"A Trip to Wales" Home Decor ~ Creative Embellishments

 Hello, Creative Embellishments fans! 

Sandi Clarkson here with you today sharing a Home Decor piece that I made for a friend of mine. She does (well, did) a lot of traveling and going to Wales was one of her 2017 trips. Because she is SO good to give me great photos to scrap, I like to give them back to her in the form of a gift .. this time an altered Home Decor Large Leaf from Creative Embellishments. 

Last Fall I altered one in more autumn tones and used a photo of my granddaughter. You can see it Here. This time I wanted to go a bit greener on the leaf to coordinate with all the lush green in the photograph. 

By way of preparation, I used modeling paste infused with texture powder to get a crackle effect. I think that always adds a bit of interest. I usually allow mine to air dry 24 hours before moving on to the next step. 

When the paste was dry and crackled, I began adding color with my 13 Arts Water Inks and a brush. 

Later I added some waxes for interest. 

This top corner chipboard piece is the lovely Lucky heart piece. My initial plan was to paint these chipboard pieces black but I went ahead and painted them gold because I was creating on St Patricks Day and it seemed like a good fit! Ha! Afterwards, I went back over all the chipboard with black ink which did help make them more dominant but they do still glisten! 

I've learned that usually my first instinct is the best but sometime, I take a risk. And I'm usually disappointed. Maybe you can learn faster than me!  :)

Another amazing piece in the store is the Heart Motif. It is sort of a double heart and it goes so well with my theme. My photo is mounted where the Heart Motif almost touches the corner of the Lucky heart. 

For texture I've used microbeads and sisal from 13 Arts along with my florals from 49 and Market. I also love how my crackle paste has gorgeous icing swirls! 

Here is just a little side view of leaf. 

The subtitle on the photo was computer generated and mounted. 

My title piece is the Follow Your Heart Title.  My design evolved around knowing that my flattest surface area was where my title piece would have to go unless I backed it with a substrate. Just keep that in mind if you do something similar. 

The flowers and micro beads were the final touch along with a few more gold splatters. 

Thanks for coming by the blog today! 

I am very happy with my project and hope that my friend will like it as well. 

See you soon! 

Sandi

Creative Embellishments products used: 

Chipboard:

Large Leaf

Follow Your Heart Title

Heart Motif

Lucky heart

Stamp:

Circle Bokeh Stamp

Gorgeous Bridal layout showing 13 Arts Color Glow

Hello, 13 Arts fans! 

Today part of our 13 Arts Design Team are sharing projects that feature our Color Glow by Marta Debicka. These are a metallic powder that you can mix with water or other mediums and get a beautiful shine. 

I've created my project on a heart-shaped Home Decor piece from Creative Embellishments. I outlined and then cut my In Love paper into the heart shape and adhered with Gel medium. 

After laying down a layer of Clear Gesso, I wanted to do some stenciling with the Falling Hearts stencil. I colorized my modeling paste with some of the Andalusite Color Glow. Note that when you add to this kind of medium, you do lose the "shine." I was okay with that as I wanted to demonstrate various ways that it can be used. 

The photo is of a sweet family member taken on her first wedding anniversary in her bridal dress. 

My second way to use the Color Glows was to use some of the new Smoky Quartz to paint my chipboard clock. Love the metallic effect! 

Then I began layering all my die cuts .. I think I used almost half a package! :) 

Here's a close-ups of the clock. I splattered some gesso at the end of the composition and it covered some of the CG but that's okay! It is pleasure of creating that is important to me. Not perfection. 

I highlighted my focal areas with my third use of Color Glow which was the new Jadeite. I watered it down and it has less shine than if I had been more heavy handed. 

To accent my project I added Gold Hologram glitter and a fine Copper glitter both by 13 Arts. 

Just a quick snippet of the primary products used along with all the basic mediums. 

Thanks for coming by today! 

If you are not already following my Facebook Artist page, here is the link: Sandi's FB Artist Page. 

Also, don't forget to swing by and say Hi on Instagram: Sandi's IG

See you next time! 

Sandi

Lovely Spring Layout for 13 Arts Pastel Spring Collection

Hello, 13 Arts fans! 

Sandi here with you today sharing my April Solo post for 13 Arts. 

 I have been itching to sit down and play with the new Pastel Spring collection. This Dreamy Day paper with the cracked effect really caught my eye and seemed like a wonderful paper to use as a background. After priming with clear gesso, I added some modeling paste with the Falling Hearts Stencil from the In Love collection. I dabbed a few ares very lightly with Blue Sapphire Color Glow as well as my photo layer paper. 

