Typography Gift Bag and Birthday Card by Lynne

Once upon a time, on July 27 some years ago, an awesome thing happened....one of my favourite people in the whole world was born!! It's my best friend's birthday and I created this gift bag/card set for her using Graphic 45 Typography papers and some terrific Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts chipboard!

I love the friendship quotes that were on the paper cut-aparts and used several of those. I often call my BFF "Sunshine" so I thought the sunshine quote and the chipboard sun were perfect for the front of the bag!

I covered the sun with patterned paper , dry embossed it , then misted it in yellow before adding light random brushstrokes of yellow acrylic paint and rubbing the raised parts with Ranger antique linen distress ink. The red chipboard strips are from the Fiesta texture sheets. I have included a closeup taken of the yellow ones used on the back of the bag later in this post.

The back of the bag was embellished with strips from the Fiesta texture sheet painted yellow then rubbed with the same Ranger ink as the sun.

For the card I chose the "sheltering tree" quote and one of the  Leafy Trees from the GSL store. I painted the tree green, then cut leaves from the green patterned paper and covered random leaves with it then I dry embossed the whole tree with a wood-grain design.

I popped up some of the pieces on my projects with foam tape for dimension and added a bit of stenciling with texture paste. The paper's colours and patterns are quite vibrant so other than a little layered punch work, I didn't think it needed a whole lot more detail. I sure hope she likes them. Thanks for stopping by and having a look. Wishing you a terrific week even if it isn't your birthday!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Leafy trees small

Celestial Shape set

   Texture Sheets Fiesta

     OTHER ITEMS USED
Graphic 45 Typography 12x12 paper pad
anger Distress Ink-Antique Linen
Crafter's Workshop stencil
Fiskars border punch
    texture paste
foam tape

The Sky is the Limit Art Journal Page

Hello everyone  Barbara here.  Today I thought I would do a bit of art journaling.  I love using my Gina's chipboard, and since we are cross promoting with The Robin's Nest this month, I knew these two products would work beautifully together.

To begin, I pulled out my Cottonwood Arts Canvas Notebook.  I love this book because it has canvas covered chipboard pages, making it so sturdy for adding heavier embellishments to the pages.

Cut The Robin's Nest Fleur/Stripe Tropicana paper in half, adhere Stripe piece to the left and the Fleur piece to the right, using matte medium.

Spritz paper with water and randomly remove only the top layer of this two-sided paper, leaving the stripe or the Fleur side showing.  This looks really cool, but not sure if the camera is picking up this cool textured effect.

Add torn strips of joint tape to the center and sides of both pages to disguise the paper edges that did not cover the entire pages.

Paint both pages with a coat of the Vintage Mustard chalk paint, wipe away with a baby wipe or damp paper towel.  Dry thoroughly.

 Mix Ultra-Matte Varnish with Burnt Sienna Fluid Acrylic to make a glaze and spread over pages with a Spatula.  This will enhance all of the textures from the papers and joint tape.

To tone down the orange color, I spread the Medium Grey Antiquing Creme over both pages with a baby wipe (or damp paper towel).  I don't know if the camera can really pick this up, but I think it looks like marble, or maybe granite.  What do you think?

Paint a thin line of the Cerulean Blue Fluid Acrylic along the top edge, hold book vertically and spritz with lots of water to make the fluid acrylic run and leave these beautiful striations. 

Place open balloon frame onto polka dot side of The Robin's Nest Smoky Chevron paper and trace around it with a pencil; cut out.  .

 Paint a wash of the Patina Green Antiquing Creme with water over the paper, let dry.

 Paint open balloon frame with a wash of Quinachridone Violet mixed with water.

 Adhere paper balloon cutout to page.

Glue black birdcage veil trim to the back of the balloon, let dry.  

 Trim excess veil from around chipboard and adhere over print paper.

 Cut the checkerboard texture sheet into irregular shapes and paint with Carbon Black acrylic paint.  Apply a coat of Clear Crackle Glaze over the checkerboard squares.  (TIP: I used my finger to spread the crackle glaze).

Paint compass with Burnt Umber fluid acrylic.  When dry, add Golden Opal Twinkling H20 for extra shimmer.

Adhere to page and add highlights around the compass with Titanium White antiquing creme a a wet paint brush.  Use your finger to wipe off any excess creme as you work your way around the compass.

Stamp Morroccan Fence and Crackle background stamps with black archival ink all over background for added texture.

I found these puffy stickers in my stash, so I used them to write "The Sky is the Limit".  I used a bit of white glue to ensure they were adhered well.

