Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Fabulous & Vibrant Art Journal Page With Tags How To Featuring Rita Barakat Designs & Ken Oliver Color Bursts

Hello! Welcome ALL!

Today here on INSPIRE, 
is the Rita Barakat Designs & Ken Oliver Colorburst Collab Blog Hop!

For my project, I designed an Art Journal page, along with a variety of textured and colorful tags, Featuring Rita Barakat Designs Mystical Creatures Die Cuts, and Ken Oliver Colorburst Fresh Florals Collection.


The art journal I am using is an expired planner book, that features calendar grid pages. For this art entry, I used Heavy White Gesso to cover the calendar, only leaving certain design elements exposed.


While waiting for the gesso to dry, I used some Plaid Extreme Glitter paint, to add some sparkle to the die cut images.


I then "practiced" techniques using the Fresh Floral Colorburst's, using heavy cardstock tags, and a variety of mediums including gesso, texture paste & Tim Holtz Distress Resist Spray, along with a variety of stamps, ink & Rita Barakat's Magical Mysteries Embossing Powder in Midnight Magic.

Technique 1: Gesso, Punchinella, ColorBurst & water spritz.


Technique 2: Distress Resist Spray, Stencil, Light Colorburst followed through with watercolor brush & light water.


Technique 3: Stamp, Embossing Ink & Rita Barakat Magical Mysteries Embossing Powder.
I then followed with light tap of ColorBurst and water spritz.

So in playing with different techniques, to create the art journal layout, I used a mix of them all, lol.

I just could not decide which I liked the most.

As you see by the background in this photo, all techniques worked together
to create depth, texture and amazing color fluidity!


To add more interest to the design, I used a variety of stamps along with archival ink.



Final touch, was adding the FABULOUS die cuts, adding dimension to each by shadowing around each, using a graphite pencil and blending with water and a brush.


Perfect Color, Texture, with Whimsical Inspiration, in an art journaling page & tags to be used in future projects too!


Thank you so much for joining us in this exciting collaboration & blog hop!

For the Rita Barakat Design products used in this project, please visit Rita's Etsy store at:



Ken Oliver Colorburst can be purchased at a variety of online stores such as Blitsy, Scrapbook.com, Dick Blick and host of other online resources.

For even more inspiration, be sure to follow Rita Barakat on her blog, on Facebook at Rita Barakat 1 for Mixed Media Mondays LIVE, and in the Facebook group Rise & Shine With Rita Barakat.





And if you are not already a subscriber, be sure to subscribe to this blog and the others featured in todays blog hop:

Rita Barakat:

Betz Golden:

Yolie Burke:



Again, thanks for visiting today!

See you again soon!

Until then......
Stay Crafty Cool!




Monday, May 6, 2019

Colorful & Magical Sentiment Canvas

Hello Creatives!
Welcome to INSPIRE!

Today I am sharing with you my first Rita Barakat Designs
project for the month of May, using one of her Art Foamie Stamps & 
a delightful die cut from Rita's Magical Creatures Collection.



My base is a 5x5 pre-gessoed canvas board. 
I chose a variety of gorgeous bluish paints & mediums from Plaid,
as well as a selection of Distress Oxide inks from Tim Holtz, to color the canvas with.


But first, I used Rita's Heart Wing Foamie Stamp along with Tim Holtz Resist Spray, applied directly to the surface of the stamp using a foam "brush".
I then placed the wing image over the unpainted canvas surface, 
and dried using my heat tool.

Then I began layering the colors to the canvas, first using Plaid Watercolor Paint, heavily watered down, and applied in layers over the canvas.

As I was waiting for the paint to set, I began working on the wings to be attached to the die cut.

I used a small sheet of acetate, stamped the Heart Wing image using a very light blue ink archival ink. Once the ink had dried, I cut the wing design from the sheet, and began layering color & dimension to the wings, using the Heart Wing Stamp with each layer.


To add definition to the wing design, I used Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire, applied to the Heart Wing Stamp, and finished with a layer of Plaid Glitterific. 

I also added a layer of Plaid Extreme Glitter Medium to the die cut image, because as we know, EVERY  Magical Creature should have some sparkle!


To complete the  
coloring of the canvas, I applied a couple of layers of Distress Oxide Ink, applied with a blending tool, and to bring out the "resist" wing design.


I used a double sided foam square along with Beacon 527 Adhesive to add the wings to the die cut, and the die cut to the canvas.


And every Magical Creature should bare an inspiring sentiment, so, I used letter stamps along with archival ink, and applied the quote 
"DON'T STOP BELIEVING"
directly to the canvas.

Finishing touches were adding some blue Seam Binding and some dangle lace trim I had pre-colored with ink, so that it can be a delightful wall hanging to inspire!



For the Rita Barakat products I used in this project,
please visit her Etsy store at:






Be sure that you are following Rita Barakat by subscribing to her blog, to stay up to date with new product releases, and FABULOUS project inspiration!

You can also find Rita Barakat on Instagram and on Facebook, and don't forget to join the "Rise & Shine With Rita Barakat" on Facebook where you will find a host of inspiration and ideas on a daily basis.




On Mondays, join Rita on her Facebook page for Mixed Media Mondays, as she shares great inspiration for your next project!


Be sure to check back tomorrow here on INSPIRE, as the Rita Barakat/Ken Oliver Colorburst collaboration blog hop will be in full swing!

Stop in, follow the links that will be provided, and check out all the inspiration created by the uber talented Rita Barakat Designs DT, as they share how they used the Ken Oliver ColorBurst products to create their art!



Hope to see you tomorrow!!!!

Leave some love, please comment and let me know what you think about this fun project!

Until next time.......