Mixed Media Canvas - Dream

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I decided this week I wanted to walk away from Cut and Paste for a while and get my fingers totally dirty.  I love to create these canvases of the kids in my world and hang them through out my house.

This time though I reached for colors that I barely work with, green, peach, and yellow for the background.  After layers and layers of shimmer sprays, a little brushed corduroy around the edges, a little teal ink over the top,  some stucco, stamped script, masking tape, gesso, a little finger painting, a little drippage, the background was born.  Not much thinking just messy messy goodness. 

For the embellishments my focal point is the roses made from Aluminum cans. I have a video on these on my YouTube channel.   I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Rose and Tattered Pine cone to create them.  I rested them on top of a piece of sheer ribbon with sequin flowers.  Then for more texture I used the Prima Burlap Rose leaves, some were spritzed orange and gold to make them varied.   I added a Prima Cinderella Spray of Crystal flowers, and loved how the texture of the glass complimented the rustic metal.

To make the Prima birds blend a little better with the canvas I decided to alcohol ink them with black soot, patina rub-n-buff, and  then a gold paint on top of that. I did the same technique to the Prima birdcage (minus the Patina). I also patinaed a  metal butterfly and dragon fly charms from Pink Paislee.

I went through my Miscellaneous pile (the one that has a random element here and there left over from previous projects), and added the Prima Cabochon Roses, flower centers, and a random bead spray. I had put together the ornate plate with the ticket dream in it for a previous project and never used it.  Thought it complimented this one perfect so I threw it in. 

I love how all these random things came together.  There are so many textures in this piece that I can literally sit for hours and stare at it. When I walk by I can't help but reach out and touch it.

Thanks for stopping in today. 

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com

Resources:

8x10 Canvas

Glimmer Mist:   Perfect Peach, Meadow Green, Gold

Prima:  Cinderella Spray, Clock, Cabochon Roses, Sultan Flower Centers, Resin Birds, Metal Birdcage, Burlap leaves, Resin Corner, Chain

Pink Paislee: Dragonfly and Butterfly Charm
Tim Holtz:  Ornate Plate, Adage Ticket, Number Plate, Tattered Rose Die, Tattered Pine cone Die, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

Ranger: Black Archival Ink Black Soot Alcohol Ink

Rub-N-Buff: Patina

Misc: Stucco, Gesso, Ribbon, Gold Sharpie, Script Stamp, Aluminum Cans

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Digi Layout - Brighton Gibbs

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I thought you guys might enjoy a glimpse into my Photoshop World today. This is a digital layout that created a few months ago of my son Brighton.  The photo was taken back in 2009 in front of  tin wall.

© 2012 Tonya A. Gibbs Photography - All rights are reserved.

This took hours in Photoshop, but I will try and break out a few of the steps for you.

1. When I go on photo shoots I'm always looking for things to photograph that have lots of texture, color, and patterns. Such as:  Rust, Concrete, walls, plants, wallpaper, grass, etc...Organizing these photos is KEY! I have an external hard drive that I store all of my photos on, I have all these fab textures stored in a folder titled "Stock Photos" and inside that folder by Texture, Pattern, Colors.   This helps me get a better idea at a glance. 
2. Always start your digi layouts in the 300 dpi resolution and the size of the final printed piece.  I knew I wanted mine to be printed on 8x10 so that I could easily store, share, frame  or even add to a scrapbook page later.
3. Then the creative process begins, I start with my bottom layer and add a textured image, then just start playing with brushes and blend modes  building layer after layer until I achieve the look I'm after.  

How long does it take for one of these to emerge? Well it is hard to say. Sometimes I limit myself to an hour or two and sometimes days. Just depends on where my mind is at the moment.  I know many of you have art journals that you test out techniques or color combos on. I use photos like this as  a "Digi" art journal.  When creating these pieces, I'm testing out new Photoshop techniques so that I stay on top of the latest trends.   It is an added bonus that I can print them out and share them with my family.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com

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Oldies But Goodies - Tools From the Past

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With CHA right around the corner – I know there are going to be heart stopping products that will become must haves.  We will replace yesterday’s must haves with these latest and greatest products.  It is a vicious cycle.  We have a lot of money invested in these tools, and they are still very useful.  I found myself resurrecting a few of them this week, and thought I would share with you how I showed them some love.

1.     Eyelet setting hammer  -  Remember having to BANG BANG BANG your eyelets into your projects.  Then the Crop-a-dile, from We Are Memory Keepers, was released and the hammer was tossed to the side.  Recently, I pulled the little hammer out of hiding and used it to distress a wooden cigar box. 

2.    The Grommet Setter from Making Memories had my toes tingling.  I HAD TO HAVE IT! It was like the coolest thing with the ginormous flower grommets.  I recently pulled it out to set an Eyelet too big for my crop-a-dile.  Also - Now that I'm thinking about it, I may just use it again this week to add a few of those flowers to a canvas. SO FUN.

3.     Dekled Edge Scissors  - GASP – you say.  Well, if used properly, these scissors can be a lot of fun.  I wanted a really tattered edge on an envelope  and decided to use these scissors.  I’ve also used them to cut fun shapes for mixed media projects.

4.     The old old Sizzix Dies remember the ones with crazy frames – no one ever shows them love anymore.  However,  I’ve been going through my stash of dies lately and found some great oldies to include in my mixed media projects and journals.   Example:  This frame was so popular,  but I haven't used it since 2007.  I recently cut some packaging with it, then dry embossed it and used alchol inks to give it new life.

