Create some sunshine...

Trying to hang onto the warmth and the sunshine as we move into August.  Just had to do one more summer project before I give into oak leaves and ghosts.  

Today, I'm using these fun suns and cute flip flops from Unique Laser Designs on a straw wreath that I wrapped with bulky blue variegated yarn.

Last month, Kimberly gave us some great ideas for ways to add color to our wood shapes from Unique Laser Designs (if you missed that post, you can see it HERE).  That got me thinking...how about nail polish?  Shining up these flip flops was my chance since I wanted to color them a bright green and I didn't have the right color in my box of acrylic paints.  Two coats did it--added color and shine all at once.

Then, I used a Copic marker to add the pink around the edge. Lastly I put a heaping ribbon of Tacky Glue on the straps and poured on pink super fine glitter (that took a while to dry).

Onto the suns...

The top sun, I painted with Ranger Distress Crackle in white and then after it dried I rubbed Wild Honey Distress Stain over it---I love, love, love how it turned out.

The swirly sun, I covered in Tacky Glue and then poured super fine yellow gold glitter over.

For the bottom sun, I painted it with a mustard yellow acrylic, then stamped it with Versamark ink using a chevron pattern stamp. Lastly I covered the wet ink with clear embossing powder and heated it up with a heat gun to get that powder to "rise and shine" (sometimes I crack myself up)!

So, I am definitely not ready to say goodbye to summer...we have a whole month of sunny goodness before the "s" word (school) is back in the vocabulary.  What's your August summer project?

~Kelly

whatever is an experiment...

Longing for my days doing experiments in the college chemistry lab (NOT), I decided to do a little experiment with distress stains.  Using my non-stick craft sheet from Ranger, Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Tumbled Glass),  5 manilla tags,   1 sheet of photo paper, and some water, I set out to find out what is my favorite method for getting a watercolor effect.

Experiment #1:

-wipe distress stain on the mat

-spritz stain and mat with water

-also spritz the paper with water

-slide paper over the mat

Result: very pale coloring, because the paper is manilla, this one has almost a yellow/green tinge to its aqua color

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Experiment #2:

-wipe distress stain on the mat

-spritz just the paper with water

-slide paper over the mat

Result: a mottled, imperfect soft water color effect, pretty





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Experiment #3:

-wipe distress stain over the paper
-spritz water on the paper
Result: Slightly more intense color than #2, but doesn't have the mottled effect, less variance in shades over the card, but still pretty

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 Experiment #4:
-wipe distress stain on the mat
-spritz mat with water
-wipe glossy sheet of photo paper over the mat
Result: splotchy swipes and dots of color, color more true to the stain color since paper base is white (versus manilla) (must have had a little bit of leftover green on the mat--oops)

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Experiment #5:

-wipe the whole tag with stain
-Starting 3/4" inch from the top, wipe this bottom part of the  tag again with stain
-Keep repeating the process moving down 3/4" inch after each layer
Result: an ombre effect that is very "in" right now.  However, the bottom part of the tag (the part that recieved the most "swipes" was starting to pill and disintegrate)

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Experiment #6:

-wipe distress stain on the mat

-spritz mat with water

-wipe manilla tag over the mat

Result: similar mottled effect to #2, but without the swipe lines

So, do I have a favorite?  No, I like them all!  It's helpful to see what effect each method produces though.  Using Fiskars circle and cloud squeeze punches, Sizzix embossing plates, ribbon scraps, some twine, and a cute printed sentiment,  I turned these experiments into tags--perfect for attaching a gift card to the back. I like experiments.  Not enough to go back to college chemistry though. 

So, did you see my submission call for watercolor projects in the July issue of Scrapstreet ?  You can check it out here. 

No matter what method you use to achieve a watercolor effect (paint, stain, mists, watercolors, or something else), I'd love to see it!  The deadline is August 19th.

~Kelly