My Favourite Tutorial and Techniques......

Master Board Tutorial with Dylusion Paints

Hello crafty peeps,

This this is going to be a full tutorial on how I make my master

boards, so go and grab a cuppa and settle yourself down, this is a long post with lots of piccies!!!!.........

So just before I start I must say that the inspirational person that got me into creating these backgrounds was Leandra from PaperArtsy, my friend Kirsten and I watched her at a lovely day out at the Craft Barn many moons ago and I could have sat there all day watching her, it was so fascinating!

So I then went off and had a play myself and this is how I make them now........

I start off with a A4 sheet of super smooth cardstock about 300gsm, I really find this is great card and takes lots of paint without buckling the card.

So for this background I chose Dylusion paints: Fresh Lime, Vibrant Turquoise and Squeezed Orange along with my hard ball brayer........

Now these paints really go a long way, so you only need a small amount on your craft sheet. You can see how little I used. I like to start with my lightest colour first......

Then take your brayer and roll it in to the paint back and forth flicking it as you go to spread the paint out thinly on your craft sheet.......

Then start to apply the paint lightly flicking your brayer as you lay it on to the A4 card. I like to do Leandra's corner, corner, side method to start with as it gives a great effect. Remember to keep vertical and horizontal as it begins to look rather messy otherwise....

Then on to the turquoise......

Applying in the same way with the brayer, opposite, corner, corner, side and then in between lightly to infill a little and use the paint up on the craft sheet......

Then I go back to the lime again and add some more in the same way.......

I am really liking it now it is starting to blend. Now to knock the colour back with a little with White Linen before I add some stenciling.....



Take a barely damp baby wipe (squeeze out excess moisture if necessary ) and wipe across the surface of the A4 card, this just knocks back the colour a little and then allows your stenciling to pop out of the page.......

Now for a little more colour. I took Squeezed Orange and my bubble background stencil ) and some cut'n'dry foam and applied it to the foam, pounced it on my craft mat so it was not too wet and then applied it randomly through the stencil......



I did the same with the Turquoise Dylusions and honeycomb stencil

Now I did get carried away at this point and forget to take a photo before started stamping but you get the idea!......



So now for some more texture; I used Hobby Art Decorative Backgrounds stamp set and added some stamped images in turquoise Dylusions........ 

 I fancied a bit more brighter detail, so I added some White Linen using bottle tops from my spray bottles.......

And some lines using an old credit card........

Looking good........

 Now for a final bit of sparkle to bring it to life. I chose my gorgeous Imagination Crafts

Platinum Starlights Paint,  added a little on to my craft mat and then used my bottle tops again.....

These really are fabulous unique pots of paint with crushed gilding flakes and they really sparkle.....

See what I mean.......



 Well, I do hope that you are still with me and not nodded off, lol!

Just to show you that it doesn't all have to be about cards. I made a Tando Key House Hanger with the master board as a Background.......

A few close ups of the little houses painted in the co-ordinating colours.....

That is all from me today, my lovelies. 

These are the product pictures that I used below:

                            

I do hope that you have enjoyed the post , have a lovely week......

Hugs, Lisa B xx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canvas tutorial with Hobby Art Stamps.......

Morning all, 

Here is a full tutorial on a canvas that I created  using the gorgeous
Hobby Art March Hares....... 

So, let's start from the beginning........

If you have never had a go at a canvas before and you find the thought somewhat daunting, them sometimes it is best to size up to a slightly bigger project than just a card base and use something in between. For this one I used a That's Crafty Grey Board with rounded corners. These are the perfect size as a go between from a card to a canvas as they are 8x8" and a great substrate to work on......

Now it was at this point that I forgot to take the photos but lucky enough, I had just done a white/grey board tag in the same way and had taken photos of that, phew!!
So you would do exactly the same as I am about to describe on the square as I have done on the tag.....

I first coated the tag in Deco Art black ghesso giving a nice thick even coat, this is a really nice gesso to work with and great quality. You can leave it to dry naturally or heat it with a heat gun.

Once dry, I added a thick coat of Imagination Crafts Crackle Medium and then let that dry. Again if you wanted to dry it with a heat gun, then you can.

Once that was dry, I then applied a thick coat of  white acrylic paint . Now one thing that you need to know about Imagination Crafts crackle medium is that it works really fast. It is probably one of the fastest crackles that I have used, so you need to load up your brush with plenty of paint and start at the top and work down the page. If you miss a bit, don't be tempted to go over it as it will already be crackling and you will mess up the crackle and it doesn't matter if you do miss a bit as it is going to crackle anyway and show the black.  

So this is the effect that you are going to get at the end and I think it is fabulous and a great background for a canvas. 

So as I said, I did this with the square grey board and came up with a similar effect below.

I then added some bundled sage Distress ink the edges with a blending tool.

I then stamped on the march hare main image in versafine black onyx ink to get an idea of where I wanted him to be.

I then repeated this on to white watercolour card and embossed the image with clear embossing powder.

I then set about colouring my image with watercolour pens and here is the result below, I was quite pleased with the result as I have not coloured for a while.....

So then I wanted to start on the background and decided to add some ghosting effects with a bubble background stencil and some white gesso. It looks bright at this stage but really does sink into the background as you can see later.

So next was to add some grasses using two stamps from the Hare stamp set which I also embossed.

So at this stage I got so engrossed with my canvas that I actually forgot to take anymore in between photos, so I will explain the rest.....

I added some colour to the grasses and flowers with watercolour pens and added a moon that I stamped on to a piece of white card, coloured, cut out and attached to the canvas. I also added a Stampendous message 'Life is Art' that I stamped also onto a piece of white card and the coloured and drew and cut around it to create a wood effect banner.

I added more stamping around the moon from the Hare stamp set in the way of foliage and coloured it with the watercolour pens too. Then I added some texture around the edge of the canvas using a dotty stamp from Hobby Art Textures stamp set and versafine ink and then added some gathered twigs Distress Ink around the edge to draw the eye in to the centre.

At this point I felt that the piece needed a little more detail, so I decided to add some butterflies and a mouse from the Hobby Art Bluebell Wood stamp set, this is one of my all time favourite set of theirs. It has so many lovely stamps in the set and you can create so many scenes from it. I stamped and coloured them in the same way and then cut them out and attached them to the canvas and then I was done.

I loved making this piece and took so much pleasure in working out what I wanted and where to place everything, it was so much fun.
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and it gets you in the mood to have a go as I have said many times. Canvases don't have to be scary, they are no different to making a card really, you just break down the stages......

The items that I used are pictured below.

I hope you have a lovely week and I will be back soon.

Love & hugs

Lisa B xx