I blended them all well then took a honeycomb stencil and randomly added it in some of the corners with Hey pesto then moved the mask slightly as I saw on The Paperartsy You Tube a technique Leandra called her Bumping Technique where you move the mask slightly and use a lighter colour over the top and it creates a shadow below.
• Next, I used some tissue and stamped with Archival Ink in Black The grasses stamp. I pushed it to one side to dry thoroughly. I will blast it to heat set also.
• I took The Bronte border that I love and Added first Brown shed paint and stamped  again Randomly and then again same thing but with White paint. Don't forget the sides.
• I took some watered down PVA and coated the bottom of the canvas, I took my piece of tissue and heat set it with the grasses on it, Then I tore the edges any old how and added it to the PVA which was nice and tacky, do not worry bout little wrinkles they go flat as it dries. Cover it all in a coat of the same Pva to make sure it sealed and let this layer dry.
• while you do this take your skeleton leaves and cover them in an embossing ink, I used Versamark* but Perfect medium is also very good and then cover in clear embossing powder and heat til melted. I used three colours of Mica powder to drop onto the leaves with a soft brush, I then heat again and what happens is the powder sinks into the melted  embossing and so does no longer wipe off and all that shimmery Mica is encased. 
• I also took a piece of white card and stamped in Brown the new Create with your soul sentiment which I absolutely love love love. I used my Distrezz it all tool and distressed the edges really well and used vintage photo Distress ink all around and even a little walnut stain in areas to darken.I added some glue all way around and dipped in Creative Expression snow glitter. , I added foam to the back and set aside. 
• Next technique, I took a mask with what looks a bit like a foxglove flower with leaves and put it on the bottom of the now dry PVA tissue on the canvas and scraped through some Grunge paste, I also let it go up the left hand side and a small butterfly on the top of the left too.I dried it and dabbed random Nougat and haystack paint again with a sponge this time , then added more of the glitter and stuck the sentiment down too.
• I looked for some flowers to match the colours and added them to two corners of the sentiment with the skeleton leaves and some jute which I some how managed to make it look a bit like a butterfly , top right corner.
• finishing touches then were a few tiny little gold nail heads , I plaited some ribbon and took two brads made 2 small holes in the top and used a hammer to bang in the brads like nails to hold the ribbon a a hanger to hang up this little canvas. Lastly was lots of gilding wax in ruby and enchanted Gold and a brass one I had too, which I polished on all the corners to a high shine.

 Wow sorry guys are you still with me or dozed off, I did say I used a lot of techniques ha ha.. Its great to just let your imagination play out while you play.
More pics..

 you can see The Bronte border through the tissue paper and the Highlights on the grass I added in white too.

                           My Butterfly  (Kinda)                                  And a close up.

Look at the sparkly Mica in the leaves.

The stamp sets I used were.

 Grasses. Bronte border and Create with your soul.

Well I hope you will give some or all of this a go and try to create your own wall art canvas or a box or something you'd like to Alter and turn into something of beauty. I will see you all really soon but please leave me your comment and let me know what you think of this one and recreate your Autumn Item and enter the challenge to win all them lovely stamps and no postage too... double whammy.

Have a great Tuesday

Hugs 

 Kim 

xxxx

Autumn theme.

And even more of those handmade flowers in an Autumn theme.