Love Letters In October (#5)

Hello October!

I have a new Love Letters Video for you today.
With all the busy-ness in everyday life, it's so nice to sit down and just play.

Creating things that are easy, loose, not too structured....just letting the paint do its thing......Its fun. Thats all!

In this video you see how simple it is to let the brush make its marks.  Add water and watch the paint move.  Mix Aqua Huez (flat colours) with Inklingz (shimmery colours) and see how the shimmer responds.  Its really a process of getting to know your paints and the specific colours (they have a habit of behaving differently!)  Its relaxing and very therapeutic!

You will need
Paper that is thick enough to be able to handle a bit of water
a round brush  size 6,8 or even 10
Gesso to seal the page (I used clear)
Shimmerz Aqua Hues, Creameaz or Inklingz in colours for flowers and leaves
Water
Pencil/eraser

watch the Video Here.....

TIPS.....

Gesso your page first.

This gives you room to move as the paint sits on top of the surface rather than soaking in.  This means you are able to move the paint around, even when it has dried.  Remove completely with a baby wipe!  (cool!!!)

Let the brush make marks.  Push it and drag it.  You will be surprised how many flower and leaf shapes the brush is able to make on its own!!!  Practice on scrap paper to get a feel for it.

Let layers dry (use a heat tool if you are not particularly patient!) and then add more to build colour and dimension!

outline with the lead pencil to define shapes and bring your painting to life.

The Lettering.....

As always layout your design lightly in pencil first (don't press hard as it's tricky to erase pencil on gesso) use a water brush or paint brush with a nice fine point.  You can see in the video that this gives you the option of pushing down heavily to get thick lines on your downstrokes and lifting to get light pressure on the upstrokes.  

(practice with a couple of different ones in your collection.....they don't all perform the same!)

Practise this

Heavy down

light up.

It's easy, but takes some rhythm to get the hang of.  

Practise, as with anything is key.

 Thanks so much for stopping in today.....Hope you can sit and relax with your paint soon!!!

Monoprinting with Shimmerz New Products....

Hi there again....
I am back today with another Video showing some more monoprinting, this time with Shimmerz Dazzlerz and Texturez.  See how beautifully they work!







Just a reminder to get your Shimmerz April Challenge up on the Shimmerz Facebook Page for your chance to win some more paint to add to your stash!

Load your projects to the Facebook Page and title it SPC01  Tell us what Shimmerz Products you used on your project and you are in the running!  (We will be continuing to offer this challenge, so don't worry if you don't have Shimmerz paints on hand right now  simply head on over to our store, stock up, and get ready for the future challenges!!)   While you dont need to use every single colour in paints,  be sure to use at least 1 shimmerz paints colour, and the rest you can make up with paper and embellishments.....


 Thats it from me today. I am off to go cut up all those gorgeous backgrounds and make something out of them!


Thanks for dropping by!

Lydell :-)

A little book made from a 12 x 12 sheet of paper with Shimmerz!

So here is a 'quick pic tutorial' on how I made a sweet little book for my baby boy a little while ago.

I just used sturdy double sided paper and cut a 12 x 12 sheet into strips and folded the strips into pages. (my strips were 4 inches wide, the height can be what ever you choose, mine are 3 inches, so my pages when folded are 3 x 4)

Glue the strips together forming 1 long strip.

Now glue the folds together where they will create pages

Dont glue right to the spines edge when you do this so it has room to expand when you embellish your book.

I cut an extra piece of paper to wrap around the whole book front, spine and back- gluing only the front and back, leaving the spine loose to allow for expansion when the book was decorated.  

This makes it look like a real little book and hides the spine folds you can see below.

Paint some Shimmerz Paint onto some bubble wrap and stamp some texture onto the background of your pages.  There will be paint colours for any colour scheme you can dream up!!!!

Embellish away!

 Such a fun project.  Nice small pages to create on, means the task happens quickly.  Select some embellishments to repeat throughout the book and you can plough through your little project in an afternoon!

Thanks for stopping in.

365 Art Journal page

Hi there...I am back again today to share some more shimmerz Paints in use!!!!  This time in my journal, which is an art journal / project life journal.  This page is recording a recent event in our family on February 18......and was fun to do.

Products I used

COLORINGZ

Mandarin Mai Tai

Anchors away

VIBEZ 

Razzle Dazzle Berry

SPRITZ

Chick-a-dee

BLINGZ

Under the sea

ENAMELZ

Sparkiliscious

The background is made with book pages, tissue paper and decoupage medium, with distress ink.

I used a mask with Mandarin Mai Tai and Chickadee making circles patterns in the background, Then drips with Anchors Away.  Between each layer I used Helmars Fixative Spray to stop the colours melting together when they get re-wet!  It kept the colours seperate nicely.  I added Razzle Dazzle Berry in more concentrated colour sprays and let that drip too, then went over the area behind the photo in Under the Sea.

I used some watercolour crayons to do the circles and some more Under the Sea to colour the centres.  I sprinkled over Sparkiliscious Enamelz over the entire area of the wet circles and embossed it making it look glossy and have a hard acrylic look. ( and ever so sparkly!!!!)

I added some pen in black and white, edging the text (which was stamped with Staz-on) just to add highlights and to neaten things up.  And its finished!  I stuck everything down and called it finished!

