Colourful Puppy Art Journal Page with Karen Bearse

Karen Bearse with a post for you today on my ongoing art journal book, with a colourful puppy page. The little guy in the photo is a wee puppy named Clovis. I am his new puppy snuggler, letting him out every day and spending time playing with him while his Mommy & Daddy are at work. I wanted to document this new development in my journal and a photo is a great way to do it.

I also wanted to show you a quick and easy way to colour the SRTC chippies. I used Color Blends, a unique ink system that is quick, easy & mess free.

The inks have a foam dabber head that release the ink helping to keep your hands clean. It took me seconds to simply swipe colour onto the chip pieces. These wood die cuts are etched so ideally using a translucent layer of colour that does not interfere with the patterns is important.

After applying the ink with the applicator, I added a bit of water with a brush to the ink to just tint the paw. Distressing the edges with the foam applicator was easy, as was controlling a light layer. If a darker layer is desired simply push more ink into the foam. For the tag I just rubbed the colours Bay & Stop, overlapped a bit to get the purple colour. For a full tutorial on how to use these inks I did a blog post about them here.

I put the rest of my page together using bits & pieces some old some new & just let myself play! My title life, was coloured the same way using the Blends, stamped on with archival ink, and covered with glossy accents to give it that embossed look. Once dry some distressing with hot pink acrylic paint was called for & than a bit of doodling.

To finish up I did a bit more doodling around the page and on the tag chip. I hope you take some time today to play with both old & new supplies as well as a little SRTC chipboard!  

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Cat Tags #2

- Life Word (coming soon)

Other Supplies Used:

- Eileen Hull Color Blends by ColorBox
- Stamp by darkroom door
- Stencils by The Crafters Workshop
- Tombow Mono Aqua glue
- Hemptique-Hemp cord
- Papers by Bo Bunny
- Tissue Napkin by Jane Davenport

Happy crafting!

- Karen

Crazy Cat Canvas with Karen Bearse

Today I have a super simple cat canvas tutorial. I have this Siamese cat, Arwen and wanted to create a photo canvas of our cranky little family member who is sometimes sweet. It fits perfectly with our Anything Goes challenge so come join us and you could win!

The end result looks much harder but trust me super simple! In my quest to use from my stash I had a 6x12” canvas so I fit my project to that size.

Playing with Southern Ridge stencils was a good place to start. Simply put your stencil down and with a spatula scrape product through. Light molding paste, and Distress Grit-paste. I choose a few different stencils making sure to add some paste on to the sides of the canvas. Wash your stencils immediately or set in water until ready to clean. I just use an old tooth brush to get the wet paste off. Set your canvas aside to dry.

Once the paste was dry I spritzed with my favourite colour mists. I am stuck on blues and greens so I went with that. Choose a few colours that if they mix they create a 3rd colour. This will prevent you from making mud. Also choose colours that will make your pictures pop.

Once the mist was dry I added in Glimmer Glam using a paint brush. This has good coverage and glitter as an added bonus. This was used to paint the sides of the canvas and blend areas where more colour or a pop of glitter was needed. You can also use acrylic paint if you prefer, or spritz your mist on a palette and paint on with a brush. Water will re-activate the mist so be aware of that when adding to your canvas.

For the kitty cats I wanted them to really stand out so I used a black Glimmer Glam (you can also use acrylic paint) to paint the chippies adding different products to each. Running kitty got mica flakes and micro beads, sitting kitty got fire-opal flakes and crouching kitty got a mix of different emboss powders. Glam is sticky and products adhere to it easily but just to be sure, once it is dry, add a thin coat of decoupage glue.

Use whatever you have on hand. A few ideas are seed beads, glitter glass, or leave your kitties with paint and highlight with a metallic colour like copper.

You have a choice now. Either leave the remaining chippies natural or do a quick and simple stain with distress. I decided to colour the fish & title with distress stain & cover with a layer of clear emboss powder as I wanted it to shine. Again I wanted the fish to really pop so I used a colour that would stand out against my background. Wrapping wire around the tail and attaching it hanging from the canvas added a nice element. You can also just use thread or twine. I did the same colouring for the title “Crazy” and distressed the edges with paint.

The rest was just assembly. Move the chippies around until you find a good placement for them and then adhere. As a final touch distress the edges of your canvas with paint or archival ink. I hope this tutorial helps you to make a fun photo canvas!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Chippies Used:

- 6 Cats

- Cat Tags #2

- Crazy Word

Southern Ridge Trading Company Stencils Used:

- Bubble Wrap

- Rain Drop

- Fish Net

Other Supplies Used:

- Tattered Angels: Glimmer Mist- Bahama Blue, Aquamarine, Jazz Blue,

Chalkboard- Inchworm

Glimmer Glam- Mermaid, Caspian Sea, Organic Garden, Stiletto

- Ranger Ink: Distress Paint- Black Soot, Mustard Seed, Foss. Amber,

Distress Stain – Wilted Violet, Abandoned Coral,

Distress Grit-Paste, Glossy Accents, UTEE

- Golden- Light Molding Paste

- Archival Ink- Jet Black

Remember to play along in the monthly challenge over on the Southern Ridge Trading Company blog. Each month enter for your chance to win 4 designs from the online store - chipboard.ca -$20 (before tax) retail value of YOUR OWN CHOOSING! 

- Karen