Saturday 22 August 2015

Off the Rails Blog - August Challenge by Elisa Ablett

Hi Crafty friends!

Here is the layout I created for the August Challenge over at Off the Rails Blog.  What a stunning sketch and mood board! I loved the gorgeous colour scheme and the butterflies and music sheet paper. I took a photo recently of my youngest son learning to fly his kite on a lovely sunny winter's day - nothing but blue skies!! so I thought it would be perfect for this challenge. I embossed with black powder a variety of background stamps to make a collage and then used Lindy's Stamp Gang Magical's powders to create gorgeous shimmery watercolour background. The kite is a die cut but I used small glass beads to cover the inside and I used foam tape to give it a bit of depth. The butterflies were embossed, fussy cut and 3D to give a bit more depth and hessian and glittery foam frame for texture. The musical frame started as a mdf notebook frame which I sanded back, painted black, stuck music paper to, gesso'd and sanded back again to distress it.

All of my favourite colours are used in this layout!!





 


 
Here is the fantastic Sketch and Mood Board!
 
 

Mixed Media Tutorial - August by Elisa Ablett

Welcome Crafty Friends to my first ever Turtle Soup blog post and mixed media photo tutorial! I hope that you find it informative and inspiring, feel free to interchange products; it is the techniques that are important here also make sure you check out the Scrapping Turtle shop for a great range of inks, paints, stencils and other mixed media products. Here is the final layout and the tutorial is to show a few techniques on how to create the background.

 


Now onto the tutorial!

For the August Mini Crop over on the Turtle Soup Forum I have a challenge for participants to use a poem on your layout. I chose my poem and decided to print it up (using different fonts and a piece of a4 white cardstock) on my computer and cut it into individual pieces. For the base cardstock I have used a smooth white thick cardstock so the paint glides on smoothly and the thickness of the paper will ensure that the layout does not warp. Once you have cut your poem into pieces put them aside (perhaps in a zip lock bag so you don't lose any pieces like I did the first time around)


 
 
As you can see from the second photo I have selected 4 different colours of paint, all acrylic paint. Colour selection is entirely up to you. Squirt lines of paint onto your cardstock. I also cut a wedge from a cardboard box to use as a large palette knife or scraper ( a cheap alternative ).
 
 
 
Using a small amount of pressure scrap the paint across your page, turn your scraper over and complete scraping the paint across the bottom of the layout to your satisfaction. I didn't go completely across the page and I didn't worry to much about it being perfect!!
 
 
 
 
 
Let the paint dry completely before completing next step! Grab your favourite stencil, I used a Crafters Workshop stencil which are stocked at the Scrapping Turtle shop. Lay your stencil on your layout where you want it. Using texture paste or modelling paste (not gesso) spoon some paste onto your stencil and spread with a palette knife or use an old credit card like I did. I like using the old credit card as you can get a smoother coverage.

 
Put aside to dry, while mine dried I used coloured markers to colour in parts of pieces of the poem and I gathered together all of the embellishments and papers I wanted to use.
 
 
Next step! grab your favourite 'texture stamp' I love using Kaisercraft Texture stamps as they have an awesome range and they are extremely affordable. I also used an archival ink - Versafine black but any archival ink will do. Stamp in desired area. I stamped around where I was planning for my photo to sit.

 
HOT TIP!! after inking up your stamp gently use a baby wipe to wipe the ink off around the edges of your stamp so when you stamp you won't get those pesky 'mistake' edges that sometimes appear when you apply to much ink to a stamp or if you apply to much pressure when stamping.

 
Wait to the ink dries and then piece your poem back together in desired position so that you can work out where your embellishments are going to fit in your design, As you can see from the photo below I added my secret to many layouts (plasterers/joiners tape which can be bought from hardware shops) it has a sticky back and looks like mesh and can be coloured by paints or inks etc. Awesome!!
 
 
Now fast forward a bit, as the tutorial was for just the background, after you have stuck down your desired embellishments, I will post a  material's list at the end but please use whatever you like, visit the Scrapping Turtle Shop for supplies or dig into your stash for similar items.

 
And some close ups!!  Poem by Dr Seuss. :-)


 
Well we've come to the end of the tutorial, I really hope you liked it and that you will try some of the techniques and branch out of your comfort zone even a little bit. Make sure you leave some love on the blog!
 
 
 
Materials:
 
Coredinations Cardstock
Lily Bee Paper
Hessian, Joiners Tape
Paint - Jo Sonja, Making Memories, Decoart
Cardboard, Jo Sonja Texture Paste
Kaisercraft Texture Stamp, Versafine Ink
Die cut black frame, Plastic Straws cut into small pieces.
D-Lish Scraps flowers, Unknown Origin of Flower Sprig
Maya Road Love Heart Clip, Colour Markers.
 
