Tag: mixed media art (page 7 of 8)

Product Review Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Paints

Hello Everyone

I have another product review for you today.

This time I am taking a look at the new Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Paints from Prima Marketing

 

Ever since I tried the Finnabair Sparks Paint I have been anxious to try the new Metallique Paints.

You can see my Sparks review here: Sparks Review Video, Or you can read my review here: Sparks Review Blog Post

Metallique Paints

These paints are just a great as the Sparks and and really live up to the name Metallic. They are beautiful colors with a great sheen to them.

Like the Sparks, they are a thinner consistency which is nice to highlighting things and it makes it easy to mix with other mediums.

 

Metallique Paints

Paints from the craft store are a thicker consistency, but both kinds have a nice metallic finish to them. I did compare the Finnabair paints to craft store paints and they all worked great. The Finnabair ones might have a little more shine to them, but they are all good choices. I think it comes down to consistency and what you are going to  use them for.

Metallique paints

Overall I am happy with my purchase, I am glad to have even more metallic paints in my stash. I seem to always go for the metallic and these are perfect.

 

The post Product Review Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Paints appeared first on Take Time To Create.

 

All opinions are my own, I paid for these with my own money and this is not sponsored.

Mixed Media Altered Bottle

Hello Everyone!

I love looking at wine bottles and any other bottle with a great shape.  They are just so beautiful and I have a hard time sending them to recycling, lol.

So with this bottle I decided to alter it using basic mixed media techniques. Now it is ready to be on display instead of heading to recycling.

You can watch the altered bottle process here:

 

Materials:

  • Bottle (cleaned and ready for painting)
  • Gesso, soft gloss gel, glue
  • brushes
  • buttons, raffia, and any other bits and bobs that you want to stick on
  • charm bracelet or necklace
  • tissue paper (or old patterns)

Instructions

Find a really great bottle. I love the shape of this one! Make sure it is clean before you start altering it.

altered bottle

For my base layer of texture I added crinkled up tissue paper from old pattered and adhered them with Soft Gloss gel. I will admit that I am still getting the hang of taking pictures and filming at the same time. I don’t have a pic of this but it is the same technique that I used in in these posts:

Mixed Media Box

Tissue Paper Rose

Once the paper is down and dry give everything a coat of black gesso. Once that first layer is dry, now it is the fun part, start adding buttons, ribbon, raffia to the neck, and anything else you want to add detail and interest.

altered bottle

Once all the glue is dry cover everything is black gesso. Make sure you get in all the nooks and crannies. altered bottle

Dry the gesso completely and then dry brush on the colors you want. I did a base layer of gun metal gray and highlighted the details with a pretty metallic purple.  I added an old bracelet to the neck for additional interest.

Spray seal it and you are done!

A beautiful new bottle to add to your decor! altered bottleThe post Mixed Media Altered Bottle appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Product Review-Finnabair Sparks Acrylic Paint

Hello Everyone!

Today I have something a bit different, a product review. This will be a new feature on my blog and You Tube Channel. I think it is fun to review new products and see what is out there and how it compares to the current products.

FYI I did buy all of these paints with my own money and this is not a sponsored post.

Recently I saw this really sparkly, beautiful paints from Prima Marketing. They are called Sparks Acrylic paints from Finnabair. I love anything that sparkles so I figured this was right up my alley.

Sparks Paint

I did a swatch of all 9 colors on a black gessoed canvas board and a white gessoed canvas board just to see how they looked on each background. I have to say they are very pretty, but some looked better on the white and some looked better on the black.

Acrylic Sparks

The paint is a little thinner than a regular acrylic, but a little goes a long way. It is great for dry brushing and adding details and emphasis to certain areas. And it does live up to its name, it does sparkle. They are beautiful paints!

So I had to try them out on a project. I found this dragon at Goodwill (sorry I don’t have a before picture, but believe me it was ugly. It was almost every color of the rainbow, and the paint was chipping) So I added a layer of black gesso and then added the sparks paint on top. Much better, lol. The pictures don’t show all the beautiful sparkly nature of the paint, but it is there.

Painted Dragon

painted Dragon

I think I am in love with the paint, I am glad I did purchase them and I can see using them a lot in the future.

I did a video review on them as well and you can check that out here:

What would you like me to review next? I love trying new products, it seems like there is always something new coming out

The post Product Review- Finnabair Sparks Paint appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Sea Shell Altered Mason Jar

Hello Everyone!

If you are like me then you probably have about 800 million mason jars in your home.  And all those wonderful crafts on Pinterest have inspired me to start using them!

