Showing posts with label tutorial. Show all posts

Guest Designer Mabel Sims!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

We are so excited to share this week's guest designer with you! Mabel Sims is extremely talented and does an incredible job of using Mixed Media elements in all of her projects! She is sharing a tutorial with us today that you will not want to miss! Sit back, have a cup of coffee and enjoy! Be sure to leave Mabel some blog love!



Hi Guys!

I'm so honoured to be invited on this fabulous team at Frosted Designs as a Guest Designer. This is my first ever designer post so I'm super excited!

A little description about myself: I'm living in Singapore, a tiny island/country in South East Asia with a climate that is very much predictable, that is HOT HOT HOT 24/7. Hahah. I first started out scrapbooking a couple of years back, only focusing on making cards. It's only about a year ago I ventured into making layouts and I'm currently heads over heals in love with it. I would say my style is very mixed media as I love how versatile these mediums are, I could make a mistake and rectify it almost immediately, that's how forgiving they are. They are also somewhat unpredictable (in a good way!), be sure to be surprise when you create with mediums! If you're currently not into mixed media, I strongly urge y'all to try it. It's really not that terrifying as what people originally thought. My blog focus mainly on step-by-step tutorials. You can find my blog HERE!

Now, I'm going to show you a tutorial on how I made my little 6x6 inches canvas piece meant for home decor. 

I first started out with priming my canvas with heavy white gesso by Prima Finnabair. I then sprayed randomly all over the canvas (Don't think too much! Just do it!) using Heidi Swapp's Gold mist, Tim Holtz Distress Spray in Tattered Rose and in Shabby Shutters. After everything dried, I pulled out my new flourish stencil from Tim Holtz and applied a thick coat of White Sand Texture Paste from Prima Finnabair. 

I have to say this texture paste has got pretty interesting texture after dried. It dries shiny and rough. It's actually very nice to touch. As you can see from the picture, I lightly brush on some gesso to make the flourish stand out better. It sort of created a white-wash effect which was matching to the background, giving off that very antique/vintage-looking vibe.


I also brushed on a light coat of Ranger's Clear Crackle and made it more visible by watercoloring Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy. 


With a new shade of dark brown, I think it made the background stand out even more as there's now a mixture of different shades of browns and greens. 


Now that the background is done, I need to think of what to embellish it.

I gave myself a challenge to use some of the stuff that was long forgotten. Haha. Such as this Tattered  Floral Bigz die from Sizzix. I actually bought it LONG LONG LONG ago but didn't use it at all. So I cut out a couple of the same sizes and layered them up. Glued down a matching button in the centre and altered the flower with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Brushed Corduroy.


This is the final look of the canvas!

As you can see, I die cut some leaves from the Prima leaves dies for layering. I also managed to dug out a long forgotten border punch and punched a strip and glued it down vertically. Most of the flowers I used were from Prima and I also added some mica fragments in Tea Stained colour from Stampendous. I loved how the dark colour of the mica fragments increased the interest of the canvas as the rest of the colours were pretty soft. The sentiment was actually a cut out from Kaisercraft's patterned paper. I also painted a light coat of gesso on the outer petals of the flowers to give some highlights. It also had the effect of pulling everything together. 


Here are some close-ups shots. 




I enjoyed the process of making this canvas. The colour scheme is actually pretty challenging for me as I never thought green and light pink (that's the original colours of the sprays, but everything became brownish after they dried on canvas. Told you mediums can be unpredictable! Hahah) would go well together and this is my first time succeeding in creating a vintage layout. My previous attempts didn't work out as my style of embellishing stuff is not vintage at all so I'm super happy that I can finally strike the 'vintage' theme off my to-do list as well as using those long forgotten products. Haha. 

So...That's all for today. 

I hope you like my post and also feel inspired to try out mixed media if you haven't. 
Do check out my blog at www.mabsdesigns.blogspot.com for more inspiration. 

Cheers! :)

Mabel






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Make Your Pages "Pop"! ~ Tutorial with Brandi :-)

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Hello everyone!!  It's Brandi here today to share a quick tutorial with you on how to really make your pages stand out!  It works really well on this month's kit with the soft pinks and light hues of the papers and embellies :-)

Here's another look at this month's "Sweet Love" kit:


Yum, yum, yum!!!!  In love with this one!!!

