Love Life Canvas

You can call this piece a spontaneous mix of IndigoBlu love because that is pretty much what it is. I have mixed some of my favourite IndigoBlu products in a totally unplanned way and this small canvas is what came out of it.

The base is a 10x10 cm cheap canvas that I primed with GeeSso Good Gesso. Then I started applying Acrylics randomly over the surface. Both with a really wet and a dry brush.



After the first layer was dry I used the Weird Science stencil as template for my drawings. When finished I felt that the black pattern was to bold so I applied more paint and dabbed with a baby wipe over the drawings to get them a bit viewable under the paint.

After some more drying I applied more of the GeeSso good gesso, but wiped off most of it with another baby wipe. This way I got a milky feeling all over the bright paint.



I finished with painting small white dots by using the Wierd Science stencil again. The bigger white circles was drawn by hand with a white marker and the script stamped with the text stamp from the Tasty Textures stamp set. The wood alphas was painted with yellow acrylics to really pop.



As you can see the canvas shimmer a bit from the Metallic Acrylics I used.

Thank you for your visit today.

Products from IndigoBlu:

Weird Science Stencil
Tasty Textures A5 Stamp Set
English Cottage Artist Acrylic Paints Mashmallow, Lime Marmalade, Lemon Meringue, Costal Walk, Mulberry Bush, Hunters Green.
English Cottage Artist Acrylic Paints Metallic Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Emerald City
GeeSso Good Gesso White

Elegant in Pearls

Morning all it's Elizabeth here and I have another new project to share using the very beautiful Elsie stamp. I started out with a plan in mind and a canvas in front of me, and as everything came together, I just didn't like it. So meet plan B, which I love.

I started out by stamping Elsie onto a piece of Perfect White Stamping Card using Potting Soil Archival ink as I didn't want the image to run if I spritzed over it. I then added text from the Tasty Textures Stamp Set and blended around the edge using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

Then for some un-known reason I did everything the opposite way round to how I would normally work, by creating and adding my mats and layers at this point. These are from the gorgeous After Morris Mixed Media Paper Stack. Which I then added to a base layer on an eight inch square card, as usual I couldn't resist distressing the edges of the layers. I love these papers as the Art Deco period has always fascinated me, and I'm very luck to live in an Art Deco house.

To add to the embellishments I fussy cut the flowers and butterflies from the front cover of my Floral Fantasy Mixed Media Paper Stack which were the perfect size to mix in with flowers and pearl strings from my stash.

These papers lend themselves perfectly to the distressed shabby look, and are so on trend with the colours in fashion at the moment.

So when planA doesn't work out there's always planB...... and I still have that canvas to play with ;)

Elizabeth x

Picture Panel Portrait

Hello, Kay here. I found a broken photo frame, the glass long gone and the front beyond repair but the backing panel with the stand was intact so it has been up-cycled as the base for my framed  'Lost Family' member.

The panel was primed with white Gee-Sso-Good!,  fine texture paste was used through the Texture stencil on the right side. When dry the edges were painted with Goldfinger Metallic Paint .  A 12x12 sheet from the fabulous Arts & Crafts 'After Morris' Mixed Media Paper Stack was applied using Slap-It-On and trimmed. 

The whole panel was washed over  with diluted  Goldfinger paint. Course texture paste was then applied through the Roman Numerals stencil, when dry the texture paste was painted with Goldfinger metallic paint and shading added with a soft pencil. 

The script from Tasty Textures was randomly stamped over the panel with StazOn. Another Tasty Textures stamp was further stamped over the panel this time with FlitterGlu and the edges of the panel lightly sponged with the FlitterGlu pad, this was then gilded with Manchester Tart Mega Flakes.  

The pink roses and butterflies from two sheets of 6x6 Floral Fantasy Mixed Media Card Stack were fussy cut, shaped and lightly splattered with dilute Goldfinger. The edges of the A6 'AA man' from Lost Family Mixed Media Card Stack was distressed and had Mega Flakes applied. These were arranged with lace and pearl trimmings and then glued in place.

Do check out the new Mixed Media Papers, they are fabulous to work with, taking all sorts of treatments and always look superb.

Hope you have enjoyed this make as much as I had making it!

Kay x

Canvas Lost Letter

Hello in New Year, Monika here.

Today I want to show you my vintage, distressed canvas. I used the inside of the canvas so I could paint and stamp on frame. First I painted twice the whole area with IndigoBlu GeeSso Good! White, then I played with stamps, paints and sprays.

Look at this photograph of a soldier from new Mixed Media Papers - Lost Family. He is so nostalgic. I think these papers are perfect for retro and vintage projects. I distressed a little bit more his picture by stamping some Ink Splats on it and doing some real splashes.

I also played with a new stamps set called Tasty Textures, these are so gorgeous!

I used:
English Cottage Artist's Acrylic Paint : Hot Cocoa
IndigoBlu GeeSso Good! White
IndigoBlu GeeSso Good! Black

Stencil - Texture

Ink Splats stamp set

Tasty Textures stamp set
Lost Family Mixed Media Paper
Cartography Collection Mixed Media Paper

Have a wonderful weekend,
Monika xx

Welcome to the year of 2016

Hi! It's Marie here. Are you prepared for a new year filled with possibility? Have you made any new years resolutions? I haven´t - I stopped years ago - never keep them.... One thing I try to do each new year is to find a word to live by. Sort of a guideline to strive agains. This year my word will be evolve! 

So today I want to share a couple of projects that I made that represent a skill I have evolved this past year. One thing I am proud of and think I have accomplished is my cardmaking skills. From making flat and pretty boring cards I now make 3 dimensional ones with a lot of details.

