Friday 27 January 2017

Round and Round - Journal Page

Art Journal - Dina Wakely Paints - Circles
Happy Friday everyone! Every other Friday we have a new challenge over at the That's Crafty challenge blog. Today our new theme is Round and Round. This one is a little easier than the last one I think (for me anyway!) - so many possibilities - it's anything with circles. Do play along for your chance to £20 to spend at the That's Crafty shop. If you are anything like me - you may have a HUGE wishlist right now 😉

I went a bit mad with my circles on this journal page. I started with a random painty background using Dina Wakely paints, then added stencilling and stamping - pretty much all circle based. On a separate piece of card I created another background with the same paints and used circle framelits to create my rings of different sizes.
I arranged them on the page and added white and black to create light and shade around them all.
Have a great weekend,
Nikki
xxx

Thursday 26 January 2017

Mini Journal Pages and Inspirational Quotes

#NikkiActon Art Journal #ThatsCrafty
It is Thursday so my regular spot over at That's Crafty where I am using their new whiteboard journal pages and new Inspirational Quotes stamp sets plus lots of yummy Deco Art Media fluid acrylics.
Nikki
xxx

Friday 20 January 2017

Seth Apter - PaperArtsy New Release - Project X

Seth Apter PaperArtsy New Release Wood Chips Nikki Acton
Hi - as promised back with my second post featuring projects I made using Seth Apter's new stamps, paints and wood chips from PaperArtsy. The new products were launched yesterday and if you missed my first two projects and product release information you can find them here.

Project X
(using Wood Chips and stamp sets ESA03 / ESA04)

I love the new paint colours and the effects you can create with them. The focal point of this project is the wonderful wood chips - here using the circle and it's frame.
For the central portion I aimed to create a metallic effect using the paints. I started with black gesso - stippled quite thickly to create texture. I allowed this to dry before dry brushing with white gesso.
I then built up colour using watery washes of Mahogany, Terracotta, Smoked Paprika and Little Black Dress paints. I do this several times - drying in between. Finally I stippled with Green Patina with a dry brush.
Seth Apter PaperArtsy New Release Wood Chips Nikki Acton
The outer circle (Wood Chip frame) used the same technique with a little extra black and without the Patina. 
I die cut several Drip Drops from Seth's Spellbinders die and sponged them with black gesso. Some then had mahogany added, others green patina before extra black was stippled where needed.

The background was created on white card using a credit card and paint to add various colours in layers - mud splat, key lime, buff and terracotta. I toned it all down with extra buff paint. I secondary stamped with black archival using the tag from ESA04 and the square stamp X from ESA03 - with the stamp in my hand so as not to get the full image.
I added some paint spatters with mahogany, some credit card lines in black and stamped some some extra text in patina. Finally black archival was swiped over the surface.
Seth Apter PaperArtsy New Release Wood Chips Nikki Acton
I cut a similar size piece of card and used my craft knife to create a frame. I painted this in the same way as the patina circle adding black around the edges with my finger to keep it random and inconsistent!
Seth Apter PaperArtsy New Release Wood Chips Nikki Acton
The X from the drip drop die and some greyboard nuts and bolts embellished the project.
Seth Apter PaperArtsy New Release Wood Chips Nikki Acton

I am doing a set of videos to accompany these projects. Here is the second video - Rusty Patina..



If you missed video 1 - Textured Rust - here it is again.



I would like to enter the following challenges:
Craft Stamper - Anything Goes

Nikki
xxx

Thursday 19 January 2017

Seth Apter - PaperArtsy - new product launch today!

Hi everyone - a special welcome if you are new here and have arrived from Seth Apter's blog or PaperArtsy. I was very honoured to be asked to make some samples using the new Seth Apter / PaperArtsy release of stamps, paints and wood chips. 

If you haven't seen the release details you can find them over on the PaperArtsy blog tonight as well as Seth's - The Altered Page (links below), but here is my quick summary. 
There are two new fabulous stamp sets which not only work with Seth's Stencil Girl Insider Outsider stencils and Spellbinders dies but also the new Wood Chips. I love it when things work together - allowing for layers and textures and great composition.
And then there is the new paint colours which work wonderfully with Seth's first PaperArtsy special edition paints and - wow - I love these colours - just perfect for grungy effects and faux metallic finishes!
Here are the wood chips - which fit the stamps - but also include frames which work in conjunction with the main element or on their own.

Do check out the video showing all the new products and some samples:


One of the first things I did when I received the stamps was to stamp and cut out all the shapes and played around with how they might work together. Then I started with the paints - creating different backgrounds and effects. Here are a couple of my designs.

The Time is Now 
(using stamp set ESA04, Wood Chips, Seth Limited Edition Paints - plus Spellbinders Drip Drop die)
Seth Apter PaperArtsy ESA04 New Release Nikki Acton
The background and tags have paint backgrounds using Mahogany, Midnight, Buff and Smoked Paprika paints - building up the layers firstly randomly then using watercolour card to monoprint the paint onto the surface. I did two versions using the same colours so that complemented each other.
I stamped the text tag (ESA04) onto the bluer of the two and cut out - before adding black paint around the edges.
Seth Apter PaperArtsy ESA04 New Release Nikki Acton
The star was stamped (Star text stamp - ESA04) from another background I made where I used crackle glaze and midnight, buff and mahogany paint. By doing the process twice and wiping away some of the paint you get the wonderful peeled paint effect. 

I painted another piece of card with buff paint and stamped the square text stamp (ESA04) - I selected certain words and cut them to make the sentences / words I wanted. Using the same card I die cut  Seth's Drip Drop die (4x). I sponged with a bit of black and then added mahogany.