Get some Shimmerz into your art Journals girls.  So much fun.
Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Have a good day!!!

A mix of Enamelz, Vibez and Pearlz!

Hi there, Lydell here again!
I have a page to share here and some fun stuff I did with Shimmerz Paints and Enamelz.  They go hand in hand for some outstanding effects.
Here is what I used for todays project....

Shimmerz in 

Pearlz -Grey Flannel

Vibez- Egg Noggin (a limited edition colour which I believe may still be available if you hurry!!!)

Enamelz - Gold Digger and Molten Metal

.......And here is my page.

You cant see it very well, but I know its there......I applied texture paste to the background with a palette knife, let it dry and added white paint and buttercup cream acrylic paint to set it all off.  I sprinkled Molten Metal Enamelz over this wet paint in splotches and heated to melt, creating puddles of the metal look,  (You can see it slightly under the middle yellow flower and just above it......)

I painted the tag in the Grey Flannel Pearlz and sprinkled the edges with the gold digger while the paint was wet, creating a pretty and textured border around the tag.  Much prettier than how it started off!

I sprayed each crocheted flower with the Vibez Egg Noggin.  These were flowers sent to us some time ago from Petaloo, they were brilliant white!

I also sprayed the Prima felt label you can see here under the photo, and various other flowers....and some lace too!!!!

I sprayed some other Petaloo flowers and dipped them in the Gold Digger Enamelz, totally covering the flower.  I added metal button centres to these, and they are really pretty!

So thats what I played with today.

AND I have a quick tip to share.  I have many many Shimmerz Paints like the Pearlz 'Grey Flannel' in the tubs.  These can sometimes be left sitting for quite some time before you get a chance to use each colour regularly and can tend to separate and dry up a bit.  My Grey Flannel had not been opened in a very long time, and had gone quite thick (it would no longer shake up in the tub......I know Shimmerz says to add distilled water, which is probably best for your paints, but I just add some water from the tap and just stir it through well to rejuvenate them back to how they are meant to be.  I dont find it alters the intensity of the colour or the Shimmery properties.  Because they are water based and wash out so well in water, adding water (preferrably distilled) brings them right back to life.  Remember add a little at a time though.....too much may effect the saturation of the colour.....better to add not enough than too much!!!!!

Hope you are enthused about all the possibilities Shimmerz Paints offers, Especially to extend the use of your stash and create Projects which meld colours beautifully- all acheived by recolouring embellishments.  Get stuck into your Shimmerz!

Thanks for stopping by.....have a wonderful day!

Some Shimmerz Artsy play

I have a page I did today to share with you!  A bit of Artsy fun was had!!!!

I had a good time anyway working with some cool Papers and LOTS of Shimmerz.... some punches and some tapes and you have all the ingredients you need!!!!

I played with Under the sea Blingz, Hot Fudge Vibez and Licorice Spritz.  I paired that with a little texture paste and some gesso for some texture.....

First I stuck every thing down, then I did some shimmering.  I didn't want to confine the paint to the background this time, so I just sprayed and dripped around my photo, (not being too careful.)

I painted some of the elements with the Under the sea Blingz to help them co-ordinate better, and of course to add some Shimmer!!!!

I enjoyed doing this page to share today!  

Why not get out your Shimmerz and have an artsy play on your next page!

Thanks for stopping in today.

Another video is up........

Another video is up on the Education BLOG today.
Join me over there as I play with more Enamelz to create a background for a handmade album I made today.
Not the best photo, but a quick snapshot of the cover we will be working on.

Grab a coffee and come have a look.

Fun with Spritz and Pearlz.

I have a Layout to share with you today.
One I did using Shimmerz and a kit from Scrap That! ( Canadian Kit Club)  So much fun to work with all these gorgeous products together!

 I started the page with some Sea Foam Spritz.  A very pretty light blue shade to create the base for my background.  I painted some Blue-by-U Pearlz onto some bubble wrap and hap-hazzardly stamped it around, keeping in mind where I planned to put the focal parts of my page.  I also used the same colour to paint a slide frame, which I put aside to use later.  I used Licorice Spritz to add some splats, by just half depressing the pump, causing an irregular, splotchy spray.....that was my background complete.

I added all my bits and pieces and it was done!

Thanks for Stopping by the shimmerz Blog today.....have a great day!

Shimmering Art Journaling......

I had not done much art journaling for a little while now, so I decided it would be a good project to play with today.  I came in to post and saw Heidi has been doing some too.......I hope every one does not get art journalled out!.....but hey....how can you?.....Its so much fun and it helps release all that pent up creative energy!!!!

Heres a couple of pages I played with today.

This one is just the start of one, a bit of a progressive attempt.....

(See that sparkiliscious on top of the Mama Sings the blues Coloringz.....mmmmm!!!)

I had fun!!!!!

Products Used......

Shimmerz

SPRITZ- seafoam, licorice, 

VIBEZ- grape escape, blue jeans

COLORINGZ- Mama Sings the blues, No yolking, Pink Stiletto

ENAMELZ - Gold Gigger, Sparkilicious

Other products.....

Gesso, Watercolour crayons, felt tipped pen, Templates, book pages, white paint. Japanese Washi tape, copic markers

Shimmerz goes hand in hand with art journaling.  I could have played all day!

Thanks for stopping by.