Colour Inspiration - January 23

 

Happy new year, folks!

Here's a quick and easy tag using our Inspiration colours for January. I don't have the exact colours so I used:

Jo Sonja's Aqua for #14A098

DecoArt's Media Fluid Acrylic Medium Grey Value 6 for #CCCCCC

DecoArt's Americana Carousel Pink with a touch of True Red for #CB2D6F

DecoArt's Americana Dioxazine Purple with a touch of Primary Blue for #501F3A

DecoArt's Americana Lamp Black for #0F292F

(I also snuck in tiny strokes of Titanium White for highlights.)

I used a 74x138 Tando Creative Mixed Media Board, with a couple of coats of white gesso to keep the colours bright.

I applied a good layer of pink to the lower end of the tag then, while it was wet, applied Aqua to the upper end and blended the two in the middle section. 

Once it was dry the colours on my pallet were starting to dry, too, so I used a firm bristle brush to dab the thick pink along the lower part of the tag. I did the same with the Aqua to the upper part, but dated with my finger. This gave a textured look.

When dry I used the scroll stencil from the Tando Creative Background and Flourish Stencils set and sponged the purple over the background. I used a fine liner brush to add the grey flourishes (with a little white as highlights!)

I edged the tag in black, added some rustic string - and finished.

You could use a flower stencil, or may be stamp a sentiment across the background.

Mixed Media Boards - by Zoë Sanderson

Hi, You will have heard this before and doubtless will again.  Tando Grey Board will take just about anything you throw at it.  Which is what happened this time.

I really enjoy experimenting with different mediums finding new ways to use them.  Tando mixed media boards are a great surface to work on.  Playing with Mixed Media offers so many ideas and opportunities it can be a battle sometimes to edit them down into a cohesive piece.  Another reason to use this little Tando Mixed Media boards big enough to work on but small enough to restrict the number techniques used.

Here are three boards that I've recently thrown all sorts of paints, pastes, glue and things at.  First they were all given a base coat of white gesso.

First the Blue Birds.   This board had a range of Distress Inks blended over with the lightest colours in the middle working out to darker shades around the edge.  Then water hand splattered over it.  My favourite world is Laugh and it is on an old stencil, tried to use it here with DecoArt Crackle Paste, but this did not work out so well, tried it again with Cosmic Shimmer Lava Paste.  This paste sucks up the colour but only with the parts not expanded by heating.  A while ago the waste from a die was saved and then used on another project as masks.  Those pieces we then added to this project using mat gel medium as the adhesive.  

As birds were to be the common theme with these boards Whimsical Birds provided the pair for this board.   These birds are great fun as you get various bodies different sets of eyes as well as wings and legs.  You get to decide how your birds will look.  Kept things fairly simple this time just painting bases Blue and Yellow then colouring the eyes white and gluing them on.

The next board was an experiment with Brusho's Aquawax.  This interesting fluid will take colour with Brusho pigment allowing you to extend these, it will also act as a resist.  Having given the base a colour wash various marks were made with a brush and the Aquawax.  More paint added then baby wiped over, makes for an interesting mottled background.  When dry a Tando Stencil Mish Mash laid over the board and an embossing fixative pushed through, the EP is an old stone effect one from my stash.  More of the die waste dropped on randomly.

The birds this time are from the Tando Mini's Owls 2.  The owls come in parts that you colour and build up.  Once again my Acrylic paints were put to work topped off with gilding wax.

For the third, and final for now, board the Aquawax was put to use again.  This time the fluid was tinted with Brusho pigment and then brushed over the entire surface. While it was still wet more Brusho sprinkled over it although a squirt of water was needed to activate the powder.

The stencil this time was Dotstream and a different crackle/embossing paste.  This paste also sucked up the colour and left to dry.  A section of the board swiped with a pallet knife and some DecoArt Crackle Paste.  I wanted to see how the two crackle pastes would interact the glossy paste filled the area between the stencilled dots but that was all.  When everything was dry the previously painted Tando Mini's Owls were added.

These were great fun to do and and are fabulous little sample boards that I can refer back to in the future.  

Products Used:

Tando mixed media boards

Whimsical Birds 

Tando Mini's Owls 2

Tando Mini's Owls

Tando Stencil Mish Mash

Tando Stencil Dotstream

DecoArt white gesso

DecoArt Acrylic paints

DecoArt Crackle Paste

DecoArt Crackle Paste

Brusho pigment

Brusho's Aquawax

All other mediums from my personal stash.

March Colour Theme Week- Fiona Randall

 

Morning all Fiona here with a project and here is the colour theme for this month.

What a wonderful colour pallette for the begining of spring.

So here is what I created using the colour pallette for inspiration.

I used a Tando Media board mounted onto a Tando Tag and added one of the new Bees recently released. I went for a spring feel feel for this project as the colours are so uplifting.