 
 Handy Links
 

Monday 17 August 2015

Turtle Soup Forum - Design Team Reveal August 3rd

Where has the time gone!! Looks like I forgot to post a link to the Design Team Reveal over on the Scrapping Turtle Forum. Turtle Soup Forum. Here is my layout and the great sketch by Bev Code.

 
Image



Just a announcement that I will be featuring a step by step photo tutorial on creating a easy mixed media background soon on the Scrapping Turtle Blog !!! How exciting.... I'll be sure to post a message closer to the time. In the meantime pop on over to the Scrapping Turtle blog and check it out.

Lets Get Sketchy Design Team Reveal August Week 3

Hi Crafty friends, here is my layout that I created for Lets Get Sketchy Challenge Blog for the Design Team Reveal. I love love love teal, turquoise and purple and the vibrancy of Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals and Pebeo Iridescent Paint really made my layout pop!

http://letsgetsketchy.blogspot.com.au/
 
Here is the sketch from Lets Get Sketchy August Week 3: Great Sketch Bev!!!
 
 
 
Head on over to the Challenge Blog and check out the rest of the Design Team's awesome layouts.
 
Don't forget to leave some love!!!
 
 

Sunday 16 August 2015

Sketchabilities Design Team Reveal #145 - By Elisa Ablett

Woohoo! its that time again, Sketchabilities Design Team Reveal for Sketch #145 sketchabilities.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/sketch-145-design-team-reveal. I loved this sketch, its gorgeous and so versatile, you can flip it, turn it upside down and still have many great ideas for a layout. Here is my take on the sketch. The photo is one of mine that I took of a beautiful sunrise over our great Harbour and Jetty, I live in a beautiful part of Australia on the the Mid North Coast of NSW. Love my Hometown!




 
I loved the colours in the photo, gorgeous pinks, oranges and reds and decided that my background should reflect those colours plus add a little gold foil on the layout for that touch of glitz.
 
 
Sketch #145
 
 
The Materials used in this layout include the following;
Coredinations Cardstock, Studio Calico Paper,
Heidi Swapp Gold Spray, Gold Leaf
Twine, Scrap FX Chipboard, D-lish Scraps Negative Frame and Chipboard, Kaszazz Stamp, Washi Tape, Studio Calico Gold Hearts
Gold Sharpie and Versafine Ink Pad.
 


Some close ups !!! you can see the gold leafing details in the paint drips and another technique that I love at the moment is peeling back washi tape to make it look distressed.

The sponsor of the month is Heartfelt Creations


 
 
As you probably know by now they provide a unique line of artistic stamps, dies and papers. Simply gorgeous!! I urge you to head on over and check out their range of products. You will not be disappointed. Links below.
 
Blog/facebook/website
 
 
Well that's it from me today for Sketchabilites!!!
Feel free to leave some love.

Thursday 6 August 2015

Sketchabilities Design Team Reveal #144

Hi everyone! Elisa here with my layout for Design Team Reveal sketch #144. Make sure you pop over to the Sketchabilities Blog and scroll through the amazing design team creations. I flipped the sketch around and used a more shabby chic mixed media layout this time. Lots of lovely layers and loads of depth and texture. Materials used can be found at the end of this post.

 
Here is the gorgeous sketch from the Sketchabilities Blog;
 
 
Here are some close up shots of my layout so you can see the details and layering;
 


 
I know what your thinking!! the colour scheme is a little interesting :-) but the bronze and charcoal colours really work together I think.
 
The sponsor for the month is;
 
 
 
 
 
and the materials for the layout I used are;
 
Coredinations Cardstock, Prima Paper, Water Colour paints, Heidi Swapp Gold Spray, Semco Metallic Watercolour Paints, Kaisercraft texture stamps, Scrap Matrix embellishments, memory box die, cotton thread, unknown grid chipboard and gesso.
 
Thanks for stopping by the blog, I would love to see your comments and possibly if you would love to see more become a follower of our blog. xx

Lets Get Sketchy - Design Team Reveal - August Week 1

Hi Crafty friends, its that time again!! woohoo Design Team Reveal for Lets Get Sketchy challenge blog. Click on the link below to check out the awesome inspiration from the Design Team. Below is my colourful layout. The background is created using teal and purple deco-art paint with a credit card creating texture. After it has dried I stencilled and then stamped in black over the top of the background just to create another layout.

http://letsgetsketchy.blogspot.com.au/

 
Thanks for stopping by, make sure you leave some love xx

 

'Frosty' by Elisa Ablett

  Hi Crafters, Elisa here from the design team for Ink Art Designs with the first of my 'Christmas in July' projects. For this proje...