Rick St. Dennis February Facebook Challenge ~ Hearts and /or Arrows

Hi everyone. Along with adding 4 new members to Rick St. Dennis' EDT, we are also trying out a new challenge format. Instead of doing the Progressive Challenge on Sparkle and Glitter, we are doing a monthly challenge on Rick's Fans & Friends Facebook group with a specific theme each time. Our very first challenge started on February 1 and the first theme is Hearts and/or Arrows. We want to see a heart or an arrow or both either in the image or the background. Easy peasy, right?

For my mixed media project, I chose to feature the adorable Euro Girls Happy Hearts image from Rick's Zibbet store. I love these little Euro style people and this collection of buddies is adorable. I coloured the image with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. It was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and matted with black cardstock. It was popped up on foam tape to add dimension and shadow.

The background was brayered using yellow, red, and orange acrylic paints. Black Marble Dylusions paint was pounced through Tim Holtz's Arrows stencil to fill the page. Once dry, the background was cut into thirds, edged with black, and adhered with narrow spaces between each section as well as a border around the outside. Because it was wild and crazy busy, white dotty Japanese paper was torn into strips and adhered to the background with gel medium. White printed chipboard open hearts were edged with black Big Brush Pen and adhered behind the image. To give the girls a place to stand, piano key washi tape adhered to white cardstock was layered onto the background coming from each side.

The word Love was created from Thickers and black flat pearls were added to each letter to jazz them up a little. The other part of the song lyric was printed with a DYMO labeller. The one end was clipped into a fishtail shape. Two black triangles were hand cut and adhered to opposite corners. While still a very busy piece, I did manage to tone down the background with all of the white and black layers and elements...thank goodness!

Thanks for stopping by today. The Euro Girls and I appreciate your fine company. We would love to see how you respond to our Hearts and/or Arrows Challenge on the Rick St. Dennis Fans & Friends Facebook group. be sure to stop by throughout the month to see the other inspiration projects by the EDT. As a matter of fact, stop by every single day because there will be a brand new project featuring one or more of Rick's fabulous images each day of the month.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind Challenge #48 Inspiration Project

Hi everyone. Happy February! Today marks the beginning of our new challenge at The East Wind. This is the one where all of the blog DT members create using the freebie from the month's newsletter. The adorable image is called Baby Aurora Friendship and the theme of this challenge is Friendship as well. February is a wonderful time to remember and appreciate all of those awesome people who mean so much to us.

I coloured Baby Aurora and Baby Lucy Loo, along with their amazing tree, with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. The tree took a while to colour but I love how it turned out. I also love that unlikely friendship between these two. They are different in so many ways but remain the best of friends. That's just cool! The image was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and popped up on foam tape to give it dimension.

The 6 x 8 inch mixed media paper background was spritzed with Drop Dead Gorgeous Green and Freaky Franklin Lime Lindy's Starburst sprays with an extra spritz through Dylusions Bubbles stencil. Extra splashes were dripped on and skinny runs made with Idea-ology spritzer tool. Joggles' Background Noise Circles stamp was applied to the background with Viridian Archival ink. Forget-Me-Not Archival was used to stamp Joggles' Latin Text stamp to create more texture here and there. The fun little Stampotique Funky heart stamp was inked with Cobalt Archival and applied for more pattern. To ground the image, two lengths of washi tape applied to white cardstock were adhered  beneath the tree and outlined with black ink. White embossing paste was scraped through TCW's Tile Texture stencil with a palette knife and once dry, was brushed with White Linen Dylusions paint to emphasize the areas.

The computer generated sentiment was printed on white cardstock, trimmed close, and matted with black. The word friend is an Idea-ology Big Chat sticker layered over the other word printed as part of the sentiment. I like how that emphasizes the word. Foam tape was used to pop up the entire element. A length of cheesecloth was used to reference a cloud and an Idea-ology Typed Token was fastened to the top left corner with a brad. Black punched photo corner were used to accent opposite corners. Black Big Brush pen was used to darken the edges of the background and a black cardstock mat was used to frame the page.

Baby Aurora, Baby Lucy Loo and I appreciate you stopping by today. To check out the other wonderful inspiration projects created by my talented teamies, be sure to pop by The East Wind Challenge blog. We would love to have you join us for our Friendship Challenge!

