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TBT: Decorating Easter Eggs!

Hello!  I thought since Easter is literally right around the corner, it’d be fun to share some crafty Easter eggs with you!  Today I’m sharing a project from a couple of years ago… but check out the link that goes even farther than that for a fun tie die technique that you can do on real eggs as well if you’re feeling ambitious!

Hope you enjoy this ThrowBack Thursday:

As I was reminded of a project I shared here back in 2017, decorating Easter Eggs with alcohol ink, I thought it would be fun to use my paper crafting/ art supplies in another way on eggs.  This time I decided to start with simple plastic eggs, available almost anywhere this time of year and to do some simple decoupage on them.  I started with a matte gel (mine was by Prima, but this one from Ranger, or any ‘matte medium’ will work just as well!) as my adhesive to adhere torn strips of book paper to my eggs.

I worked in two steps, first covering about half the eggs, then finishing it off once the first part was dry.  This gave me a dry spot to hang onto while I worked and kept me from getting quite as much stuck to my fingers 😉  The eggs dried fairly quickly, though I let them sit overnight before moving on to the next phase…

I decided to experiment with different coloring mediums, but primarily wanted to see how Distress Oxide sprays (you can save on the new set of 12 sprays here) & ink pads would work!

I started by spraying some of the original Distress Stain Spray onto a couple eggs, then quickly realized I would need to start with a coat of gesso to make it work best, so I wiped off my eggs with a cotton cloth and applied white gesso to all my eggs, misting with water to make it less opaque so I could still see the text.  This was also a great time to apply a bit of gesso thicker to a few spots where words I didn’t want on my eggs had snuck in… )note to self, maybe don’t use a murder mystery as your collage paper next time. lol).  I didn’t snap a photo of this stage so you’ll have to use your imagination!  I applied the Abandoned Coral to two eggs, then sprayed one with Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide Spray and the other with Picked Raspberry.  I rolled them around in a box to capture all the angles, heat them with a heat tool, misted some water to get it to oxidize… and eventually finished them off by blotting again with a cotton rag.  I love the soft chalkiness of the color and the fun mix I got where the original spray shows through!  As a bonus, my fingers were nice and inky (though I did wash my hands between colors to keep my colors more pure).

Next I decided to see how the Distress Oxide Ink pads would compare- so I used a foam blending tool and picked my colors.  For this, I just applied ink & blended, then misted with water, wiped dry and added another layer.  Both techniques worked fabulous!  This photo shows that the colors are just as intense, though the inking is more mottled and organic looking on the eggs that I sprayed.  Whatever you use, be sure to mist with water as this will help set the oxide ink and keep the color from spreading over the other eggs (and onto hands that pick them up to have a closer look!).

I had some collage tissue I wanted to try as well, so I did some simple decoupage of torn tissue onto my colored eggs.  I thought about adding more to these, but decided to leave them as is to let the design and color of the eggs show through!

The tissue technique was much faster since it only took one step, but the final look will depend what color your original plastic eggs are 🙂  here’s a peek at my little basket of eggs-

I hope this inspires you to pull out your supplies and have some mixed media fun for Easter!  The possibilities are endless…

Inky hugs,

Tara

 

TBT: Decorating Easter Eggs! Read More »

Tuesday with Tara {take 154}

I’ve got something different to share this week… a little pinterest inspired home decor piece I painted up using my Dina Wakley Media paints & finished off with some Tim Holtz foam stamps.  My cat, Abbey, was a bit annoyed when I tried to photograph it on the surface she had chosen to nap on…

I wanted to do my sentiment with the lower case type set, but I don’t own it (yet- not a problem you have if you buy it from the store today!) but I got my hands on this script one.  They were kinda neat- a foam stamp on a cling backing, which meant they were easy to use on an acrylic block.    I did kinda forget they were foam though, and pressed a little harder than I should have.  Lesson learned… I highlighted my text with some Nuvo Glitter drops to brighten it up and add a bit of dimension.