So I decided to use one of those mason jars in this tutorial. It looks organic and beachy with the sea shells and sand texture. Perfect to store your souvenirs from the beach.

Altered sea shell mason jar

Materials

  • Mason Jar
  • Gesso
  • Acrylic paint and brushes
  • Hot Glue
  • Zipper
  • Sea Shells

Instructions

Find a mason jar, I am sure almost everyone has at least one mason jar in their homes, lol. You will need to prime it with white gesso. Paint a smooth layer all over the glass.

Please excuse my messy craft table, I have way too many projects going on and I am just a messy crafter, haha.

sea shell altered mason jar

The next layer is made to look like sand. I added some sand from the dollar store to some heavy gel and sponged it on with a foam brush. Let this layer completely dry before adding paint. If you have textured paste you can use that, but I didn’t have any so I decided to make some.

sea shell altered mason jar

sea shell altered mason jar

After the jar is dry you can add some acrylic paints. I sponged on 3 tan/sand colors to add detail and interest. Any browish colors should work.

sea shell altered mason jar

sea shell altered mason jar

Once it is all dry you can  add the sea shells, this is the fun part! Waiting until everything is dry will help with the glue adhering to the jar. I just used hot glue and that seemed to work for this project. Add a few shells and keep testing with the zipper to make sure your shells will fit.

Wrap the top with twine or raffia.

sea shell altered mason jar

After I added a bunch of shells I added the zipper. Glue it all down and then fill in the blank spaces with more shells.  I am a fan of adding more stuff until it isbursting. When you add shells to the lid lightly sand the metal to help the glue adhere.

Once it was complete I thought it needed some sparkle so I dry brushed on some beautiful gold acrylic paint.

sea shell altered mason jar

All done! I am loving this technique, and I think it would look great with rhinestones or buttons, or any other small item! So pretty!

sea shell altered mason jar

The post Sea Shell Altered Mason Jar appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Imagine Embroidered Garland

Hello Everyone!

Do you feel like your creative space is always neglected, like it is a just a cluttered room that has no real style? I do, all the time. I go and work in my craft room and then leave. There is constant disorganization and no real style in my room.

So, I decided to make this embroidered garland to hang over my window. (I am not showing you my window because I don’t even have a window treatment covering it, just a Transformers sheet that was my son’s. Pretty sad, right?) I am putting the skills I learned in my embroidery class to good use.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

 

The first thing I did was cut out my word out of felted wool. (I found a font I liked and printed the word I wanted to embroider). Then I did a different embroidery stitch on each letter. I really liked how it was all a little different, yet unified.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Then I started adding ribbon and lace and bits and bobs to a piece of burlap. I was going for a shabby chic look, that was monochromatic, and I think I came pretty close. Hot glue is your friend in this step, everything is hot glued down.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Next I added all the words to a string, leaving space between each letter. In the space I added ribbon, and charms and anything else I could find. I think it turned out really cute, perfect for the blank, boring spot above my window.

 

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Here is a close up of all the letters. Each letter is a little different, but similar enough to belong together.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

I am in love with this embroidered garland, and it is the perfect start to decorating my craft room. I am looking forward to creating not only a creative, crafty space, but a welcoming one as well.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

The post Imagine Embroidered Garland appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Mixed Media Class with Tara Pappas

Hello Everyone!

If you ever get the chance to take a class from a professional artist, you should jump at the chance! You will learn so many new tips, tricks, and techniques.

BTW This is not a paid or sponsored post, all opinions are my own. I paid for the class with my own money.

During my weekend at Mojito Creek (you can see my post about the retreat here: Mojito Creek) I was able to take a class from Tara Pappas! If you don’t know of her work you should check her out on her website: Tara Pappas. She is an amazing mixed media artist that creates these beautiful, whimsical, fun paintings.  I have admired her for a while and when I found out that she was teaching at Mojito Creek I had to jump at the chance to learn from her!

I purchased this print and I love it! Penguins playing with the Narwal, it is fantastic! I think I need a few more prints for all my walls!

The first step is prepping the canvas board. She uses ripped up old books or magazines and Mod Podges them to the canvas.  I love how this creates texture and interest in the first layer.

Mixed media art

For the rocky cliff that my lighthouse is standing on I ripped up old magazines and attached them with Mod Podge.   The ripping of magazines and books is awesome. I love how it enhances the paintings. This is something that I don’t in my paintings.

But before I added the rocks I first painted the sky blue. I didn’t want to cover all the book pages so I lightly swirled on a couple of colors in acrylic paint and wiped off some with a paper towel.  Then I added the rocks.