Products Used.

Tando Mixed Media Boards

Tando Size 8 Tag

Tando Bee Panel

DecoArt Chalky Finish- Carbon

DecoArt Chalky Finish- Keepsake

Other Products

Arteza Metallic Paints.

Tim Holtz Distress Rock Candy Glitter

Tim Holtz Faded Type Stamp Set and Tiny Text set

Tim Holtz Distress Ink- Vintage Photo

Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink- Ground Espresso

Archival Ink- Garden Patina

White Posca Paint Pen

 

Using spray paints/inks on a project - Brenda

Today we start a new theme and this week we are using sprays on a project. I hunted out some old bottle of colour sprays and used them alongside a DecoArt white mister spray and got some really quite nice results.

I used a media board painted with gesso and when dry scraped white modeling paste through a stencil.

These pieces I took from a bits box which were already painted - leftovers from previous projects.

I also grabbed these from another bits box of Tando leftovers to add to the design. As you can see these were not painted or sealed so I started by gluing these to the media board ...

.... and when dry I gave it all a coat of gesso.

Next I sprayed some water based sprays and DecoArt white mister over the surface, dried it and repeated again to give me my base  colours ...

.... and then dribbled some watery media acrylic paints, ....

.... sanded and inked the edges of the board and finished with some splatters of titanium white.

Because the sprays I used were water based they created some lovely mottled effects together when I spritzed them and when I repeated the layer. 

Keep a lookout for some other projects coming up from the team this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Bumblebees and Butterflies

Supplies from Tando Creative
Media board, chipboards.
Andy Skinner stamps and stencils
DecoArt Media gesso, misters

Anything Goes week - Brenda

We have another anything Goes week for you where we share something that we have been working on for Di or for ourselves. Today I have a small media board I made for one of Di's Hochanda shows where she introduced a number of new stencils from Andy Skinner.

I love going over to west coast America and have been lucky enough to drive quite a large part of Route 66 so this brought back great memories. I also thought by using the design on a media board means it could be used for a journal cover.

The Route 66 badge was stencilled onto a piece of leftover painty paper using  cerulean blue, phthalo blue and paynes grey media fluid acrylics.

The quote was stenciled using black modeling paste.

The background was created using a cracked distressed technique I have used before. The blues were chosen to get a retro look.

Hope you have been enjoying AG week.

Have a great weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx

Colour theme for March - Brenda

This week we are working with the March colour theme which is a gorgeous palette of greens and teal. I decided to use one of the media boards from the shop.

Of course I also used my much loved DecoArt media fluid acrylics (available in the Tando store) and played with a new (to me) technique layering the acrylic paints and using water splatters to create the interesting results.

Process steps

1. Paint the media board with a thick coat of sap green, sprinkle with water droplets and leave it to sit for a minute. Start to heat the board but before the watery spots dry lay a piece of clean dry kitchen paper over it to absorb the water. It sucks up some of the paint that has mixed with the water and leaves these gorgeous splatter spots.

2. Repeat step one with a coat of cobalt teal hue. After you have lifted the paper and droplets sprinkle with water again and you get a variation of colour spots in the teal colour.

3. Now mix the lightest colour in the above palette using green gold and titanium white and repeat step 1 again. Here's where I hold my hand up and say I was so busy writing this post at the same time I forgot to heat the board (and take a photo) and laid the paper towel down lightly and pressed gently  and repeated with titanium white.

4. Take one of the Tando flowers with stems, soak it with water and when wet enough split it into three pieces. Rough up the flower petals and dry them again. Paint with acrylics, ink the tips of the petals with brown distress ink and flick with white.

I had the leaf die-cuts sitting on my desk and the flowers are from my supplies.

5. Cut a small piece of greyboard, paint it white and when dry add a remnant rub to create your focal title.

6. Sand the edges of the media board and blend the edges with brown distress ink and splatter some tiny drops of the colours used and dry.

Assemble everything together. 

The little flowers look amazing with so much texture and dimension.

I hope you like mytouch of early Spring in the colours and flower design.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Bumblebees and Butterflies

Anything Goes Week - Joker Media Board by Nikki K.

Hi everyone,

It's my turn for the Anything Goes week, and I've combined mine with the Same but different week we had a week or so ago, where everyone made their piece from the same kit.  I liked my kit so much I asked if I could keep it and use it as my make and take at the Ministry of Mixology workshops, and share it with you later (now).

So this was the kit we were sent: (photo by Brenda).

All I did was ask for the words to be changed for me to use for the make and takes, and had 'Ring Ring'.

I painted the Media board in Tinting Base, and added some 'harlequin' pattern by using a Tando mini stencil with Crackle Paint, and then gave it a diagonal wash each of Blue Green Light, and Dioxazine Purple.  Let one colour dry before adding the other wash, or you end up with mud.

