Category: Techniques

Art Inspiration, Mixed Media, Techniques

Tea Dye Play

Ruth Cooper

Hi Angels!

I spent the first couple of days this week catching up on some extra chores and did a bit of unpacking & purging today. We still had about 7 boxes from our move we never fully unpacked and we moved 7 years ago. Most were knickknacks that we simply had no where to display, some keepsake items & a few odds & ends. Three boxes are heading to the thrift shop. For the knickknacks, we picked up a display cabinet from Ikea and I’ll be deciding what will fill the shelves soon.

Also over the past couple of days I’ve been tea dying paper. I forgot I was brewing tea the other day, so it ended up quite strong, so instead of pouring it out, I opted to tea dye. I’m really picky about vintage style stuff and tea dye is much softer than coffee dyed. After dying about 20 regular sheets, I pulled out the Color Burst Powders and played with the next dozen sheets.

This is just a small sampling of the papers I created. They will make interesting pages in journals.

I hope you are having a wonderful week but staying cool. I know a lot of the states are experiencing wicked high temps.

Blessings!

Cards, Creative Tips, Penny Black, Techniques

Beauty in White

Ruth Cooper

Hi Angels!

I was busy watercoloring and almost forgot to post.

I am going to try & make my posts earlier in the day. In true artist fashion, schedules and me are not friends but I’m working on it.

Tonight’s beauty is my oldest daughter and son-in-law’s anniversary card. I haven’t worked in white on white for awhile so dug into my pearlescent papers to create their card.

I used Penny Black’s Layered Scene dies and Creative-Expressions Happy Anniversary Mini Shadowed Sentiments dies. The different patterns in the pearlescent paper offer interest and contrast which gives the white on white depth and keeps it from looking flat.

If you are creating in white on white different white patterns is the key to a great card. You can use variations between smooth & textured by using patterned papers and embossing folders. Silver can add enough contrast for a sentiment to stand out and still keep the card very monotone. Have fun with it and experiment with different tone on tone colors too.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about tone on tone or if you try this technique to share your creation. I’d love to see your artwork. You can also add it to the comments on my MeWe or Facebook pages for this card.

Enjoy your weekend!

Cards, Catherine Pooler Designs, Taylored Expressions, Techniques, Tutorial

Terrific Tuesday – Tone on Tone

Ruth Cooper

Hi Angels!

I decided on one of my favorite techniques to share today, tone on tone or monochromatic creating. My absolute favorite is white on white but today’s card is more of a cream color. Let’s take a look….

I just love how this card turned out, simply elegant. This would make great wedding thank-yous for a winter wedding.

There are quite a few new card creators in some of my groups so let’s do a step by step on this card.

  • I selected an ivory or cream cardbase, standard A2 which equals a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inch card or half a sheet of standard 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock folded in half.
  • The mat piece is Canson 140 lb watercolor paper cut 4 x 5 1/4. (Watercolor paper tends to be more off white thus the ivory card design.)
  • I secured Taylored Expressions Nordic Snowflake stencil with some masking tape over the mat. Using Nuvo Glimmer Paste I applied or “buttered” a thin layer over the stencil with a palette knife. Carefully remove the stencil, wash immediately with warm soapy water & set aside to dry. Set your mat piece aside to dry too.
  • To keep the monotone effect, I cut the Catherine Pooler Designs Snowflake Mini Cover Plate die out of another piece of Canson 140 lb watercolor paper and the thank-you sentiment that comes with the die out of champagne colored pearl cardstock.
  • Once the stenciled snowflakes are dry you can build the card. Adhere the snowflake mat to the card base.
  • Use thin foam strips applied to the back of the Snowflake frame to pop it up off the card & adhere to the mat layer.
  • I used Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Clear Drying Craft Glue to adhere the thank-you die cut.
  • Finally I punched a small glitter circle & applied to the center of the snowflake in the frame to carry the glitter effect to the front.

Some more tips for working with tone on tone:

  • Keep your colors of the same shade or hue. You don’t want a red-orange with a red-violet as they will clash a bit. My exception to this is I will quite often use silver, black or gray words with my white on white designs as well as sometimes adding a layer of silver to the design.
  • The biggest trick for monotone cards to work is adding depth & interest. The glimmer paste glittery snowflakes create a lot of interest in this card without overwhelming the design. Embossing folders work great too. Popping up an element adds more depth. Vary the types of paper, mat, glossy, metallic, glitter etc. It is perfectly alright to add a stamped sentiment in an ink to compliment the color scheme or even black, gray or brown allows the sentiment to stand out more. Adding pearls, rhinestones, sequins & ribbon in the same color tone adds more interest too.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into tone on tone creating. Pull out your favorite color & see what you can create with one color family.

Cards, Simon Says Stamp, Techniques

Terrific Tuesday – Spray Backgrounds

Ruth Cooper

Hi Angels!

I decided to theme my days of the week for awhile based on different art ideas. Tuesdays will be Terrific Tuesday and will feature different techniques, backgrounds, stenciling, fun card folds etc.

Today I played with Distress Oxide Sprays. I purchased 5 colors a year ago & never took the time to play with them. Spray backgrounds are a fun way to play especially if you feel like your muse took a hike & you wonder when she is coming back. Often just doing something with no set plan in mind is great to get the creativity flowing again.

This is my spray station. I moved it to the classroom table for more room but it is set up on a rolling island all year round in the studio. I have been using this for years. It is simply a science project board cut in half to contain the spray, splatter or whatever creative mess I am working with. Did you know that Walmart sells mini project boards? They are perfect if you are traveling. I get many months out of a board before I replace it & that includes the extra workout it gets when I am teaching classes.

It took me roughly 30 minutes to cut 48 mat size backgrounds, cover the table with freezer paper, set up the board & spray all the backgrounds. Easy peasy & fun. Here are the results:

Now if you know me well, I tend to shy away from working in reds, yellows & oranges a lot. However I do get the bug to play in sunset colors as I call them. So when the Fossilized Amber & Worn Lipstick sprays produced a coral type orange I really liked it. Here is what I created……..

I used Distress Oxide inks with Simon Says Stamp Tumbling Hearts stencil in similar colors over the background. I finished the card with the Simon Says Stamp Heart Smile die set.

I hope this inspires you to play, paint, throw color & have fun.

Enjoy your week!