Liquid water colors by CrafTangles part 2

Hello friends,

I am back with more projects created with new release of CrafTangles Liquid Water Colors. It is a picture heavy post with tones of projects.

I tried to play more with the transparent quality of these colors. If you are familiar with traditional pigment based water colors, you might know that they are quite prone to create blooms when you try to introduce wet color on dry one. Blooms  are irregular splotches and marks where very wet paint has been introduced into an area that is quite a bit dryer, but not Bone Dry. As the Wet liquid moves in, it begins to creep into and over the other area that wasn’t perfectly dry, displacing the pigments from the first color and giving dark, harsh edges. Many artists use it for their advantage but you have to be an 'Artist' to do so...:) . So the good news is these are dye based colors which gives an ease to build the layers with smooth blending. 

I made the galaxy background for this card with them.

I applied several layers of colors from light to dark and kept on drying it with heat gun  in between each application. See how smooth the blend is. I have used Jane's Doodles stamp and colored them with CrafTangles water colors.

For next card, I painted some abstract flowers with wet on wet technique. For this, you just paint a shape you want with water and drop liquid colors while it is still wet. The water will work as a carrier and spread and blend the colors beautifully. 

I added few details with black and white posco pen. The colors blend so well and love the organic look of it.

Next project is my try with loose flowers using these colors. You need to dilute them a lot for this technique. I am not an artist so this panel took me quite long . Once it was done, I did not have courage to chop it and make into card so i left it for now.

Next one was even more fun...

It was just a plain tissue paper. It is gorgeous but couldn't figure out how to adhere this on anything. As these are water colors, it will smear with any glue. Well while writing this, thought of ironing it lightly and  use double sided adhesive sheet/label sheet to stick this onto a card stock and can turn into card or just frame it....:)

Next is a set of note cards. They are just 3.25 inches square.

First one is just 3 brush strokes. Second one is again loose, abstract rose. Third one, i tried to make some blooms by varying water content in base layer and black detail. In Fourth one I just added 91% alcohol for that bleached effect. Last one is just playing with that turquoise color which is blend of poolside and evergreen. That brownish yellow is lemon tart and coffee mocha.

Few bookmarks...as you can see I couldn't stop myself. These colors are magical. 

1st, 2nd and last use the same technique... paint top most hill/wave, dry it and repeat. Use tiny amount of diluted color . 

Last one is similar to 1st one but here I did not dry the panel completely inbetween two layers so it will bleed a little and give that softer look for waves. it all depends on the amount of water on the paper and in the brush. 

2nd one is my favorite. Believe it or not it only uses newly released black berry color. Yes, black... it breaks down into blues and purples...just amazing. 

3rd one is just a simple rainbow. 

4th is a perfect example of how you can create different texture/look from well defined (mountain) to very fluid(water) by just adjusting the amount of water you use to paint. 

5th one, I just drew few waves with a masking pen and added different colors for the abstract sea. Once everything was dry, i rubbed off the masking fluid to reveal those white lines. 

I hope you are still with me.. :P

Next few are mini, abstract, minimalist art. They are so easy to create.

You can frame them  with over-sized mounts to give that trendy, modern look. I haven't framed them but used 5"x5" mounts. The art is 3.25" x 3.25".

I used Arabic gold from FineTec. As you can see in the picture, the tool i have used to paint these textured strokes is very unusual....yes, wooden key( you get it with stretched canvas) and Popsicle stick. As they are pours they absorb liquid color and act as a very hard brush giving interesting textures.

 Last one is the best. I have used just black berry color but it turned out so stunning. I am really proud of myself as I have no prior experience of using water colors in such a free form.

thing made with just black berry...

That is for all today! I hope you are not bored with my obsession with these colors but let me tell you one thing...they are addictive..:)  If you have any questions, please let me know in comment below.

Thank you for being here. 

- Neha

Plumeria - Blog hop

It is blog hop time again at @Jane's Doodles. There are 2 new stamp sets Plumeria and kind. Plumeria is a perfect set for all your spring time cards.

Both the sets are so out of the box. Love the plumeria because they are fun to color and cluster plus individual flowers gives you flexibility to use it in many ways. The sentiments are wonderful too. Instead of just plain thank you, such sentiments add pop on the cards. 

Here is my cards with Plumeria. I took a different route then usual (i.e. stamping and coloring the flowers) to use the floral stamps. 

