Quilted Tyvek Squares

I love to design using different techniques and materials - mixed media & skills.

Here are some sketchbooks I have decorated with quilted Tyvek squares

These spiral-bound Pink Pig sketchbooks, stocked by Colourcraft, have handmade coloured silk covers (front and back) and 35 leaf quality 150gsm cartridge paper (made from acid-free pulp purchased from accredited and sustainable resources). 
This picture does not really show how fabulous the silk cover design on the notebooks is, you really do have to hold one in your hands to appreciate it!
They come in some gorgeous colours, I've used the Berry and Lime Green, and a wide range of sizes, I've used the 21cm square. 
Not all the sizes and colours that Colourcraft actually stock, are listed in their website dropdown options so give them a ring if you want to order from the whole range.

For this project, I started with a couple of squares of Tyvek fabric.

These were stamped with a couple of my favourite polymer stamps:  patterned heart and leaf. I mounted the polymer stamp on a acrylic block and inked them with StazOn ink. As the ink is solvent-based, I can paint the Tyvek squares straight away using eco-friendly acrylic paint in leaf green and purple

While the slightly diluted paint was still wet, I sprinkled on a little Brusho SprinkleIT: iridescent violet on the leaf and metallic pearl on the heart.

Once this was dry, I layered the Tyvek on top of black cotton fabric with some quilting batting behind. I chose a couple of variegated threads.

I sewed around the outside of the Tyvek squares with a zig-zag stitch. This holds it firm for the next stage: free machine embroidery of the heart and leaf.

Then it's time to heat distress the Tyvek, using a heat gun. NB. Work in a well-ventilated area. 

I made a heating mat from a folded newspaper covered in kitchen foil. I used a couple of pins to hold the quilted squares to the mat. 

Once cooled, I flattened the squares with my hands, before trimming and using double-sided tape to mount them on the sketchbooks.


For more detail, on this process, you can watch the film from my YouTube Channel.

Tropical Fish Card with Brusho

Hello Colourcraft friends.  Gail here today with some tropical fun.

I started by cutting three 2.5" diameter pieces from white card.  I was thinking artist trading coins and I usually make them in threes cos they fit perfectly across a piece of A4 card.  I used a stitch edge die and then stamped using a fish from Rubber Dance Textured Fish set.

I masked the fish, stamped with Rubber Dance Grungy Sequins and sprinkled with Turquoise and Sea Green Brusho powders.  I carefully removed the masks and spritzed with water.  The water can draw some of the colour across the masked fish, but I just used a paper towel to blot it away.

I stamped with a grid stamp and a water reactive blue ink, sprinkled with the Sea Green Brusho powder and spritzed.  The water spreads the Brusho colour nicely and also softens the grid stamping.

I selected one of the fish coins, edged it with dark blue ink and added it to the card base.  I die cut the word from white card and added it in the corner.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you have enjoyed my project. 

Take care, stay safe, craft on!!  Hugz

Art Journal Cover by Karen

For today's post I thought it was time I decorated the cover of my art journal. What to do if you want some texture but without things that will catch and tear? Tissue paper and different texture pastes was my answer.

Manila paper tends to suck the colour out of everything and I wanted to have a bit of white space so I started with a layer of white gesso, feathered out so there were no hard lines. Then I added a bit of light background stamping and stamped my title on to tissue paper.

I painted the back of the tissue paper white so that it would stand out against a coloured background...

and I added Turquoise acrylic paint to the cover, again feathering out to avoid hard edges.

For a pop of contrast and some texture, I mixed Magenta paint in to transparent relief paste (now called Design-It) and stenciled this over the other colours.

To take the title stand out more, I added a light touch of Cadium Yellow and used gel medium to stick down the tissue paper adding a coat under and over to be sure it was well adhered. I added a third lot of stenciling too.

Mixing Yellow and Scarlet paint for a bright orange, I added more stenciling and doodled round the stars and circles with black and white pens. I used Black Acrylic Paint to sponge round the edges of the cover.

For more texture and contrast, I stenciled Black Expand-IT paste on to the cover. I also added lines with the edge of a paint knife to the 'Art' letters, and heated the Expand-IT to puff it up for some volume.

I am sure I will continue to doodle or add to this over time but, for now, it makes me happy that my journal has a decorated cover in some of my favourite bright colours. It gives a hint of what is inside. More of that another day!

Bye for now
Karen
x

Soft Form Relief Paste	EXpandit 3D expanding medium	StazOn Jet Black	Plastic Painting Knives	Golden Matt medium
white gesso	Heat Gun	Golden haired nylon brushes	Eco Acrylic Paint

Make your own stencils for a Beautiful Brusho Garden

Hello Everyone!
Spring has sprung and the garden is getting out of control! One of the things I've been doing during these crazy times, is experimenting with journaling and online classes etc. One of the journal exercises I had a lot of fun with was by Karen Stamper. She did a lot of scribbling, painting, drawing- in a really freestyle form to make a garden drawing in black and white.
This is my version using hand made stencils and Brusho! And it is super colorful. Best part about it- you don't need to know how to draw at all!

First I decided to make some simple stencils. For this I needed a hot glue gun and glue sticks as well as freezer paper.
First I "drew" simple designs on the freezer paper with the glue gun. I peeled these off to act as one sort of stencil.  My second sort of stencil were free cut out of freezer paper.

 I gathered the rest of my materials...

I grabbed every shade of green Brusho I could find, a couple of Brusho Sprays, Spray Bottles, Wax Resist Sticks, a fat candle, brushes, palette and a sponge.
First I drew on my paper with the wax resist sticks and candle- random scribble lines as well as repeating my leaf forms. Then I laid out my stencils.

Time for some super fun! I sprinkled and sprayed! My freezer paper stencils tended to curl up, so I flattened them out and held while spraying. Then let this dry.

I re-laid the freezer paper stencils in different parts of the piece and sponged on brusho that I had blended with water.

You also can rip out leaf shapes from other paper and sponge around them- or sponge inside a hole you ripped out in a leaf shape!

I had picked some leaves and laid them on a stamp pad- pushing down with a piece of paper on top and then stamping them into the painting.

After everything had dried, I went in with coloured pencils and added more details. It's hard to know when to stop!

Hope you enjoyed that and give it a try! Next time I'm going to try to get this effect onto fabric!

Brusho Mist sprays	Brusho Shimmer Sprays	Brusho 24 Colour Boxed Set	Golden haired nylon brushes	palette
Clear Spray Bottle	Wax resist sticks