Dreams

Hello my Shimmerz friend’s, glad you followed my siren call to bring you here  today, because I am going to show you how to add some simple techniques to add interest to your art journal pages.   I look for elements in photo that I can try and artfully replicate like gowns that have patterns in the material, or some architectural element.  In this photo, I found the colors and the lovely lace work in the bodice of the gown creatively inspiring.  The following is how I tried to replicate the texture of the lacy bodice onto my book pages.

Art Journal Background Pages:

• ·         Apply gesso on both pages randomly, and do not fill in the entire pages with gesso.  Leave some of the book page edges in their natural state.  The page will absorb the Shimmerz Paint differently and the same paint will adopt a different hue and texture. How cool is that?
• ·         Emboss with a stamp, embossing ink, and white embossing powder randomly around the pages.
• ·         Lightly spray Vibez Deep Blue Sea around the edges of the book pages and quickly use a dampened sea sponge to absorb excess color and soften the edges.  If you can see the hard spray on the paper, add a spritz of water to soften the color and make the sprayed marks disappear.  Let dry completely.  I prefer to let the paint dry naturally and not try to move the paint around with a heat gun…did I mention I have control issues? LOL.  Plus, leaving the paint to dry naturally adds more depth.
• ·         Repeat the above application to add more depth of color.
• ·         If your embossing images become saturate with color, you can use a damp sea sponge to clean it up.
• ·         Some Paste-eez was used over a stencil randomly over the page leaving an ethereal patterned image.

Below is some Pasteez work:

Chipboard Element in picture above:  Chipboard remnants are my newfound interest…they look like puzzle pieces and are easy to tuck into clusters.

• ·         Apply gesso to the chipboard.
• ·         Use a very small paint brush and paint near the edge of the chipboard and leave some of the white gesso exposed. Here I used Inklingz Penny 4 Your Thoughts
• ·         Apply another coat of paint, or a different color randomly on the chipboard making sure you don’t cover the white edged gesso. Here I used Shimmerz Blue Grass
• ·      
  Lightly use a very fine black marker and pen around the edges next to the white gesso.

I hope I have inspired you to work in  your art journal this week using some Shimmerz goodness.

Sweet Magic Tea

Did you hear that Shimmerz Siren calling out to you? Yep, that was me, Joyce, calling out to you to share some Sweet Magic Tea today. 

I made this canvas for my young niece to hang in her bedroom.  She adores the color of pink and pink tea too.  Ok now, grab a cuppa tea, make yourself comfortable, because I have a long post to share with you today.

·         A pink-a-licious 8 x 10 canvas background with pretty Shimmerz Paint colors of neutrals, pink, and similar colors found in magazine collage work.

·         A faux encaustic look created with Pasteez, Salt of the Earth, dimensional paint on the photograph of the child which rendered this cool milky transparency with an ethereal effect.  This faux encaustic technique is so exciting, and I can’t wait for you to try it too.

·         A Magic Tea Bag

Canvas Background:

1.    After torn collage work was affixed to the canvas using various magazine and textured papers, I mixed up a concoction of Shimmerz Paints Acritonez red and gesso to achieve the desired pink color.

2.    I randomly applied the pink paint softly around the edges of the torn pieces of papers.  Doing this melds the collage papers together so that it almost appears as if all those torn pieces become one.

3.    I repeated the melding process randomly using, Aqua Huez, Cuppa Joe (no longer available at the store), and Inklingz, Penny 4 Your Thoughts.

4.    Both the pink and brown paints were randomly applied to the edge of the canvas along with some Inklingz, Brass Knuckles.

5.    A watered down gesso application was applied all over the canvas to unify the patterns of the papers and paint applications.

6.    When the watered down gesso was dried, I applied thick coats of gesso and white crackle with a spatula to small areas on the canvas.  After those products dried, I lighted sanded the thick coats of gesso and white crackle to smooth the finish.