Paint "Explore" word ribbon, key plate, and balloon basket with Burnt Umber fluid acrylic. 

Use your finger to apply English Red Oxide and Patina Green antiquing creme over key plate and the "Explore" banner, then Iridescent Gold fluid acrylic to give it a super metal look.  Dab tiny spots of Patina Green over that to bring back some patina.  Insert tiny brads through holes in key plate and adhere to balloon.

 Adhere basket to a scrap of the Diamonds paper and trim excess when dry.

Adhere the key plate to the balloon, add some jewelry chain between the balloon and basket and adhere to page.

Adhere the Explore word banner to the top of the balloon.

Cut two banners from the sheet and paint with Primary Magenta mixed with Titanium White fluid acrylics.  When dry, add tiny letter stickers to spell out "There are no limits".  Adhere to balloon.

I used Titanium White fluid acrylic applied to a bottle cap to make circles on both pages.  Imperfection is key, here.  I seems to look better if the circles are not perfect.  I also added some white splatters about the page.

I added shading to the puffy sticker letters with the liquid pencil to help them pop off the page. Because it is rewettable, I was able to use a baby wipe to remove any areas where I felt there was too much shadow.

The very last thing was to add some bling, so I used The Robin's Nest Blue Skies Archival Seeds, which just happened to be the right color, around the page.  I think they really added just the right touch.

Supplies:

Gina's Designs:

Mini Display Tray - Hot Air Balloon;  
Texture Sheet Checkerboard; 
Compass; 
Texture Sheets Fiesta;
 Keys and Plates; 
Word Ribbons 3;

Robin's Nest:

 Tropicana Fleur cardstock;
Saffron Diamonds cardstock;  
Blue Skies Archival Seeds

Cottonwood Arts A2 Canvas Notebook (6.75 x 12) Journal

DecoArt Media™: Matte Medium; Ultra-Matte Varnish, Clear Crackle Glaze;   Antiquing Creme: Medium Grey, Titanium White; Fluid Acrylics:  Carbon Black, Burnt Sienna, Quinachridone Violet, Burnt Umber, Primary Magenta, Titanium White, Interference Gold

ColourArte: Twinkling H20s Golden Opal

Drywall Joint Tape (self-adhesive)

Vintage Mustard chalk paint (FolkArt)

Moroccan Fence stamp (LaBlanche)

Crackle clear stamp (Kaisercraft)

Black Archival Ink (Ranger)

Kraft Mini Black Alphabet sticker (Jillibean)

Tiny screw top brads (Tim Holtz)

Jewelry chain (Hobby Lobby Metal Gallery)

Plastic bottle cap

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Derivan Liquid Pencil (Rewettable)

As always, I hope you enjoyed my step-out tutorial, and that I have inspired you a bit to do some art journaling, especially now that you see how beautifully The Robin's Nest papers work with Gina's spectacular, yes, I said it, spectacular, laser cut chipboard.  It just doesn't get any better than that!

Please check out the links to The Robin's Nest Store and Blog and of course check out all the things happening over at Gina's Store and Facebook Group.


So, thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative weekend!  Oh, and feel free to visit me at my blog, Black Hole Art Studio. There is always something going on there, too.  


Barbara

Garden Fairy Crown

I love crowns. I do. I adore them and make them often. I guess I haven't had my fill of fancy head wear because I've made another. This one was created with chipboard shapes from GinasDesigns.net and it's this month's video tutorial.

The crown is made by layering Garden Fairies, Feathery Flourishes Set, Dragon Shape Set, and Tudor Rose Singles over a simple base. For some added interest I added texture using gel medium and the Texture Sheets - Fiesta from Gina's.

Washes of ColourArt Silks Acrylic Iridescent Glazes and Twinkling H2Os Shimmering Watercolors are applied and then a smidge of glitter is added.

Some pretty paper flowers, butterflies and ribbons and voila! I'm pretty sure that wearing this will automatically make you a fairy princess.

Here's the video tutorial. The sound is a bit awful in spots and I'm sorry about that (honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing and it's a miracle I muddle through at all!). If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Here is the full supply list:

Gina Designs:

Texture Sheets Fiesta

Garden Fairies Medium

Feathery Flourishes Set

Tudor Rose Singles
Dragon Shape Set

ColourArte

Silks Acrylic Iridescent Glazes

 Twinkling H2Os Shimmering Watercolors

Other
Petaloo Botanica Flowers

Glue
White paint

Glitter
Ribbon

Golden Heavy Gel

Heavy card