I used few scrap of colored card stock to construct my panel. Flowers are heat embossed in white and added white details with pencil. 

For the second card also I used same card stock but used copper embossing powder and thanks die cut from a metallic, copper card stock.

The next two cards are perfect examples for mass production.

I used Misti to stamp the images and heat embossed them in white & gold. The White is actually pearlescent card stock but in oicture it liiks like textured one. Check the image below to see it. 

I hope you like my not-so-usual approach for floral cards.

During the blog hop, all the sets are 20% off ! The sale will run till Wednesday! There will be one random winner from all designers blog who will get a stamp set of her choice. So please visit all my co-dts blog and enjoy their creations and leave some love on all the posts to win a stamp set.


Here is the blog hop order :
Kaja
Marion 
Milka
Vika
Janine
Neha ( that's me... 😊 )
Galina 
Norine
Jane's Doodles  

Thank you for being here!

January- Thyroid Awareness Month

Hello friends,

 

Today, I am posting this card as part of of a blog hop which is organized by my awesome friend , Milka to spread awareness of the need for preventive screening and early detection of thyroid disease to avoid unpleasant illnesses and dangerous complications.

Along with me there are total 26 designers from all over the world taking part in this hop. I feel honored to be part of this hop. Milka, I am thankful to you to invite me for this initiative.

The aim of the hop is to support Thyroid Awareness Month and to raise public awareness of the importance of a Thyroid Gland and problems it can cause when not working properly.Thyroid disorders pose a significant threat when prolonged or in the acute presentation, and are potentially serious disorders with symptoms that range from non-specific constitutional to subtle or frank neuropsychiatric symptoms. 

Being a Hypothyroid ( when the thyroid gland activity is abnormally low) patient for last 10 years myself, this hop is close to my heart. I am dealing with weight gain, edema, thinning hairline, dry skin, poor memory etc. I have to take my medication for the rest of my life and still have to deal with all those symptoms. I have to be very careful with my diet and constantly struggle to loose weight (Which is not happening - no matter how hard I try, I gain it back so fast - so easily) . I have to  keep adjusting the dose of the medication too. I’ve learned my body well enough to know when I’m feeling like I need to adjust medication dosage . Medicine is necessary to balance the hormone but you need yoga, meditation and exercise to keep your stress level under control. Between medication and lifestyle change I've learnt to live my life happily! So you can imagine  how crafting is helping me to deal with these crappy disease. 

So coming to the crafting part, I made this card around the sentiment. We were suppose to use the blue color, paisley and butterfly as the thyroid gland looks like butterfly. 

The butterfly is from Verve Stamps( sadly... they are no longer in business) , paisley from papertrey ink and sentiment is by MFT. 

Yes, life is tough but we are way stronger than we think! I feel Challenges are what make life interesting.

All of the details for this hop can be found here, on Milka's blog!

there are giveaways along this month long hop. Please check the blog hop order below!

• Milka Gubo (January 5th)

• Imke Ludwig (January 6th)

• Jane Taylor (January 7th)

• Kaja Vezenšek (January 8th)

• Samantha Mann (January 9th)

• Andreja Lampe (January 10th)

• Анна Коссаковская (Anna Kossakovskaya) (January 11th)

• Ksenija Rizova (January 12th)

• ValentinaBizjak (January 13th)

• Alexandra (aka Ale) Suta (January 14th)

• Kristina Pavlović (January 15th)

• Tanja Kabel (January 16th)

• Željka Jurkovic-Grizic (January 17th)

• Donna Mikasa (January 18th)

• Darnell Knauss (January 20th)

• Nonni Niskanen (January 21st)

• Larissa Walgemoed (January 22nd)

• Dunja Trautmann (January 23rd)

• Neha Bhatt (January 24th)

• Beverley Brown (January 25th)

• Ishani (January 26th)

• Maja Macura Sakač (January 27th)

• Naz Sasayakiglitter (January 28th)

• Sue Hastead (January 29th)

• Preeti Datta (aka Dutt Preety) (January 30th)

I really hope you will join our blog hop! Thank you for being here!

Ranganjali : Fire Works Die

Hello Crafty Friend,

I am on Ranganjali's blog showcasing one of their exclusive new die - fire works! It is a beautiful die which cuts clean and it can be used for multiple purposes. You can check the dies and my cards HERE!