I drew the lighthouse! I am actually pretty excited about that. It isn’t perfect, but it was my first time drawing one! Tara was very encouraging and supportive when I told her I was going to draw the lighthouse!

Then I painted the lighthouse and then added the light coming from the lighthouse. That is just cut up magazines. The swirls were added with a paint marker. The bear the boat is one of Tara’s characters. She had some fantastic characters that we were able to use in our paintings, I love how generous she is with her work and time. After painted the bear he was the perfect addition.  I really love how this turned out.

Mixed media art

Ahh the ship, let me tell you a little story about this painting, haha. This was actually my first painting. She taught us about the ripping of book pages, then she mentioned that we can make texture and water, then I was off, haha. I just went to town making this ship. This is the only in progress pic I took, sorry about that.

The water is made from the tissue paper in old patterns, and I just painted over it. The sky is painted with acrylic paint and blended. The ship is drawn on old books (my first time drawing a ship!) and painted with metallic paints. In fact the whole drawing is done with metallic paints.

Even though it looks nothing like what Tara was teaching us, she was so supportive and encouraging for me to just keep on doing my thing! 

I added the quote and I am very happy with how it turned out. Such a great class and I love how all the paintings (not just my paintings, but all the students) turned out a little different.

So if you get a chance to take a class from Tara I highly encourage it! I learned a lot and I can’t wait to incorporate some of the new techniques into my art. 

The post Mixed Media Class With Tara Pappas appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Travel Journal- Mojito Creek, Blackhawk, CO

Hello Everyone!

Every once in a while you just need to get away, and that is exactly what I did last weekend. If you follow me on Instagram (@taketimetocreate) you will have noticed that I was at my happy place, Mojito Creek. I went up for the weekend to take a class from Tara Pappas and to craft my heart out!

Just for the record, this is not a paid or sponsored post, I just love the place so much that I wanted to tell you all about it.

Mojito Creek is an awesome retreat in Blackhawk, CO. It is a little ways from the casinos (about 20 minutes), and in my opinion that is perfect! If we wanted to go do some fun activities then we could, or we could just stay in the beautiful mountains and relax. That is what I chose to do.

I know you can rent the house for the weekend for a private party or you can come to one of the open weekends. I was there to learn from the artist Tara Pappas (www.tarapappasart.com) and to work on some of my own projects. Tara is an amazing mixed media artist and I will tell you all about the class we took with her in my next post. (I just don’t want this one to get too long, lol)

Anyway, this is my second time visiting Mojito Creek and I loved it just as much the second time as I did the first time I was there.

I drove up there last Friday morning and the weather was perfect! Bright blue skies, sunny, and not too hot. Weather can change pretty quickly in Colorado, and it does get cooler the higher you go in the mountains, but that day it was perfect. The house is at about 9000 ft so the wireless was not as fast as I was  used to, but that just encouraged me to but my phone down and get to crafting!

The kitchen and dining room are nice and big. We had 14 people up there that weekend and I didn’t feel like it was crowded at all. 

Look at all this space for crafting! I mean, it is fantastic how much room we had! Everyone had a huge table with a lamp, there was plenty of room to do just about any craft! I loved seeing all the various crafts that people were doing, some were making cards, other people were scrapbooking, while I was working on some mixed media projects. 

So much space! It can be configured differently when different groups are up there, but having the crafting tables up is my favorite configuration, lol.

When you need a break from crafting there is a nice little sun room tucked off to the side. This is my favorite place to grab my book and read for a while. I didn’t take pictures of the bedrooms but the beds are nice to sleep in, and my room mates were very nice.

The mountains are always beautiful and the flowers were just starting to come out. This was the perfect way for me to regroup and relax and when I got home Sunday afternoon I was ready to tackle my week.


The post Travel Journal- Mojito Creek, Blackhawk, CO appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Metallic Mixed Media Box

Metallic Mixed Media Box

A mixed media box is great for storage and display. Using basic mixed media techniques you can have a beautiful and useful box.

Hello Everyone!

In case you missed my class at my local creative reuse center, Who Gives a Scrap, I thought I would share with you one of the project I did. It was a beginning mixed media class that was tons of fun to teach and the participants were awesome! I loved seeing the creativity and individually of all the projects.

mixed media box

One of the challenges of teaching at a creative reuse center is trying to use items that you can find, which makes a mixed media project perfect. I prepped my box ahead of the class, but I used items that I found there. The sky is the limit with a box like this.

mixed media box

The first thing I did is find a small canvas for everyone to work with. I found these boxes that had old film canisters in it, these came from a university that was just going to throw them away. I am glad that that they didn’t pitch them. The box is about 6×6 and is a perfect size for beginners to work on, not to big to be intimidating, but not too small to be frustrating.