Faux Encaustic:

The photo of the child reveals an ethereal and milky transparency effect without using the traditional encaustic technique of hot melted wax.  I have to admit that I prefer the results from Pasteez on a photo better than the real encaustic technique, because I can control how much of the milky appearance I want by limiting the number of applications of Pasteez without the hassle of melting the was…not to mention the time and clean up entailed using hot melted wax.  The faux encaustic technique was achieved by using Shimmerz  Pasteez Salt of the Earth.

1.     Using an ink jet printer, print photo on regular printer paper and let the ink dry thoroughly.

2.    Apply a few thin coats of Shimmerz  Pasteez on top of the ink-jet printed photo.  Let each coat dry naturally before applying the next coat of product.  Do not use a heat gun as it will render a bumpy appearance.

3.    The ink printed on regular printer paper does not bleed with this Shimmerz product.  How cool is that?!  Think of the possibilities using this technique on some vintage pictures in your art work too!

4.    After the product dried, I cut and glued the photo on top of cardstock and placed it on my canvas so that I could tuck in some layered embellishments.

Magic Tea:

1.    Remove staple from tea bag and empty the contents of a tea bag (I have used Yogi tea bags because they have some sweet affirmations printed on their tea tags).  Note:  I have cut the tea bag down to my desired size to fit in with the scale of the composition.

2.    Insert some micro beads, glitter at the bottom of the tea bag and insert ethereal milky image as instructed under Faux Encaustic above.

3.    Lightly apply a mat gel medium over the tea bag with the inserted photo and micro beads.  This binds everything together.

Bottle of Potion: Some Bed of Roses Spritz, clear glue, and beads were poured into the potion bottle.

Tea Spoon: Gesso a small plastic cocktail spoon, mix Acritonez Red and Tuttie Fruitti Dimensional paint (to look like frosting in the bed of the spoon), add micro beads for sprinkles.

I hope I have inspired you to use Shimmerz Paint products outside of the norm and create your own Sweet Magic.

Listen for my Shimmerz Siren to bring you back here on April 15^th!

Messy Threads

Did you hear that Shimmerz Siren Call?  Yep, that was me, Joyce, calling out to you to share in my  design team journey with luscious Shimmerz paint products. Let me share my newest elegant gown art page with you.

It’s at this time of year in Southern California that I prefer to create. The cooler weather and cool color palette inspires me.  This is quite a simple page, but using monotone colors sometimes can pack a punch of textures and delight.

This photo of a lovely lady in her soft billowing dress in a winter forest is surrounded by Shimmerz cool color palette of the following products and colors found in the Shimmerz Paint Store:

Spritz: Rocka Fella Blue

Spritz: See Ya Latte

Vibez: Deep Sea Blue

Vibez: Cold As Ice

Paste-eez: Salt of the Sea

Creameez: Marshmellow 

Paper Techniques: 9 x 12 Watercolor paper was moistened with a spritz of water; then a spritz of spray of Rocka Fella Blue and lightly dabbed off with a moistened sea sponge to leave a mottled effect; let product dry completely;   repeat the same process to add more depth; add a spritz of spray of both Deep Sea Blue and Cold As Ice and lightly dab off with a moistened sea sponge and let products dry completely.  After all the above, I embossed some white stamp work for texture. After all the spray work, some separated splatters of Marshmellow, Rocka Fella Blue and watered down gesso were applied to the paper.

White snowflakes: These were created with a stencil and the dimensional paint Pastee-eez  Salt of the Sea.  Some diamond dust was added on top of the dimensional paint to make them shimmer.

Snowflake Chipboard:  Some Gum Arabic was added to some Rocka Fella Blue Spritz to add some stability to paint with on top of the snowflake chipboard pieces on both sides of the photo.

 Textured elements:  And finally, Rocka Fella Blue and See Ya Latte were added to some white mulberry fiber paper for a little texture.

 And, if you’re wondering if I really sew that badly, well no…not really, but sometimes a happy accident can add so much interest.  

If I have inspired you to use some Shimmerz products, add my name to your Shimmerz order for a free mini Shimmerz product.

Check out our Facebook page for instructional videos and more creative ideas.

Listen for my siren to bring you back here on February 15th.