Oh, Hi ~ tag inspired by Bloobel Stamps

Hi everyone...or should that be Oh, hi...LOL. I have a super quick post today. I know that's shocking for me. I wanted to share this fun tag I created featuring the image Balloon Heart from Bloobel Stamps. He is so cute just floating by. Don't you just love the look on his face?

I coloured Herbie (HB) with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, adding flat black rhinestones for his eyes. He was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted in black cardstock, and popped up on foam tape. I based the colours I used on the background since it was pre-made.

The background is a Ranger #8 black tag to which a rectangle of packaging was adhered. It was such cool packaging from a pack of Sharpies that I saved it, just waiting for the right projects to use it. I added two clouds die cut from Japanese paper. Before they were glued down, I edged them in Broken China Distress ink and added faux stitching so they would show up better. The smaller cloud is popped up on clear foam tape because they are slightly transparent. Lettering was added to the cloud and the background using stickers. Three little enamel hearts were added to the bottom left corner to balance the design. A pink ribbon was looped into the hole of the tag to finish it. So simple but so fun!

Thanks for joining Herbie and me today. We do appreciate your company. When you get a minute, pop over to Bloobel Stamps and check out the fabulous new images Lisa has added over the past week. They are sure to make you smile!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Bloom ~ Art Journal page inspired by Joggles blog

Hi everyone. Barb from Joggles.com, my favourite online store, has started the new year with weekly art journal spreads on her blog and has invited us to play along. While I love doing my own thing, I also thoroughly enjoy responding to a weekly prompt because it challenges me in many different ways and I enjoy the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. That's why I have decided to play along with her. She does a step by step tutorial taking us through her process on her Art Journal Adventure post for week 4. While I have put my own spin on this spread, I have adopted several of her steps and used products from her description on the Joggles blog.

I created the background using the same three Dylusions paints, Cut Grass, Vibrant Turquoise, and White Linen. Like her, I worked wet on wet but instead of applying with a baby white, I used Rangers Cut N Dry foam. I loved how she knocked the colour back and introduced more white space so I did something similar using the White Linen through TCW's Labyrinth stencil. I applied Forget-Me-Not Archival ink to the background with Joggles Background Noise Stamp, Spark. More Vibrant Turquoise paint was stencilled through Dylusions Bubbles stencil to add more pattern and texture.

I loved the Heart Collage sheets, Barb used but I didn't have those sheets on hand. Instead, I die cut three sizes of hearts from gelli plate prints and mop up sheets used to clean up Lindy's Starburst over-spray. Instead of dangling hearts, I opted to make flowers, doodling around them and adding stems with Black Pitt pens. The leaves were die cut from black cardstock and dotted with white paint pen as a nod to Barb's dotty strings. Black and white rings were created with Dylusions paints and bottle lids.

To complete the page, gelato was added to the outside edges and spread with a wet finger. The same thing was used to add shadow next to the hearts using a water brush to soften and blend. Ransom Alpha Parts were used for the word and white paint dots to accent them and tie them to the other dots in the leaves. A border was doodled and Black Big Brush pen was used to edge the outsides of the page to help frame it.

Thanks for popping by today. If you play along with Joggles' prompt this week, I would love to see what you create. Leave a link in your comment so I can come and visit.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind New Release ~ Northern Red Shafted Flicker

Hi everyone. Tuesdays and Fridays are the days for new releases at The East Wind. As soon as I saw this sweet image, I knew that I had to colour her. Her name is  Northern Red Shafted Flicker and she is a nod to this beautiful bird (see below) which comes to Unky's feeder sometimes. I love how her clothing mimics the markings of this lovely bird and her face is simply adorable.

I coloured Aurora with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils after finding an online photo of the actual bird to use as a reference. I thought it would be fun to get as close as possible to the bird's colours in my colouring. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape.

