Words I will journal by.

Create. Learn. Try. Believe you can.

Saturday 16 July 2016

Summer#3UP Hot Picks and Crayons

Hi everyone!

How excited was I to be chosen (randomly) to take part in this particular #3UP Summertime challenge: even more excited to be generously given 3 sets of pre-loved, Hot Picks stamp sets together with a selection of portfolio crayons and Crayola Twistables. I decided to create a layout on a 10" x 10" piece of grey board and a 4" x4" mini box frame. I wanted to select stamps from all three sets and to use a combination of Portfolios, Twistables and Gelatos.
All three types of crayons are great to work with and I had great fun playing with all of them to see what they can do. All blend well and mix well with water and different media. However, the Portfolios and Gelatos offer a much wider selection of colours and the Gelatos include metallic crayons too. Delicious. I took lots of process photos for this project so, if you are willing to stick with me, grab a coffee and copious biscuits and let's get started. I prepared the board and box frame.
Choosing a variety of portfolios in analogous colours, I blended them across a piece of white PaperArtsy Tissuestock to cover the textured box frame.
This was then torn into strips to cover the box frame and the aperture which was then glued on. 
I sealed this with DecoArt matte medium. 
I wanted to use the poppy head from HP1606EZ as a key feature on the layout. I decided to increase its size by layering it up several times to attach to the corner of the frame. I used the same portfolios I'd used for the frame only this time I blended them with water to turn them into sprays. I did this by rubbing each crayon across the bottom of a small glass dish, added water then decanted them into mini spray bottles. The secret is not to add too much water! Like this: 



These colours were then sprayed across a couple of sheets of PaperArtsy Smoothy card (240gsm).
...and stamped with the poppy head and black archival ink. 
These were cut out and sealed with Fresco satin glaze. They were then layered up and glued to form a larger poppy head flower and sprayed with a sparkle varnish.

Now for the prepared Grey board background. I use this same technique to turn similar colour Gelatos into sprays. Before spraying, however, I stamped and embossed (in white) the poppy head several times across the board to act as a resist to the Gelatos. Once I had done this I sprayed the Gelatos across the background, allowing the colours to mix and merge, drip and puddle around the stencilled texture. Delicious and great fun. Once dry, I rubbed a couple of the metallic Gelatos through a few Tim Holtz stencils.
I stamped various stamps from the three sets across a sheet of PA Tissuestock and tore around some of these before adhering them to the background with matte medium.
Here's a close up of those colours settling in and around the texture paste. 
Now to use those gorgeous butterflies from sets: HP1301EZ and HP1507EZ! I decided to use the Crayola Twistables for these. Although they have a limited colour range they fortunately had the perfect colour combo for this spread. 
This time I dry blended the colours across PA card stock and Tissue Stock. I sealed the colours with PA satin glaze which helped them to merge further, then stamped all four sizes of butterflies onto both substrates. These were cut out, layered up and micro beads added along the body sections. I also added antennae to the largest butterfly. After adhering the box frame onto the board, I was able to place the butterflies into position, adhering the largest one to the opposite corner of the box frame to the poppy flower head.  
Now it was a case of adding text and embellishments to complete the final stages. The words were taken from set: HP1301EZ. I used various die cuts I had in my stash - I love that Prim poppy die! I coloured some Golden bead gel and rubbed that around the edge of the grey board frame, and glued some micro beads spilling out of the box frame. 
Finally, I added some beads and doodled around them and there it was: in all it's glory! I've loved making this. It sits proudly on its easel on my bookcase in the dining room and makes me smile each time I look at it. And I'm hooked on using crayons! Here are the delicious stamp sets Leandra sent me for this challenge:

 I congratulate any of you who managed to stay with me through the entire blog post but don't blame any of you who just looked at the photos. Hopefully, they were sufficient. I was lucky enough to be paired up this evening with the very talented Donna Ragdoll and Nikki Killinger. You can see their projects here

Thanks Leandra and Darcy for this lovely opportunity. I've had a ball! 
