And here's a look at my page:

See how everything just "pops" against the background?!?  Doesn't it look fabulous?!?  Want to know my trick?!?  A sharpie marker!  Yep, it's really that simple!  No mess, no fuss :-)

Here's a little tutorial to show you how to achieve this result :-)









And here are some close-ups:
I LOVE the zipper pulls in this month's kit!  They truly add a touch of elegance to every page!


I even use the sharpie to outline my stickers and die-cuts!  


Using a butterfly punch and papers from the kit, I created 3D butterflies :-)

I used stickers from this month's kit and goodies from past month's kit to create my large flowers cluster under the photo!

And there you have it!

Thanks so much for stopping in and have a LUCKY day :-)



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Tutorial Tuesday: Altered Tag with Brandi!!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Hello everyone and happy Tuesday!! It's Brandi here today with a quick mixed media/altered tag tutorial using this month's fabulous Rustic Beauty Kit!!

First, here's another look at this month's kit:


Isn't it amazing?!?!

And here's a look at the tag I created using goodies from the kit:


Isn't it lovely?!? I just love the colors in this kit and the goodies to play with :-)  Here are the steps to create the look!


1.  Grab one of the tags, ink, and something to apply the ink.
1.  Create a base on the tag using the ink and stencil included in the kit.
2.  Using the same ink, go around the edges of the tag.



4.  Grab the marker, stamp, and mini mister.
5.  Color directly on the stamp with the marker and mist a small amount of water.  Stamp over tag sporadically until you receive your desired look!
6.  Add some of the die-cuts from the kit around the tag and distress the edges.



7.  Grab some of the trim from the kit and mini mister.
8.  Mist a generous amount of water over the trim and crinkle it up.
9.  Once dry, unravel the trim and use for bow!


There you have it gang!!!  Can't wait to see what you create!!!!!





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Somewhere In Time Layout + Snapguide Tutorial with Frosted Designs "Enchanted" Kit!!!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Hello again my crafty friends!!!  Just popping in to share a wonderful layout created using this month's "Enchanted" kit from the Frosted Designs Store and a quick tutorial on using the Distress Crackle Paint included in the kit!!!


First, let's altered some chippies!  I am a HUGE fan of the Creative Embellishments chipboard... It's durable, easy to alter, and extremely beautiful!!!  So I grabbed a couple pieces from my stash and went to work!  This is my first tutorial in Snap Guide so bear with me!




And here is my layout!
I took several pictures of my daughter on Halloween of last year.  She was so anxious to be a "purple tooth fairy"!  I made her wand and costume, then took tons of pics and printed them in color and black and white!  This was my first attempt at an accordion fold on my paper so please be nice...  This paper gave me an excellent opportunity to do this!!!



Isn't my "baby" so beautiful?!?  I don't mean to brag but I just can't help myself sometimes :-)
I started by creating the fold on my paper, then heavily distressed the sides with the teal Prima inker and my distress tool.  I also used a chevron cut file from A Cutt Above The Rest to create a stencil, then sprayed black Dylusions ink from the store over it right down the center of my page!  I grabbed some of the Tim Holtz rub-ons from the kit and added them around my page :-)



I fussy cut several elements from the papers in the kit and added them around my page!  I also added several embellies, including the resin clock, Maya road trinket, and the beautiful Petaloo flowers!  I added additional Prima flowers from my stash and even tucked one inside the large bottle cap from the kit!




I finished my page with the yummy chipboard pieces from Creative Embellishments that I altered above!



Although this is my first try at the fan fold on one of my pages, I assure you, it will not be the last!







Well gang...  Thanks so much for stopping in and have a LUCKY day :-)


Products used from the Frosted Designs Store:



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Quick Tips with Joni!

Saturday, December 7, 2013


I LOVE the UmWow chipboard that we sell in the store...
But some of these pieces are really small ... how do you put adhesive on those?

So, as I was getting ready to adhere those "really small" pieces of UmWow chipboard, I thought I'd share a quick tip on how I do that quickly easily.

I save those clear packages from embellishments...I use the big section (lower) for paints, gesso....that kind of stuff.
So I got double duty from this one.. and used the upper flat section.


I just added a bead of wet glue.
Then I pick up my "really small" piece with my tweezers and dip the back side into the wet glue.