The 6 x 8 inch mixed media paper background was spritzed with Cocklebells Coral and Autumn Maple Crimson  Starburst Sprays both directly on the paper and through a mesh stencil. White space was left in several areas. Black Dylusions paint was sponged through TCW's Punchinella stencil to create more pattern. Torn vintage book paper was adhered in several places. A Stampotique double heart stamp was also applied using Brilliance Rocket Red-Gold Archival ink. The tree branch where Aurora would stand was hand drawn and cut, then shaded with Prismacolor pencils and Big Brush pens. Walnut Stain Distress ink was used to darken the edges. A heart was die cut three times from text paper scraps, coloured with the same Rocket Red gold ink, and stacked using foam tape between the layers.

The nest comes from a collage sheet by great musings. It was fussy cut, shaded and doodled with coloured pencil, and edged with Distress ink. Once adhered to the tree branch, three tiny plastic eggs were adhered with Glossy Accents. The computer generated sentiment by Winnie the Pooh was printed on white cardstock, trimmed out, and matted with black. Foam tape popped up each section. To complete the piece, black splatter dots were added with Jet Black Archival ink. The edges were darkened with Black Big Brush pen before the background was matted with black cardstock to frame it.

Thanks for joining sweet Aurora and me today. We are happy to have your wonderful company. To see what other DT members did with this wonderful new release, be sure to pop by The East Wind Facebook page where they will be posted throughout the day.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Make art ~ A Rick St. Dennis inspired project

Hi everyone. I had  a piece of this crazy background left over from a previous project and I wanted something artsy-related to be the focal. When I saw this Rick St. Dennis image called Euro Girl Denise the Artiste, I knew she would be the perfect choice. I decided to throw every bright colour at her and she how she turned out.

I coloured Denise with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils. Her paint splotches were done with gel pens in Neon colours. Once finished, she was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted in black. Foam tape was added to the back of the image to adhere her to the background scrap and add a little dimension.

The background is 4.25 x 6 inches of mixed media paper which has been inked, stamped, and stencilled. The raised white harlequin pattern was done with embossing paste. The letters for ART and Make are stickers. The word art was shaded around with a Stabilo pencil and activated with a water brush. The same was done to the left side of the harlequin diamonds. Three little splotches were hand drawn and cut from sprayed scraps and layered to bring the paint splotches from the image to the background.

To complete the design, two lengths of washi tape were adhered to the background and threaded buttons were added. Doodling was used for a border and to outline various elements. White highlights were added to the letters in Art. Black Big Brush pen was used to ink around the edges and a black mat as well as a die cut scalloped edge were used to frame the piece.

Thanks for joining Denise and me today. We're so happy you did that.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Limited Edition ~ inspired by Bloobel Stamps

Hi everyone. Don't you just love this guy? He makes me laugh. I think it's partly the look on his face, partly the incongruity between his "proper" mustache and that pink tutu. Whatever it is, he needed to be the star of his own mixed media page. His name is Moustache Ballerina and he was created by the talented Lisa Bloobel Graham of Bloobel Stamps. Since he reminds me a bit of the great John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda, I have named him John.

I coloured John with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and used a flat black rhinestone for each eye. John was fussy cut leaving my usual narrow white border and then matted with black and trimmed out again. Foam tape was added to the back to give John a little lift (ballet pun intended) and add dimension and shadow once the image was placed on the background.

The 6x 8 inch mixed media paper for the background was spritzed with Lindy's Starburst sprays in Marigold Yellow Orange, Cocklebells Coral, and Autumn Maple Crimson straight onto the paper and then through Dylusions Blocks stencil. Various stamps were added usingVermillion, Rocket Red Gold, and Magenta Hue Archival inks. Black embossing paste was scraped through TCW's Spinning Tops stencil. Three lengths of washi tape applied to white cardstock and matted with black were used to create John's stage. Another length was added to the left side of the background.

The computer generated sentiment was printed on white paper, cut apart, and matted with black cardstock. Each section was then popped up on foam tape. A small punched section of border was added under the words Limited Edition for emphasis. Three flat back pearls were added to each side of the steps and outlining was done with a black pen. A border was also added around the outside of the piece. To finish off, Black Big Brush pen was used to edge the background before it was matted with black cardstock to frame the page.

Thanks so much for joining John and me today. I had so much fun putting this one together. I hope that you are celebrating being a limited edition just like John is. For more of these fabulous whimsical images, be sure and visit Bloobel Stamps Etsy store.

Life is good; so is art.