Studio Day

Today I managed to have a whole day in my studio and it was just lovely to be able to tinker about in there. No deadlines, no pressure just playing.....all for me!!!!! I had an idea for a project when Leandra and I were cooking up stuff for Artsycrafts and it never really got past the starting gate so I thought I would see what I could do with it today and this is the result.

The substrate is one of those triple icon thingies that I've painted with Fresco Finish paint and embossed with gold embossing powder...I can't remember the last time I used embossing powder, I had forgotten just how beautiful and elegant it looks. The icon was then mounted inside one of those wooden Artemio frames that I use for everything. I spent a loooooong time painting the frame. I wanted to try and achieve the look of mahogany and although it's really hard to see in these pics, I think I came pretty close. I base coated the frame with two layers of French Roast Fresco Finish, making sure that each layer was really dry, then with a really stiff bristle brush, I dry brushed some Brown Shed over the French Roast. I'm really pleased with the result, it looks really rich and warm.

I have a set of Cavallini number stamps which I really love and I used these to create my background. I stamped loads of them on manila cardstock, coloured them with Wild Honey Distress ink and then washed over them with a pale wash of Nougat Fresco to knock back the colour.

The little birdcage is a Memory Box one. I really like this die, it's very pretty and delicate. I knew I was going to slap a lot of paint on it so I die cut three of them and stuck them all together with Claudine Hellmuth's Matt Medium. This way, I knew it wouldn't end up a soggy doggy! I have recently discovered that French Roast, Brown Shed and Mermaid Fresco Finish are the perfect combination for a great rusty/patina effect and that's what I used repeatedly on this project. All the Ideaology was painted with this combo as well as a watered down version on my copper metal bits and pieces.

This gorgeous lady is from the Lynne Perrella range of stamps by Paperartsy as  was the bunting.

I'm really quite pleased with how this project turned out, so pleased that I may make it into a class if I can source all the supplies I used. Talking of classes, I have been a bit overwhelmed by the number of you guys asking me when classes are actually going up for sale, which is jolly lovely and I am very flattered, thank you. I had hoped to be getting this organised this week for you but as many of you know, I find all this technical stuff a real challenge and I need to wait for my lovely son-in-law Chris to return from his holiday to put the finishing touches to all the geeky stuff for me and then we should be ready to go. I know I'm cutting it fine as the date of my first class is 1st July!!!! So please bear with me, not much longer, I promise.

Righty ho, that's me for tonight......I going to have an early night, all the late nights last week have really caught up on me.