Then lay it onto my layout.  I use a small pin (sewing pin) to pick up excess if I get a little too much.


And here is my completed layout...a very simple one, but love how the little chevrons make a nice impact.


One other comment about this layout.  The striped patterned paper is actually a diagonal stripe, but I wanted the stripes to be vertical.  So I turned it and trimmed off the 4 corners that hung over the top, bottom, left and right edges.  I added a little strip of dark brown under the remaining edges to separate the stripe from my background.

Now...I had a challenge at another site to use "triangles"...so I used 3 of those 4 "extra" pieces, backed them in dark brown and created this:

Also notice on this one that one of the layers under the left side of the photo is the packaging paper from the front of the Echo Park Collection kit (you know the one that shows you all the papers in the pack?).

Thanks for hanging out with me today!!









  




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Sundays with Sandee - Typography & Lettering!

Sunday, November 24, 2013



Before we get started I'd like to thank Marlene for asking the question:
"How do I keep my pages from leaking on to the previous or next page?"
Good question Marlene! I use a small paint brush to paint a thin coat of the Faber Castell Gesso into the crease between pages. So far it seems to keep them from leaking. I also use Glad Kitchen Wrap called press n seal to cover the remaining pages so I don't accidentally get something on them.
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Well, I guess it's something we need to discuss....our handwriting. I hear so many people complain about the way their handwriting looks, and how much they hate it. So let's just get over that and pretend that we love our handwriting....as a matter of fact I want you to say out loud..."I LOVE my handwriting and I am not afraid to use it!"....there, feel better? Now how do you feel about typography, let's combine them.

handwriting:
the way a person's writing looks

typography:
 the work of producing printed pages from written material
: the style, arrangement, or appearance of printed letters on a page

I took a page and just played. Yes, there are mistakes on it, but I learn what to do and what not to do by experimenting. Did you know that your hand writing says a lot about you? We'll explore a little about that too today, just for kicks and giggles. :)

This is what I consider to be the title of my page. Although it's filled with random quotes I emphasized the word "typography" in order to make it stand out. My favorite word in this group is the word "like", I used a mixture of cursive and print along with heavy and light strokes.
  • Did you know that skinny pointed lower case letters mean that you enjoy learning new things, you are inquisitive and ambitious(the higher and pointer the peaks, the more ambitious you are.)



Here, I wanted to stretch my words across the page. The word "sometimes" was created by first spacing the cursive letters across the page and then drawing lines to connect them. The word "exhausting" was created by elongating the letters and mixing upper and lower case together, plus I water colored in the negative spaces, something I love to do. 
  • Did you know that wide spaces between your letters indicate that you enjoy your freedom and don't like to be overwhelmed or crowded.


 On this sentence I stacked the words "was first" for some visual appeal and only colored in the lowercase letter "a".
Did you know that rounded letters mean that you are creative and artistic.

This quote is a combination of everything. You might call this the kitchen sink. It has cursive with print, large and small writing plus light and heavy strokes. I have stacked words and words that are stretched out.
  • Did you know that small letters mean that you are shy or withdrawn, studious, concentrated and meticulous.


This is always a fun technique, simply shaping the words to fill the space.
  • Did you know that if you have no slant at all to your writing then you don't let your emotions get the best of you. You tend to be logical and practical.

Similar to one above where the lines dictate where my letters are formed but I did a water color wash around the word "color" and highlighted with a white pen.
  • Did you know that wide loops mean you are relaxed and spontaneous, self expression comes easily to you.


The word "art" gives me a flashback to the 60's. I drew big fat letters, water colored them in and then doodled some lines. I used different size pen tips to give emphasis to different word groups.
  • Did you know that large letters mean you are outgoing, people-orientated, outspoken and love attention. This could also mean that put up a front and pretend to have a lot of confidence.

This shows different way to use color in the negative spaces.
  • Did you know that if the size of your writing is average then you tend to be well adjusted and adaptable.


So, I hope you enjoyed my lettering and typography and will give it a try. It's a good experiment in letting go and trying some new techniques. If you create a page then please post it over on the Frosted Design Face Book page, we love seeing what you make! 

Don't forget, if you want to become a kit subscriber, you better hurry!
*FREE Dylusions Creative Journal ($24.99 value) with any first time 
mixed media paper kit subscription! 
Offer expires November 30th.


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