Sneak Peaks for you!

Please do not forget to check their blog too! 

Hugs!

Neha

Fabulous You

Hello there,

I am here with a card which includes one of my most favorite plant leaf - Monstera ! I just love that leves...they are so elegant, huge and at the same time delicate.  The new release from Jane's Doodles is all about tropical. It has a cute Monstera leaf stamp so I decided to use it for my today's card.

I stamped the leaf on water color card stock, heat embossed in white and water colored them. Once it was dry I also painted the background. I stamped the same leaf on the back of glitter cs and fussy cut it to make that golden leaf embellishment. 

Keep crafting & have a lovely day!

Craftreat Tribal stencils

Hello Friends,

Today I have some thing other than cards. I am using Craftreat Tribal stencils on canvas and wood. When I saw these designs, I was delighted as they are really unique and out of the box designs. They are perfect to create DIY home decor, furnishing and much more. It is a picture heavy post. So seat back and enjoy!

Love, love, love these wood slices from Letzcraft. I painted 1 coat of white gesso and 2 coats of white acrylic paint for the base. I used three design for THIS stencil and black gesso . I added golden details with metallic acrylic paint and tooth pick. Once it was dry, seal with clear varnish.

Next projects are on canvas panel. I have used 3 6x6 and 3 3x3 panels.

I painted all 3 6x6 panels with black gesso- 2 coats. Once dry, apply golden embossing paste using THIS background stencil. Keep it for drying. For 3 smaller panel, I did experiment with white, green, yellow and blue camelin artist acrylic colors and liquitex pouring medium. You can create background any way you want it. Stencil 3 design from THIS tribal stencil using black gesso. Add details with golden metallic paint and tooth pick. Adhere small panel in the center of 6x6 panel using hot glue gun. This is fantastic way to create dimension and interest in you diy project.

The delicate details of back ground.

The gloden embossing paste looks awesome in person.

Last is 6x8 canvas and acrylics. Here I wanted to show how you can mask and use stencil differently.

This was totally inspired from google images. I painted background in different shades of yellows.

I used THIS stencil for figures. First, I masked everything but faces, legs and hands. Used balck gesso to stencil. clean the stencil.  Once gesso was dried, I realigned the stencil and mask legs, faces and hands. I used some metallic green and pink for stenciling. When everything was dry, i added details with white sharpie. Added some tribal motif in the background using one of the older stencil of Craftreat.

You can make couple of different sizes and hang them in a collage. 

I hope you will give it a try. I had to use the material provided for the post but I would suggest you to use stretched canvas instead of 6x6 and 6x8 panels as they are easier to hang on the wall and the details on the sides look really professional. Panels require framing for hanging and they bend too. 

Thanks for being here.

Alcohol inks on YUPO (distributed by NoteGrab in India)

Hello Friends,

As you all know, I works quite a lot with alcohol inks and yupo. Till now, I used to source it from USA as it is very expensive here and most of the time not available. Recently, I found a new source in India for YUPO.  NoteGrab - The paper is same but prices are great...:). It is available in different sizes and microns on Amazon.in. You can check the products HERE. Their Instagram handle is Notegrab.in. They were kind enough to send me a pad of these papers to try. Surface is same as yupo, the one I got was very thin but they have thicker papers too. As it is waterproof paper, thickness didn't make much of a difference. These are used for water colors too which i have to try yet.

The weather is quite humid and alcohol inks don't like moisture so i had tough time maneuvering inks but enjoyed all the things I tried.

Lately, I am liking the contrast in textures. I have created abstract land scape here with various Ranger and Piniata inks.

Another abstract. I used tonic nuvo Gilding Flakes to add little glamour .

Abstract landscape with some hand drawn trees...:P . Hills are painted with palette knife .

I have used Art Impression stamps for cabin and trees. Love the cliff on this one.

Last two are my favorite. Believe it or not it is just one ink - Ranger's Pitch Black . It is magical how one ink gives so many shades.  Took long time to build all those layers of petals but love the end results. 

Once again, just black ink and some details with white sharpie. 

Please check their Amazon & Instagram for more info on this paper.

I hope you enjoyed the post. Please mail me on nehab@yahoo.com if you have any query regarding this paper or any other materials. Thank you for being here.G