For this card I have used a patterned paper from the coming soon "After Morris" Mixed Media Paper collection. On it I have stamped and embossed the "Colour This Peony" (also coming soon). 

To create extra dimension I have applied a mix of modeling paste and IndigoBlu Fine Glitter on the edges. Some black stamping with the script stamp from the "Tasty Textures" stamp set add even more interest. Flowers, chipboard and other embellishments ties it all together.

I have used the same paper for the tag below. The card and tag works perfect together as a set.

I cut out a piece of the flower from the patterned paper and applied to the plane tag. As you can see I have painted and embossed on the side where the patterned paper does not cover. For this I used IndigoBlu Acrylics and one of the new background stamps from the Lights and Sound stamp set that will be released in January.

The "ART" word is stamped and embossed with a stamp from the Sarah's Choice A5 stamp set.

Thank you for stepping by today! I hope I inspired you to create!

Products from IndigoBlu:

IndigoBlu "After Morris" 12x12 Mixed Media Card Stack

IndigoBlu Red Rubber Stamp "Color This Peony"

IndigoBlu "Tasty Textures" Stamp Set

IndigoBlu "Lights and Sound" Stamp Set

IndigoBlu "Sarah's Choice" A5 Stamp Set

IndigoBlu Superfine Flitter Glu Glitter "Faded Green"

IndigoBlu English Cottage Paint "Peppermint Tea"

IndigoBlu English Cottage Paint "Pink Iced Gem"

IndigoBlu English Cottage Paint Metallic "Goldfinger"

Lady Heart

Hi there, it's Kay. Can't believe it's nearly Christmas, but I'm taking a break and sharing this heart panel to show some of the new Mixed Media Papers being released to trade at the beginning of 2016.  

I'm loving these new papers and unable to decide which are my favourites, but the Lost Family and Arts and Crafts After Morris sets are front runners!

The heart shaped panel was first painted with black Gee-SsoGood then covered with Townhouse Teal paint, blended with a little SleepingBeauty paint. Interest was added by stamping Teeny Backgrounds with FlitterGlu and applying Chocolate Box Mega Flakes and stamping one of the Tasty Textures stamps with Peppermint Tea paint.

I coloured the glamorous lady from the Lost Family paper set with Copic markers and now it looks just like a old fashioned tinted photo! The edges have been lightly distressed and covered with  more Mega Flakes. The script is from the Tasty Textures stamp set and helps to add a little more glitz.  

Flower shapes and patterns from the Arts and Crafts After Morris 12x12 Mixed Media Paper pad were cut out, given a wash of Snow White paint then layered to frame the lady.   

I had such fun making this panel. Talking of fun, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Take care, Kay x

Big News for IndigoBlu and a Canal Grande Canvas

Hi everyone and welcome! I've got a new mixed media canvas to share with you but before that some big news...

Until now the IndigoBlu International Design Team have posted their amazing pieces of inspiration and sneak peeks of new product on the IndigoBlu blog and the fabulous Challenge Design Team have shared their beautiful work alongside our winners and guests here on the IndigoBlu Challenge blog. So you've had to make the journey to two places for your 'fix' of IndigoBlu inspiration. Well not any more...

From today you'll find both teams, the inspiration, the challenges, the news, the winners, the prizes, the offers and all those sneak peeks in one place - here at the revamped IndigoBlu Blog. You'll be able to follow us easily and see the latest posts coming up straight away - just make sure you become a follower!!! We look forward to seeing you here...

More news? OK then. Back by popular demand, Kay Halliwell-sutton will be on your screens again this weekend with some fabulous shows on Hochanda. See her there on Saturday 12th Dec 2015 - 8pm, and Sunday 13th Dec 2015 - 7am, 9am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm.

Now for that canvas. Anyone who's followed me on my blog over the past few months knows I finally got to add a big tick to my 'bucket list' by taking a romantic trip to Venice with my wonderful hubby. Talk about inspiring (Venice I mean, not hubby bless him - although he's special in his own way!) I took hundreds of photos and got lost in the magic of that incredible city. So when we were given some new 'European Grand Tour' Mixed Media Papers to play with I was beside myself with one particular design - a view of the Canal Grande looking down towards the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. I added it to a canvas board and then the fun began!

It really didn't need much to enhance this beautiful paper; I scratched at the edges to distress the canvas, added an initial layer of dilute Gee-Sso Good! gesso in places, spritzed some dilute Goldfinger Metallic paint to add to the warmth, stamped some messy black areas using the 'Tasty Textures' stamp set and used clear texture paste through the coordinating 'Texture' stencil as a base for more embellishments. Having worked out where I would put one of my many photos, I added some pieces of lace, a few beads and pearls, some brass buttons and trinkets, moulded elements (including the frame) and metallic threads. Some more dabs of gesso helped make the Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Mists work well to colour these textures. The sentiment comes from the Grand Tour I stamp set - it seemed utterly appropriate! Now for some close ups...

Now I've gone to town a bit on this and enjoyed every minute of it, but I'm sure you'll agree the paper does most of the hard work on this canvas. Want it? Need it? Start bugging your retailers for European Grand Tour Mixed Media Papers as they'll be released to the trade in January along with the Tasty Textures stamps and Textures stencil.

That's it for now. Don't forget, you'll find everything IndigoBlu including more new releases here at the IndigoBlu Blog now so make sure you're a follower. And tune in to see Kay this weekend!

Have a great weekend, and whatever you're up to take care of yourselves.

Jenny xxx