I also added a bit of the gold paste I’ve been addicted to lately…

It kinda feels like the beach a bit!  I chose to mix white & elephant paint together for the bottom panel to give a slight sandy feel… each panel is actually a combination of two or more shades to keep it from feeling too flat.  As you can see in this last shot, the panels are different heights which adds fun texture too.

Hope you like my quick little art piece!   I love these paints and pull them out constantly for a variety of projects 🙂

Have a fantastic week!  And don’t forget to save the date for Friday afternoon when we have our first Blog Hop with the new official Design Team!  Woohoo!

Inky (painty) hugs,

Tara

Tuesday with Tara {take 154} Read More »

Tuesday with Tara {take 114}

Happy Tuesday, and happy September!

Something about the new month and the hint of some cooler temperatures has me in a pumpkin state of mind… so this week I’m sharing something different, an 8×10 canvas I painted featuring a pumpkin!  I used some of my fabulous Dina Wakley paints as well as a fun collage technique I learned from Dina to add a stamped image to my canvas.  I took a lot of photos along the way to document the mixed media transformation… so feel free to go ahead and grab a pumpkin spice latte before you read further 🙂  First, here’s a look at my completed canvas:

I started the project with an 8×10 canvas that had been painted as a background for a project I didn’t finish.  I used gel medium to adhere some collage papers for texture (the dots were packaging from some Prima embellishments, the book print is from a book I got at a thrift store for collage)

I used white gesso to rough out a pumpkin shape on my canvas, then grabbed a stencil and some texture paste to add dimensional details.

I love adding texture to my mixed media pieces, the only downfall is that you have to walk away while it dries.  It’s a good time to do some of the household chores you might be neglecting while you create, though 😉

Once it was dry, I started to roughly add some color.  I started with tangerine & umber paints to add some ‘pumpkin spice’ colors to my piece.  

Once I was happy with my background & my pumpkin, I decided one of Dina’s birds would be a fun finishing touch.  I stamped a bird in black Archival ink on a piece of white tissue paper, then created a torn edge around it so it would blend onto my background. (A wet brush would have given me even softer edges…)

I used a matte gel medium to adhere him to my canvas.  My brush was a bit stiff, so I worked with any tears that were created and lifted some of the tissue off my canvas leaving the outline.

I just love these scribbly birds, and this was a great way to add a bird to my canvas rather than trying to paint my own and hating it 😉  Again, I had to walk away from the canvas while this dried… it didn’t take long, but my impatience caused a few extra torn pieces.  Once he was all dry, I went in with a smaller paintbrush and covered up the tissue around the edge of my bird, then started layering in blues & tangerine to his body.  A  few brushstrokes of the dark umber paint added back some of those scribbly edges & details I love so much (I used the stamp as a guide to try and mimic Dina’s original design).

Here’s a look at some of the texture on my finished canvas…

… and a little bit of Nuvo Glitter Drop glitter to add some extra shimmer…

This was a fun step away from my regular paper crafting, it’s great to explore all the things we can do with the supplies we have on hand for card making!  I think it’ll look great on my mantle this autumn… along with any other pumpkins I decide to paint 🙂

Inky/Painty hugs,

Tara

 

Materials Used:

8×10 canvas & torn papers for collage

White Gesso (available in this set, along with texture paste & gel medium… everything you need to get started in mixed media!)

Gel Medium

Texture Paste

Acrylic Paints- including Dina Wakley’s Tangerine, Umber, Turquoise, Penny, White, Ocean, Elephant… plus a few other neutrals from my stash (I still have a few tubs of the old Claudine Hellmuth paints Ranger used to make!)

Dina Wakley Scribbly Birds Stamps

Black Archival Ink

White tissue paper

Nuvo Glitter Drops in Honey Gold

 

Tuesday with Tara {take 114} Read More »

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