The Odd Whimsy

Happy Friday!! Today I’m sharing an 8x8 Canvas I have done using some of the lovely Dylusions Sprays and Art Alchemy paints and waxes.  I knew I wanted to use a photo I had taken on my last visit with my best friend and beyond adorable niece (not at all biased right?) I chose to do the photo in black and white as I wanted to use warm tones for the canvas, and the colors in the photo would have clashed.  I started out with an 8x8 Canvas I got from Michaels. I went with one with the deep sides so I would have more room to play, and I love the depth it helps give to my art.  I then began using random items from my stash.  I built the piece up until I was happy with it.  Not gonna lie, it was quite hard to cover this up!! I may have to recreate it and leave it be next time.  Then I covered the piece in about three layers of white gesso.  Once the gesso was dry I began to spray it with Dylusions Spray inks in Cherry Pi...

Hello all!! Today I am featuring a mixed media box that I have been working on for a few days now.  I had this beautiful little Grpahic 45 book box sitting on my shelf for awhile. I finally decided to take it down and do something with it. I love mixed media and decided to use this box as my jumping point.  I started out with covering the sides of the box with Finnabair Art Basics modeling paste thru a Tim holtz Stencil. While that was drying I started throwing on all sorts of found things from my collection. What’s so great about mixed media is you can really use anything! After that was dry, I covered the whole box in black gesso from Art Basics. I followed that with dry brushing some Finnabair Metallique paint in Silver Spoon. I purposely left some black showing thru in places. This gave it an aged look.  After all that was dry I went to town with more of the Metallique paints, and some of the amazing waxes from Finnabair. Here is the finished r...

Good evening everyone!!! I am sharing a video tutorial for a scrapbook layout/canvas I did for a friend that is getting married. I use Graphic 45's Nature Sketchbook for this layout. It went with the picture I was using perfectly! The actual time spent on this was about two and a half hours, and I managed to cram it all into a 25 minute video. If you liked this tutorial please give my video a thumbs up! Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Hi everyone!!  I have been on a scrapbook layout kick the last few weeks, and been working pretty much none stop on them. Only taking a breathe to art journal really.  So my lastest one was made with Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante paper. I LOVE this paper, and it was the paper that introduced me to Graphic 45. I have a pad of the original printing, as well as three of the collectors release.  I went with this paper for this layout because I got the Prima Art Basics Rust and Patina Paste sets. Let me tell you, I had WAY to much fun with those!! Everything will quickly be covered in them.  I had to pull back on things on this one because I wanted to rust and patina all my little odds and ends.  Hope you have enjoyed my work. Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Hi everyone!! Today I am sharing another scrapbook canvas.  The collection I have featured is the beautiful Botanical Tea paper by Graphic 45. I decided the soft colors would work perfect for one of my favorite photos of myself and my seven month old niece.  As you can probably see, I love using lots and lots of layers. I seek out paper that has lots of things I can fussy cut from the collection. This saves me space on storage, and money from spending on all kinds of extra embellishments. Plus I know it all coordinates!! Thanks for stopping by! -AR

Hi everyone!! Today I am sharing a card I made using a Penny Black Poppy Stamp. I adore poppies and when I saw this stamp I had to have it.  I recently took a class at Scrapbook N Memories in Harrisonville, MO (this is an AMAZING store) with my mom. We learned how to do watercolor with stamps, and the class featured the Penny Black Floral stamps.  In the class we used Tombow markers, of which I don't own any. So I decided to try the same techniques I learned, but using the Tim Holtz Distress Stains with the dauber tops. I recently acquired a whole bunch of these (thank you Tuesday Morning!) so I have been looking for ways to use them.    I used my Mini Misti for this technique, which came in handy!! I originally had not intended to offset the outline once I was done, but silly me picked up the stamp. Oops. But I was still very happy with how it turned out!! Here is the finished card!! For this I used the following: Bristol Smooth Cardstock Penny Black Poppy Stamp Tim...

Happy 4th of July all!!! I have spent my day off at my desk, working on another scrapbook canvas. I love to take my scrapbook pages and adhere them to canvas. This way I can see them everyday. Today I have made one using Graphic 45's Olde Curiosity Shoppe. I used an old photo of my Grandfather from when he was about 12 years old. I fussy cut several images from the collection along with the chipboard for almost all of the decorations. I also used some of the Tim Holtz Keys, Keyholes, and gears to give it more depth. I also had a silver distressed butterfly left over from another project that I added to this. Hope you have all enjoyed your Holiday!! Thanks for stopping By! -AR