After lots of fussy cutting of the ephemera and also images from Art Book Vol 2, I began arranging them in multiple layers. For height, I added 3 layers of corrugated cardboard under my photo. Before laying these down permanently, I inked with the Pastel Spring stamp. 

I used half of the mandala from the Chipboard Set and colorized it with Rubelite Color Glow along with my Spring chipboard title. 

                                                      Here's a close-up of the bottom of the focal area. 

I figured that this sweet image of the small girl was perfect to balance out the photo area featuring my granddaughter. 

So, I fussy cut her a tree, a nestle of flowers and a decorated egg to match the one on the left side of the page. 

Just showing you a bit of dimension. 

And here was a bit of the stenciling with some color added. 

I finished he page with some black splatters! 

 

I think that about finishes up todays post. 

Thanks so much for coming by! 

Sandi

Memories ~ Mixed media Oval Home Decor piece for Creative Embellishments

Hello, Creative Embellishments fans! 

Are you as addicted to the Home Decor pieces as I am? 

Sandi Clarkson here with you today sharing my latest project for Creative Embellishments. 

I've seen a few artists using an Oval shape for their mixed media projects and I thought, hmmmm, why not give it a whirl? 

Give me a Creative Embellishments Home Decor piece, the supplies to make my crackle background and away I go with my inks and embellishments! This has to be one of the absolute MOST satisfying types of art for me right now! 

So, I began with my Oval wood decor piece and added 13 Arts modeling paste infused with 13 Arts texture paste and applied that to my wood piece before going to bed one evening. I let it air dry overnight and woke up to the most amazing crackle!  I grabbed by 13 Arts inks that morning and began adding color to the piece. For splatters, I did use some Tim Holtz Wild Honey Oxide spray. The 13 Arts colors were Woodbine, Burnt Sienna and Salmon. Also, I used a few Prima waxes. For dimension I've done a bit of random stamping with the Circle Bokeh Stamp although much of it got covered. 

Along with the Oval piece, I've used one of the awesome border pieces that also make great vertical embellishments. This time I chose the Distressed Circle Border and altered it with walnut ink and various waxes. 

I had just received the Dandelions chipboard which I ordered to use with another photo but I thought it looked great for this project and used it here instead! It was painted cream but then I added so many other colors that I lost track. But love how it turned out! 

After adding a few florals and moss, I tucked in one of the Fly Away Flair. 

                                Here is a close-up of the Dandelions bits falling towards the ground. 

You can also visualize the various waxes that I added as highlights. 

And lastly, a close-up of the bottom of the Distressed Circle Border. 

A few gold micorbeads finish off my new Decor piece. 

Thanks for coming by today! 

All the CE product links are listed below. 

Sandi

Creative Embellishments products used: 

Wood Home Decor:

Oval

Chipboard:

Distressed Circle Border

Dandelions

Flair:

Fly Away Flair

Stamp:

Circle Bokeh Stamp

Monochromatic April Challenge

Welcome to April and the April Creative Embellishments Challenge. 

This month our challenge is to make a monochromatic project and the twist is to add washi tape. You are allowed to use black and white, thank goodness! 

 I decided ... finally ... to go with Coral. 

I've used a new paper from 13 Arts called "In Love" and it has a very neutral background that I felt would be within the challenge rules. After adding some old Tim Holtz washi tape and some random stamping, I selected my new  Intricate Floral piece and dabbed it with snowy white paint. Ultimately I decided to trim off a portion of it and added it to the opposite side of my layout. Because this piece is so intricate, I opted against doing any wet media such as with a stencil. 

My title piece was painted with 13 Arts Coral acrylic paint. I used the coordinating Cinnamon mist for splatters around my page as well as to enhance the focal area. Lastly, I tucked in a Flair that has Coral tones and added some Coral tinted microbeads and white pearls. 

Here are some close-ups for you: 

Although monochromatic can be intimidating, it is seriously fun once you select your color. The specific additional products besides the Intricate Floral are: Sparkle wherever you, Circle Bokeh Stamp and Seasons Change Flair.

I hope you have a chance to play along this month and win a gift certificate to the CE Store! 

Thanks for coming by! 

Sandi

Creative Embellishments products used: 

Chipboard:

 Intricate Floral

 Sparkle wherever you

Stamp:

 Circle Bokeh Stamp

Flair:

 Seasons Change Flair.