Thursday, September 26, 2013

September Guest Designer, Gwen Lafleur Part Two!

Hello and Happy Thursday!

Our Guest Designer, Gwen Lafleur is back with a couple more projects!  We seriously love her creativity and are so happy she created more today!

Let's get right to her projects!

Art Journal Spread 

For my second project, I used the kit along with some goodies from my stash to make a spread in my art journal… one of my favorite spreads so far!


I went through a lot of layers to get to the final point, so I thought I’d put together some tips on how I put it

Step 1: Stencil, stencil, stamp!


1. I picked a stencil and used it with Dylusions mists on both sides of my spread as my foundation.

2. Then, I layered several more templates and different colors on top. I was looking for little pockets of interesting stuff that I could highlight later on. (I knew I was going to cover a lot of it up, so I wasn’t too worried about how it looked at this point.) I also added some stamping (you’ll want to dry your layers in between, especially if you’re changing color families – it will help keep them from getting too muddy.)

3. I attempted to stamp with the white Dylusions spray, but I got kind of a vague outline… that was okay, I went over it with a paintbrush. What I was looking for was a base that I stamped over again in pink – the white helped it pop off the background a bit more.

Step 2: Add the last pre-paint details



4. I used my orange Sharpie to add some detail and color to a few of my stamped images.

5. Using the stamp marker, I also added a bit more color to some of the stenciled areas.

6. Finally, I used the Paper Pen and detail tip to outline some of the stamps, and also added the rest of my price stickers. Looks like a hot mess, huh?

Step 3: Paint! 



7. I decided what I wanted the main color scheme to be for the top layer and put a few shades of blue paint on my palette. Then I used my finger to apply it, working around the areas that I wanted to leave visible – I like using my finger for this because it helps me blend better, so there’s less of a defining line between the painted and unpainted areas.

8. Now… doesn’t that look a lot better? Some really fun and interesting areas are peeking through.

Step 4: Add the final details 



9. I wanted to bring the kit stamps back to the front of the page, so I made a quick circle template with some scrap paper and stamped several of the images on top so they would show through the hole.

10. You can see how it looked – I did that a few times on the spread.

11. I went back with my Paper Pen and detail tip to go over some of the designs that were peeking through the paint. Then I added some Glossy Accents and Frantage Fragments to highlight some of the areas and add some texture. Just to finish it off, I added a few sprays of white Dylusions mist – the perfect final touch!

That was it! I finished it off by pulling out some old alphabet stickers to spell out my quote. Then I sealed the stickers with some gel medium. And there you have it… one of my favorite art journal spreads to date.

But Gwen just couldn't stop creating with the September kit, so she is sharing another project with us today!  We just love this one and it is so versatile and awesome!

Project Life Cards 


After making my first two projects, I still had quite a bit left from my kit, so I decided to make a set of Project Life cards. Of course, you could also make ATC cards instead. After I finished these, I started thinking that I’ll probably use them in my cardboard art journal instead of in my Project Life album – they really look good in there!



Here are a few quick tips on how I made these. As you can see, I pretty much followed a formula which made them very quick and easy to put together.

Step 1: Get your crafty mis en place ready to go! 



1. I took 3 sheets of my canvas paper and cut it into 3”x4” pieces. Then I stamped on the scraps and cut them into circles. I also cut off a few pieces of my paint chips.

2. I adhered my paint chip strips to the top and bottom of my cards, cutting off the excess on either side (I made sure to center the strips so that I would have part of all three colors showing.)

3. From the rest of the paint chips, I punched out circles to put behind my stamped images (I made sure to punch close to the edge so I could still use the rest of the card.)

Step 2: Lace ‘em up 



4. I cut another piece from my paint chip scraps and used a ruler and a pencil to mark where I wanted holes for my Rex Lace. Then I used my 1/8” setting on my Crop-A-Dile to punch the holes.

5. I let out a long piece of the Rex Lace and then just wrapped it through. I started out by pulling through from the back on the first hole so that the end would be on the back side.

6. Once it was threaded, I just cut off the ends and taped them down.

7. Now it’s all ready to decorate!

Step 3: Decorate!

I used the rest of my paint chip scraps, some patterned paper scraps, washi tape, mini alphabet stamps, and my Paint Pen with detail tip and my Frantage Fragments to finish these off. (Tip – I used 1/8” score tape to adhere the Rex Lace on the music card.) I’m pretty pleased with the results… I think I might need to make more!


 

WOW - aren't those just amazing projects?


Thank you again Gwen for taking the time to share your talent and creativity with us this month!  Please be sure and stop by Gwen's Blog and see more of her amazing projects!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


1 comment:

  1. Thanks again for letting me join in this month! I really had a great time :)

    ReplyDelete