I used the star frame from the wood chips and stippled black gesso over it to create some texture. Once dry, I dry brushed with white gesso and then painted with midnight before adding mahogany around the edges.
Seth Apter PaperArtsy ESA04 New Release Nikki Acton

***********
Create with Colour 
(using stamp set ESA04 and ESA03, Wood Chips and Seth Limited Edition Paints)
Seth Apter PaperArtsy ESA03 New Release Nikki Acton
My second design is a little more colourful but still a bit grungy! I started with the top layer and stamped the Create stamp (ESA03) in black archival ink on white card and embossed with clear powder. This allowed me to paint over it with the rainbow of colours - Mahogany, Smoked Paprika, Terracota, Key Lime and Green Patina. I cut this out and added a little black to the edges. This was later adhered to the wood chip.

I also painted some die cut circles with the same colours before adding random text from the oblong text stamp (ESA04). I stuck these together - overlapping them so they would frame the oblong wood chip. I then took the same colours and added some splatters and black paint to the edges with my finger.
Seth Apter PaperArtsy ESA03 New Release Nikki Acton
On this design I used both parts of the wood chip. The main part was gessoed with white before being dry brushed with black, Once dry I added Key Lime paint. The frame had black gesso stippled to create texture, I dry brushed with white gesso and once dry added mahogany. I added a little more black before adding some metallic glaze in places.
Seth Apter PaperArtsy ESA03 New Release Nikki Acton
Finally the base layer - I wanted this to be very much a background. I cut my card to size and painted with Mud Splat before stamping the colours from the oblong text stamp (ESA04) with buff paint. Once dry I swiped my black archival ink pad over it to grunge it up a bit and and added a layer of the translucent terracotta paint.
****************
I have also created a video featuring one of the paint techniques I used in these samples. I aim to do some more - watch this space!

Textured Rust Video


******
I will do another couple of posts with my step by steps for the other projects - otherwise this post will become very long! So do pop back tomorrow for the details of project 'X' including metallic effects using the paints.
In the meantime here are the links you need for more information on the Seth Apter / PaperArtsy new product release including more inspiration from Seth himself and Hazel Agnew.

Nikki
xxx

Love and Moments Journal Page

I am over on the That's Crafty blog today where I am sharing a journal page with lots of paint and new stamps and stencils from That's Crafty.

I would like to enter my journal page into the following challenges:
Craft Stamper (TIMI) - Anything Goes
The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes

 I am back later today with something else new... do pop back at 7pm GMT!!!
Nikki
xxx

Friday 13 January 2017

Metallic challenge

Addicted to Art - Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylics - That's Crafty Surfaces
Hi everyone - it is time for a new challenge at That's Crafty and it was certainly a challenge for me! The theme is to use Gold and Silver in a project. Using one I can do - using both was interesting. 

Once I finished putting this together I decided it was time for a craft room overhaul - when there is so much clutter on the worktop and floor (eeek) that is cluttering your mind too - it is time to sort! So I am currently mid sort - it looks worse than when I started - but will be fab when complete. Frankie the cat wasn't too helpful and found empty boxes great for sitting in and happily emptied some on her own... 
Anyway back to the project! I used an MDF base (That's Crafty! Surfaces) and added various Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylic paints - Cobalt teal hue, phthalo blue, cadmium red and green gold) building up my background. Some stencilling with That's Crafty Dinky stencils and some random stamping added to this.
I used my finger to rub some metallic silver (Deco Art again) in patches over the background - not really visible on the photos and added gold for the bottle top circles.
Addicted to Art - Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylics - That's Crafty Surfaces
Addicted to Art - Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylics - That's Crafty Surfaces
I took three of the smallest That's Crafty MDF hearts and sponged with either cadmium red or phthalo blue. I then sponged a little white before sponging metallic silver over the blue hearts and metallic gold over the red one.
Addicted to Art - Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylics - That's Crafty Surfaces
Back to the tidying for me!

Lots happening at Addicted to Art next week with the new release for PaperArtsy.... just saying - do pop back on the 19th and 20th! Here is a sneaky peak...

Nikki
xxx

Friday 6 January 2017

Going round in circles - abstract journal page

Today we have the first challenge of 2017 over at A Vintage Journey and I love this theme - 'Going round in circles'. This journal is actually an old library book so I began with a coat of gesso to cover most of the text and images - but I like to leave some showing. I added other torn book pages and added random stamping. More gesso - toned down my surface and added additional texture.

I then used stencils to create random background interest - including the squares you can see which turned out to be quite dominant but I like their contrast to all the circles. I also scraped paint across the page with a credit card in places.

My circles were created with various bottle tops or jars - just dipping in paint and transferring to the page. I then used my fingers to loosely paint inside them. I used Deco Art Media Fluid acrylics - and you can see the wonderful transparency of some of the colours. 

Finally back to the credit card - using the edge to add some vertical and horizontal lines.
Spot the odd finger print in some of these close ups!
Highlighting the circles with a bit of white or a lighter tone adds to the depth of the image.

This really is a great challenge theme and can be interpreted in so many ways - do hop over to A Vintage Journey for lots more inspiration from the team.

I would like to enter the following challenges:



Nikki
xxx

Thursday 5 January 2017

Frankie on the TV!

My first post of the year - so a belated Happy New Year to you  all.

Back in November I made a few designs for That's Crafty! for a Hochanda show - this was my favourite - featuring Frankie the cat. I am over on the That's Crafty blog today sharing how I altered this MDF Cogs Upright. Do hop over for the details.
Nikki
xxx