The background scratches were then stamped with Pyrrole Red, and Roulette Wheel in Carbon Black.  (You could use ink if you prefer).

The dial was also painted with Pyrrole Red, and then covered in Crackle Glaze.  When dry I rubbed Antiquing Cream into the cracks and wiped off, to make it look aged.  The numbers and Joker picture were given a 'dirty wash' (an Andy technique) with Paynes Grey and Quinacridone Gold.

The words were painted Red, the top layer Silver, and then Antiquing Cream was added, which sort of pooled over the letters which I liked so I didn't rub it off.

Finally Paynes Grey was washed around the edges of the board to darken them, and Red drips added to the top edge.

Hope you like it :)

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.
xxx

Products Used:

Kit by Tando Creative.
Joker Vector - Andy Skinner
Andy Skinner Stamps.
DecoArt Media Line Paints - Pyrrole Red, Dioxazine Purple, Blue Green Light, Carbon Black, Metallic Silver, Quinacridone Gold, Paynes Grey.  Antiquing Cream - Raw Umber.
DecoArt Media Crackle Paint
DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze

Modelling Paste Week - by Nikki K

Morning all,

This week our task is to use Modelling Paste in our makes. 

I have taken a Tando Mixed Media board, as I love these for little hangers or technique boards, they are so easy to use and are brilliant for when you want to 'art' but can't tackle a big project.  They make nice gifts when done too, as they fit in an envelope nicely. 

First, Gesso the board all over, then take the 'All Seeing Eye' stamp, and stamp slightly above centre.  Give a wash of Cobalt teal hue and primary magenta over the eye.  When dry, use Liquid Glass to give a clear raised coating over the eye area.

Around the eye and over the rest of the board, spread a layer of crackle paint. When dry, give a wash of Cobalt Teal Hue. Highlight areas with Metallic wax in Copper.

Over the top of this, I layered a Tando Brick wall stencil, and used modelling paste through it.  This was given a wash of Red Iron Oxide, and then some Patina Antiquing Cream in places.

You could add holes to the top of the board and some wire to make a little hanging, or a centre hole to make a tag.  A cropodile works well on the board, no problems.

Hope you like it,

Have a good week,

Nikki K.

www.nikkikart.blogspot.co.uk
www.facebook.com/nikkikartist

Products Used: 
Tando Creative Mixed Media Board
Tando Creative Mini Mask - Brick
DecoArt Media Line paints
DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream - Patina
DecoArt Media Crackle Paint
DecoArt Media Modelling Paste
Andy Skinner Stamp - Curiosity

Halloween weekend

Welcome to Halloween Saturday, it's Brenda with you today and I have a media board to show you, not the usual size you find in the shop but one cut for me by Di as I love easel boards and I have made my own stand for it too. If you are attending the Ministry of Mixology Retreat in Coventry in a couple of weeks time you will see me using them for my Demo and Make and Take sessions.

This is quite a dark piece of art but spiders live in the cracks and crevices of our buildings and under the floorboards so I wanted it to be a bit more eerie and slightly foreboding.

We have plenty of webs and a small skull .......

..... a bat hovering around ......

.... there's texture and crackle, a small metal skull and some remnant rubs to evoke that scary mood....

and both a huge and a couple of small spiders situated around the frame.

Here you can see the back and how it stands.

Thanks for popping by and if you'd like to see the process steps in further detail and with more photos please join me at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Happy Halloween.

hugs Brenda xxx

Products from Tando

Media Board - If you are going to Mixology in a couple of weeks time I will be using one for my Make and Take.

A large rectangle frame

A spider

A bat

Cobwebs
White lined Greyboard
Greyboard

DecoArt media paints and metallic lustres

Color Theme - Whimsical House Mixed Media Board

Hi friends! Dana here today sharing my take on the Color Theme this week. I was so inspired by the piece Carol shared on Monday that I decided to use a house as the focal point on my project. I have new houses on the brain because I just found out that I will be moving this coming June. I know time between now and my move will fly by, so I'm trying to create as many lasting memories as I can where I'm at before I have to leave.

I painted up a Mixed Media Board, Whimsical House (Set 1), Mini Flower, and the Arthur Numbers 5700, which is my current address, with DecoArt acrylic paint. I also used a piece of Grass Flexistrip, that I decided to leave raw for contrast. After I assembled my scene, I added colorful dots to the piece with the tip of my paintbrush handle.

I really love this color palette, especially the pop of purple, which I happily used to paint the door on this piece. I had painted my front door a much bolder purple when I moved in to my current house a couple years ago, and was just recently asked to repaint it an approved color by the neighborhood Home Owners Association.

You can find the products I used for this project in the Tando Creative Retail Store. We'd love to see your creativity! Share your work with us in Tando's Creative Zone on Facebook.