Life Lesson Number 25 with Deb Riddell

Hello and thank you for stopping by, Deb Riddell here today to share a mixed media project with you that I’m calling ‘Life Lesson Number 25’.

It was created with Southern Ridge’s Foliage Round Frame, Birds On Branch and a page from the Sprocket Album chipboard album along with their Heart stencil, read on for my how to.

I started by using a Deco Foil Adhesive pen to apply some glue to the bare chipboard Foliage Round Frame and once the glue was tacky, Rebekah Meier Designs’ Patina Transfer Foil was burnished over top.  Perfect Pearls powders in Forever Blue and Forever Green were then dabbed onto the lost and found areas where the foil hadn’t transferred completely and the powders sealed into place by gently wiping the frame with a lightly dampened paper towel.

I had a portion of the Birds On Branch chipboard piece left over from another project, so I trimmed it down to size and basecoated it with Bittersweet Chocolate Americana acrylic paint.  The entire piece was then stamped with Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink and the Floret background stamp.  The contrast between the background and the stamped design was a little too bold for the look I was going for so I wiped the still wet Distress Oxide ink off with a damp baby wipe and shazam! look at the wonderful ghost print I was left with!!

I love it when a mistake results in a fabulous new discovery don’t you?  I will be experimenting with this technique lots more, love, love, love the effect.  I wanted to emphasize that ghostly design so I sealed the piece with some Distress Micro Glaze (so that any of the Distress Oxide ink left on the chipboard wouldn’t react), heated the piece to set the Micro Glaze and then finished it off with a coat of Gloss Americana Dura-Clear varnish.

A piece of Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Paper was cut out to about 6” x 6” and painted with a slip slap layer of Tumbled Glass Distress Stain.   Once the stain had dried, the Heart stencil was used to stencil some tone on tone hearts over the background with Tumbled Glass Distress ink.

A page from the Sprocket chipboard album was painted with a coat of white acrylic paint and the pre-punched holes on the page filled with hot glue to fill the voids.  The backing paper was removed from the prepared stenciled Art Paper (it has an adhesive backing) and the chipboard album page covered completely.  The edges of the album page were shaded here and there with Stormy Sky Distress ink.

The phrase ‘always be a dreamer’ was stamped onto the album page with a Simon Says Stamp BE 3x4 stamp set and Black Soot Archival ink.

I chose the number 25 Mini Plaquette and dipped the accompanying brads in some Snow Cap alcohol ink mixative to colour them white.  I wanted the Index Clip to have the same chippy enameled look as the mini plaquette so I coloured it with Pitch Black alcohol ink and then added some Glacier White Enamel Accents to the front of the clip, worked like a charm!

And finally a couple of Mirrored Stars and Mirrored Hearts were coloured with Stonewash alcohol ink.

The plaque was then assembled; the Foliage Round Frame was centered onto the plaque and the Birds On Branch bird positioned overtop, supporting the chipboard as necessary with small pieces of black fun foam.

The Mirrored Stars and Mirrored Hearts were scattered here and there,

the mini plaquette was added to the top right corner,

and the enameled Index Clip added to the left side of the plaque with a little ‘life lesson’ note inserted into it that I printed out on the computer and coloured with Old Paper Distress ink.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing how my Life Lesson Number 25 mixed media plaque came together, think that one of my nieces will be receiving this as a gift sometime in the near future!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Foliage Round Frame

- Birds On Branch

- Sprocket Album

- Heart Stencil

Other Supplies Used:

- Tim Holtz / Ranger Ink: Distress Ink, Distress Oxide Ink, Distress Stain, Distress Micro Glaze, Alcohol Ink, Enamel Accents, Archival Ink and Perfect Pearls

- Tim Holtz / Advantus: Mini Plaquettes, Index Clips, Mirrored Stars and Mirrored Hearts

- Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous: Floret stamp

- Therm O Web: Rebekah Meier Designs Transfer Foil, Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Paper, Deco Foil Adhesive Pen and Mixed Media Adhesive

- DecoArt: Americana Acrylic Paint and Americana Dura-Clear Varnish

- Simon Says Stamp: BE 3x4 Clear Stamp set

- Miscellaneous: computer and printer, scissors, E6000 glue and fun foam

Thank you again for stopping by today and as always, happy creating!

Deb Riddell ~ Paxton Valley Folk Art

Bless Our Nest Project with Sandy McTier

Hi Y’all!!

I’ve so enjoyed seeing my friend’s pictures of bird nests, eggs and newborn baby birds all over social media. It inspired a nest painting in my head, and I just haven’t had the time to get it out. That is, until I got this great bird chipboard from Southern Ridge Trading Company, and I knew it had to be incorporated into this painting!

The surface is a wood canvas panel from Hobby Lobby, but I decided to use the back/inside of it instead of the front.  

I used DecoArt’s new Americana Premium Tube Acrylic paints as well as a new favorite DecoArt Americana Acrylic  color – Laguna – to paint this project. Of course I also used some of my favorite Dynasty Brushes, pictured below ☺

I painted the surface with Laguna and let completely dry. Next, I drew out a little design using a white chalk pencil by General Pencil. I based the nest in with some of the darker colors – Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna and Carbon Black. Then I mixed in some Raw Sienna and Yellow Ochre along the top of the nest.

I darkened up the bottom of the nest with more Burnt Umber and Carbon Black and then added more highlights along the top with some Yellow Ochre mixed with touches of Titan Buff and Quinacridone Gold mixed with a little bit of Titanium White. I also added some touches of Laguna on the twigs to bring in some of the background color. The eggs are painted in with some Laguna mixed with Titanium White. I shaded along the bottom with a wash of Burnt Umber and Carbon Black and highlighted on top with some Titanium White. I finished the eggs by adding splatters with some very watery Quiacridone Gold.

I used a Large Oval Foam brush by Dynasty to apply Carbon Black to the bird chipboard, which worked beautifully!

I painted the letters and scroll bits with Titanium White and then gave them a little shadow using Carbon Black.

I splattered some very watery Titanium White here and there and then followed with some splatters of Carbon Black. I dry brushed some Titanium White along the frame edge of the surface and let completely dry. Once dried, I varnished with some DecoArt Soft Touch Varnish and then glued the Birds on a Branch chipboard piece to the surface using E6000 Glue.

I hope this inspires you to create it!! There were so many other great Southern Ridge Trading Company Chipboard pieces that could be added to a surface like this, adding a bit of dimension and layers!!   

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

Birds on a Branch

Other Supplies Used:

- Surface:  8x8 Wood canvas panel

- DecoArt Americana Acrylics:  Laguna

- DecoArt Americana Premium Acrylics:  Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Carbon Black, Quinacridone Gold, Titan Buff, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna and Titanium White

- Dynasty Brushes:  #20 Black Silver, IPC Large Oval Wash, #12 Black Gold, 1/4” Angle, #0 Shader, #0 Liner and small Tracy Moreau Stencil Brush (Available from TheBrushGuys.com – use promo code: sandymc for an additional discount)

- Other supplies:  E6000, White Chalk Pencil, and DecoArt Media Soft Touch Varnish

Website: www.sandymctierdesigns.com

FB: www.Facebook.com/SandyMcTierDesigns

©2017 Bless Our Nest, Sandy McTier Designs ~ all rights reserved

Y’all have a GREAT day; Happy Creating!!  Sandy