42 comments:

  1. Love love love this Chris!! fantastic colours, and the images are perfect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Thankyou Helen. You are always so encouraging! Thanks for your lovely comment.

      Delete
  2. Gorgeous project - you've done the stamps proud - love this!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankyou Miriam. Those stamps are gorgeous aren't they?

      Delete
  3. Really enjoyed your project, I have been thinking recently whether to invest in some form of crayons. The colours you have chosen are a great fit with the stamps that you used. Thanks for the inspiration. I also liked the use of the PA tissue paper, something else I need to consider.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bryan. I love Gelatos the best but the portfolios are a close second and much cheaper! The Tissuestock is really great to use. Stands up to quite a lot of wet media. I use it on the Gelli plate too!

      Delete
  4. How cool are your sprays!!! What a fab idea Chris!! Genius! ~Leandra

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Leandra. And Thankyou for these gorgeous stamps and this whole challenge!

      Delete
  5. How cool are your sprays!!! What a fab idea Chris!! Genius! ~Leandra

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful creation Chris. Love the colours you decided upon and gorgeous stamps you got to use too. I'm not one for much bling but I do love a bit of sparkle and the spray gives the perfect finishing touch. I've been meaning to ask you for ages what it was you used on my beautiful birthday card....would this be it and if so what is it?

    Stunning #3Up project Chris!

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lesley. Yes, I did use it on your card. It's: Crafters Companion Spray and Sparkle iridescent varnish. I'm the same. Don't do bling but I like a bit of sparkle here and there.

      Delete
  7. Fabulous work Chris, really love what you've created 💕

    ReplyDelete
  8. wow! like seriously WOW. those sprays are so cool Chris I love all the different stages. Looks like you had so much fun. thanks for playing along with us. ~Darcy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the opportunity. I really loved this challenge!

      Delete
  9. Super gorgeous project, Chris!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is fabulous and congratulations on being chosen too. A very inspirational post!
    Hugs
    Linda xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great post Chris, love the colours and the way you've made your sprays from the crayons, great job xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw thanks Sam. And thanks for all your help with the techy side of this. I couldn't have done it without your help!!

      Delete
  12. Chris this is stunning, love the tissue frame cover and the colours, know you said they aren't your go to colours but they look stunning. xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Nikki! I think I'm being converted to these colours now - especially in the crayons!

      Delete
  13. beautiful work Chris - this is absolutely beautiful - love it to bits. Hugs rachel x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Rachel, Thankyou so much for that lovely comment! xxx

      Delete
  14. Gorgeous creation Chris, I really love the colours you've used here. It was brilliant having you as a teamie too ;)
    Hugs
    Donna xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was great fun - especially as we had to wait until the last evening and there was sooo much talent posted each night. Scary but exciting. It was lovely teaming up with you and Nikki. Hope we can again. Thanks for your lovely comments and your own inspiring project.

      Delete
  15. A fabulous project, so beautiful!!! Huge congratulations Chris!!!
    Sorry to not comment on the PA blog too, I'm on holidays and it's hard for me to stay connected long and catch-up with everyone and all the blogs I follow usually.
    Hugs, Coco xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankyou so much Coco! Enjoy your well-earned holiday. xxx

      Delete
  16. Beautiful project Chris, really enjoyed your attention to detail within your blog a fantastic tutorial a good way to start a Monday morning off.. Thanks for sharing Chris xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankyou so much for your comment Tracey! That is such a lovely thing to say. I'm sorry for my delay in replying!

      Delete
  17. This is tremendous! You really received some great stamps to work with and truly made them shine! Well done, great way to finish the week. <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh I certainly did and I can't leave them alone at the moment! Thankyou for your lovely comment. I'm sorry it took me so long to reply!

      Delete
  18. What a fantastic canvas!! I Adore your idea and such a beautiful colours you've resulted. xx

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a fantastic canvas!! I Adore your idea and such a beautiful colours you've resulted. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh thank you so much Etsuko. You are so kind xxx

      Delete