5.     Remember this guy? I never could get this to cut properly. I have hurrled that little tool into the air so many times out of frustration.  I recently used the cutting plates as a stencil to spray interesting patterns on a project in my art journal.    Take your distress applicator tool and use the sides of the stencils to make beautiful borders on your journal pages.

Do you have tools that you have put away and forgotten about?    I challenge you to pull them out and find a new use for them.

Next week I want to explore products of the past that are making their way into my current proejcts.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya

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Cottage Chic Mini

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Marion has done it again, her Cottage Chic mini is absolutely gorgeous. I finished mine this week. I wanted to keep mine simple because I want to have plenty of room to write all over the book, and decorate the pages as I fill it. 

In mine - I included a few pages from the Prim Rose mini that were printed on transparencies.  I love how the transparency looks against all of the notebook lines. 

Each of my signatures has 3 sheets. The first sheet is the cover provided in the download, with the journal lines (also provided) printed on the back.  The second is a double sided page of lines I used the ones from the kit, and I also used the filler page from the Prim Rose book with the roses on it for the back. For the third page,  I printed the cover pages a second time. Once the book was bound, I formed interesting pockets from this page by cutting slits in the pages, before gluing them together.

This is one of my favorite pockets.   I had printed my covers on canvas, but didn't like the look after they were printed.  So I decided to use the printed canvas as a pocket liner.  I really love how this mistake turned out to be fab.  It gives a great texture to the book.

Here is a video walk through of my mini.



Want More Inspiration?

Marion shows how she made her covers on Ustream - Click here to watch

Marion - did a Video on YouTube for another method for binding. Click here to watch Marion's Video.

Oh one more thing before you go... Did you hear "Marion & Garett are giving away a color laser printer. Details can be found in her YouTube video linked above.

Can't wait to see your versions of this mini. Please make sure you tag me in Artsy Addicts if you create one.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya Gibbs http://www.psychomoms.com

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Sunshine - Layout

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Kenny has always called Brittany his Sunshine.  When I saw the Sunkiss paper line I knew it would be perfect for a layout of Brittany.

This layout has a lot of mixed media techniques. 

First I distressed the Corrugated Chipboard with Paint, and Crackle Medium. Then I dry brushed over that with the Wild Honey distress stain.

I distressed the sunkiss paper around the edges, and layers lots of prima flowers around the layout.

Brittany's graduation photos were perfect since we took them in my garden. 

Notice the flowers match the flowers in the paper.  To do this, I used Prima's Elina Daisy Flowers, then Vivian Eliza Mini daisies.  I sprayed the Vivian Elizas with a Goldenrod colored shimmer spray, and painted the center with a chocolate shimmer spray.  They made the perfect match for this layout.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com

Resources:

• Prima: Eline Daisies, Rose Trim, Sunkiss Paper, Button Vine - Nature's Garden, Vivian Eliza Daisies, Sunkiss Chipboard, Park Bench Shabby Chic Resin, Bird House Shabby Chic Resin, Mask - Brick, 
• Ranger:  Wild Honey Distress Stain, Crackle Medium, Picket Fence Distress Stain, Baby Blue Paint. 
• Sizzix:  Tim Holtz Envelope die
• Buttons
• Jute Twine
• Zutter: Corrugated Chipboard
• Golden: Texture Medium,
• Glimmer Mists:  Tattered Leather, and Sunflower
• Lace.

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Once Upon A Spring Time - Cigar Box

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I guess you could say I've been on a Fairy kick lately.  Graphic 45's Once Upon A Springtime is one of my all time favorite paper collections.   I have been wanting to alter a cigar box with it for a long time now.   This past weekend I finally had the chance.

Graphic 45: Once Upon A Spring Time: Pixie Post and Once Upon A Spring Time, Ranger: Claudine Hellmuth Matt Multi-Medium and Forest Moss Distress Stain, Prima: Rose buds, Mini Roses and Trellus Roses; Tattered Angels:  Gold Glimmer Mist, Mist Fits Glimmer Chalks; Floral Vine; Gelly Roll Clear Star Pen.

The base of the box was painted with the Ranger Forest Moss Stain then I sprayed Gold Glimmer Mist on top so that it has a nice shine to it.  I cut out the book and Fairies from the paper collection and flanked it with some Roses from Prima. Then I fussy Cut Fairies and birds from the paper collection and nestled them into the floral spray.

I love the way this box turned out, and I hope that my friend likes it too.

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya

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Fairy Belle - Canvas

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Please meet my beautiful niece, Emily. She is the newest addition to the Gibbs clan, born on June 15. She had her first photoshoot with Aunt Tonya last week, and now to drive everyone crazy with project after project.

I decided to create a canvas to hang in my  living room. There are a lot of mixed media techniques used on this canvas.  I wanted it to feel like a woodsy glen.   I used the Fairy Belle paper from Prima as my accent paper. 

The background has several layers of paint, glimmer mist, texture medium, and crackle medium.  I wanted this canvas to sparkle, but maintain a rustic feel. 

Then a cut out all the flowers from the paper collection to add as a base layer to the canvas. They wrap around the outer edge of the canvas. I added a spray of Prima Lilac Rosebuds (many of which I opened and painted the bulb gold, so that they would favor the magnolias in the paper collection.

 Suzanne shared with me some tiny purple Prima flowers that favor baby's breath. They were so delicate and spindly that I thought they made the perfect filler for the rose spray. Then  I sprinkled a few crystal flower spray around, and dusted the entire thing with golden fairy dust (a.k.a. glimmer mist).

I just love how Ms. Emily looks like she is nestled in a garden with Fairies.

I hope you have enjoyed this project. Thanks for stopping in today.

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