For the background I took tissue paper from old patters (I must really love old patterns I seem to use them all the time, lol. You can see the rose I made for my mom here: Tissue Paper Rose). I used Mod Podge and crinkled everything up and glued it down. Once it is all dry cover the background with black gesso.
mixed media box

Then I found buttons, and beads, and a knob that I really liked. So I hot glued it all the the box. You could use a gel to glue it down, but I wanted it to dry fast so I used hot glue.  Once I got it all down I painted clear gesso over everything so I could paint the smooth surfaces.
mixed media box

I love metallic paints! I used them all the time. For this project I just dry brushed the metallic paints on, highlighting the peaks and the valleys stayed black. If you don’t gesso then the paint won’t stick to the smooth buttons and beads. mixed media box

After dry brushing the paints i was done. The project was easy enough for beginners, but more advanced crafters could really go to town. I had a great time and I can’t wait to teach my next class!
mixed media box
The post Metallic Mixed Media Box appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Tissue Paper Rose

Tissue Paper Rose

Use the tissue paper in old patterns to create a beautiful tissue paper rose. 

Hello Everyone!

Last weekend was my beautiful mother’s birthday! She is such an important part of my life and I wanted to express that with a handmade gift.

I created this tissue paper rose for her and gave it to her last weekend when we went to lunch and shopping to celebrate!

diy tissue paper rose

I created a video to go along with the tutorial, you can see that here:  You Tube Tissue Paper Rose Tutorial

This was so much fun to create, and it was my first time doing something like this and I am happy with how it turned out.

Materials:

BTW this list contains affiliate links.

Instructions: 

First prep the canvas board with gesso. I chose black gesso to give me a clean slate.

Get the tissue paper ready by ripping the tissue paper and rolling it into a tight strip.

diy tissue paper rose

Roll the strips into a tight circle and glue it down in a spiral. Try and keep it all tight and keep going until you get the size you like.

Make the stems by using the strips in a swirl motion. The leaves were made from a short strip with one end slightly trimmed in a rounded shape.

diy tissue paper rose

Next I put a layer of black gesso on everything.

No photo here: Then I decided that the black was too dark for the center of my rose so I painted over the black with white gesso

Then I added glass bead texture to the outside of the rose.

diy tissue paper rose

Here is where I got really bad at taking photos, lol. But you can see the process in the video

I painted the rose with 2 colors of pink and the background is a light blue to a dark blue to a purple.

I tried to stamp the background with some images but I didn’t love that so I mostly covered that back up.

Then add mod podge and adhere the mica flakes. The mica flakes add so much dimension and sparkle!

diy tissue paper rose

Dry brush a light shimmery white over everything and spray a sealer on when you are done.

It makes a wonderfully sparkly gift that was tons of fun to make. 


diy tissue paper rose

The post Tissue Paper Rose appeared first on Take Time To Create.

This post contains affiliate links.

Galaxy Mixed Media Canvas

Galaxy Mixed Media Canvas

Mixed media is perfect to showcase a galaxy. With found objects, and paint you too can create your own galaxy.

Hello Everyone!

It has been a while since I last posted, and I am sorry for the long absence, I was traveling for work.

But now I am back and  want to show you a mixed media project that I have been working on for a while. It didn’t turn out how I anticipated, but I love the final results! I just went with the flow and this is what I ended up with.

galaxy mixed media canvas

Start with a black canvas and add all your goodies. I added an old educational film, some plastic bits I had laying around, large plastic gems, metal pieces, bottle caps, there is an old record on the very bottom, plastic coins. For interest and texture I stenciled some stars and swirls in the background and added some tea from a tea bag.

 

galaxy mixed media canvas

Cover everything in black gesso to get the canvas ready to become a galaxy

galaxy mixed media canvas

Before I even started painting I watched tons of videos on You Tube on how to paint a galaxy. I incorporated a variety of techniques, and I kept working on it until I was happy.

Then I went to town painting. I added layers and layers of  acrylic paint and used some DIY acrylic sprays. When I was finally happy I splattered white paint all over to make it look like stars. And I added some metal shavings and old necklace pieces to bring in some more metal elements.

I am not sure it looks like a galaxy, about half the people I have shown it to thinks it looks like the moon. I am good with both views, in the end I am happy with how it turned out.

galaxy mixed media canvas

galaxy mixed media

What do you think Galaxy or Moon? Now I have been thinking about doing an underwater mixed media, I think what will look awesome!

The post Galaxy Mixed Media Canvas appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Project has been entered into the following design challenges:

 

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