A Gift from the Netherlands

It is Cec here and I have a very simple card to show you today that comes with a special story.

I noticed on the news a little while ago that tulip growers in the Netherlands had cultivated a special tulip in honour of Canada's Sesquicentennial (150 years) this year.  Since I am Canadian and live near Toronto this news caught my interest.  Here is a photo of the tulip:

You might wonder why they would do this for Canada.  Well Canada and the Netherlands have a special relationship resulting from actions during World War II when Canadian forces led the liberation of the Netherlands and hosted the Dutch Royal Family in exile.

Following German Occupation of the Netherlands, the Dutch royal family took refuge in Canada. Princess Margriet was born in exile while her family lived in Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada. The maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government, thereby allowing her citizenship to be solely influenced by her mother's Dutch citizenship. To commemorate the birth, the Canadian Parliament flew the Dutch flag over Peace Tower. This is the only time a foreign flag has flown over the Canadian Parliament Building.

I have the Tulip stamp from the Nottingham Lace set and thought that I would see if I could paint it to resemble this special tulip and make it into a simple card.

Here is how I made this card:

I stamped the tulip on watercolour card with some Archival Ink (I used Wendy Vecchi's Watering Can).

Next I added some water to the English Cottage Paints and using a fine brush painted the tulip.  The head of the tulip was painted from the bottom up with Lemon Meringue and Postbox Red, blending between the two colours.  The stem and leaves were painted with a mixture of Lime Marmalade and Hunter Green.  I painted the rest of the tulip with Gee-Sso White Gesso because I wanted a really bright white.

When the watercolour card dried I noticed a bit of rippling so I used some Super Thick Slap it On to mount the tulip panel on a thick piece of card cut just slightly smaller.  This smoothed it out and gave the tulip panel a bit of dimension.  The panel was then adhered to a piece of red card stock and then added to the card blank.

I created the sentiment on the computer and mounted it on some red card stock before adding it to the card.  You could also stamp the sentiment if you have something in your stash that would work for the occasion.

Happy Birthday Canada and thank you to the Netherlands for the pretty gift!

Love canvas

Hi! Solange Marques here again! I'll share with you the project for this month!
February is Valentine's month, then The month theme is LOVE!!!!!

I've created a canvas:

I've used a Square Flat Canvas and I applied modelling paste on the Believe stencil. Then I applied
English Cottage Artist's Acrylic paint Hot Cocoa and GeeSso Good!Gesso-white on the background and I've painted a heart with Postbox Red and Mulberry Bush:

I've used Word Blocks stamp:

I hope you enjoy it!

Lost Family Lady Mixed Media Layout

My first project for this month is a layout made with Acrylics, Kroma Crackle, stamps and vintage a vintage photo. 

As background I used a plain white cardstock that I prepped with GeeSso Good Gesso. When dry I added the acrylics blended with water. A bit of stamping with black waterproof ink and a stamp from the Grand Tour II stamp set.

 Kroma Crackle gives an extra effect to the background. Especially when highlighted with at bit of stamp ink.

A bit of flowers, a piece of cheese cloth, a badge and a couple of vintage buttons as decorations fit perfectly with the feeling of the card. 

Sometimes you don´t have the right photo for what you want to accomplish, then don´t hesitate to take a pre made one. I have used one from the Lost Family Paper Pad. 

A process video to take you through the process:

Products from IndigoBlu:

Indigoblu Lost Family Mixed Media Paper Pad

GeeSso Good White

Indigoblu Grand Tour II A5 stamp set

Kroma Crackle

Indigoblu English Cottage Artist´s Acrylics Lemon Maringue, Mulberry Bush, Hunters Green

Mini Canvas Art

Hi there. Georgie here today sharing an arty canvas. Have you seen the new colours from IndigoBlu? They are just awesome and couldn't wait to get my hands messy in a project with the brights!! I will list everything separately at the end of the post.

I used the Laurel Leaves Stencil and dolloped some left over Diamond Resin before going over with the colours.

The Diamond Resin was made initially to create the focal. I used some gorgeous quirky sequins with and set them in the resin.

Also added some extra above and below the focal to draw the eye outwards. I used some of the Gee-Sso Good in black, watered down to blur the edge around the focal too.

The sides were also painted in the same style but with less texture, here are a couple of pics, aren't those colours so delicious?!

Of course, a piece of work using IndigoBlu products isn't complete without a little stamping. I headed for what I can see will be a regular for me, the text stamp from the Tasty Textures selection.

Hope you have found some inspiration here today and hope you get a chance to dabble in these new colours.

Creative hugs

Georgie
Xx

IndigoBlu Products Used:
Laurel Leaves Stencil
Diamond Resin
Gee-Sso Good! Black
English Cottage Artist Acrylic Paints: Marshmallow, Lime Marmalade, Lemon Meringue, Pantry White, Coastal Walk
Fine Modelling Paste
Tasty Textures Stamps

Celebrate Family

Hello and welcome to my blog post. It's Kay here to start the week.

I came across this love frame and it cried out for attention; the A6 Lost Family Mixed Media paper stack was the perfect starting point!

For texture, the lace stamp from the A5 Floral Fantasy set was stamped over the frame in VersaMark and heat embossed in clear powder. Texture paste was then applied through the Laurel Leaves stencil and left to dry.

For colour, the frame was primed with white Gee-Sso-Good gesso, then painted with Iced Pink Gem English Cottage Acrylic Paint. When this was dry Mulberry Bush and Marshmallow and Snow White Acrylic Paints were blended onto the frame. A wooden family sentiment was painted with the same colours and black Gee-Sso-Good gesso.

The images from the Lost Family Mixed Media paper stack were chosen and stuck to the back of the frame. 

A sheet of copy paper was painted on both sides with Mulberry Bush and Marshmallow Acrylic Paints. When dry, flower shapes were die cut from it, then the A6 Colour Me Anemone image was stamped with FlitterGlu and flaked with Chocolate Box Mega Flakes. Celebrate from the A5 Word Blocks #1 set was also stamped, flaked and trimmed. The flowers, sentiments and tie were adhered to finish.

Hope you have enjoyed this project and have been inspired to upgrade a frame yourself!

Take care until next time,  Kay M