A Beautiful Ornate Miniature Sword And Floral Canvas How To

Hello there,

Welcome to INSPIRE.

The other day, while going through some things,

I had found an envelope opener 

that I had forgotten we had.

The best thing about it?

It is a mini sword design. Seeing as we

have obviously not missed using it,

well you know I just had to get crafty with it.

Naturally, this is a perfect focal point for a canvas,

and I just happened to have 

the perfect size canvas, a 4x12 thick canvas in my stash.

I first used black gesso on the canvas & sword.

Once dried, I applied Finnabair Art Extravagance 

Patina Effect Paste to give an overall aged look to the sword. I also applied it to a mini resin ornate frame, that I later centered a bee embellishment to nestle inside the frame once glued to the sword shaft.

For the canvas, I wanted to focus on metallics,

and used the Brass Patina Effect Paste, very lightly

to the entire canvas first, then added elements of metallic sprays.

Once the sword patina had dried, I used E6000,

to adhere the sword to the canvas. I also used a stencil and the Patina Effect Pastes to add texture to the canvas.

The finishing elements included flowers, metallic thread, and Finnabair Melange, finished with black gesso & the Brass Patina Effect Paste.

I am absolutely thrilled with the finished result.

*Most of the products I used making this project can be found at your local Michael's store.  

So, if you have a storing place that needs gone through, you might just be surprised at what you may find, and can also create something beautiful too.

Until next time..... 

Art Journal Design Made Easy With The Best Glue Ever

Good Morning!

The weather is absolutely 

gorgeous here in the

Ohio valley this morning.

I wanted to share the link, 

to my latest dt project for 

ScraPerfect.

This project was inspired by nature,

and the fall beauty

where I live.

For full details of this project

visit the ScraPerfect blog at 

this link.

https://scraperfect.blogspot.com/2017/09/art-journaling-collage-made-easy-with.html

To purchase the Best Glue Ever,

Transfer Foils or ANY

of the innovative ScraPerfect products,

follow this link.

http://scraperfect.com

Thanks for stopping in!

Have a BEAUTIFUL day!

Michelle Wells 

A New Creative Venture: Embrace The Possibility

Hello there,

thank you for visiting

 INSPIRE,

A blog for sharing creativity.

This past week was the pits for me, a"flu bug"

hit me hardcore, keeping me down from

anything remotely resembling my life.

Today, I feel like myself again,

got back to creating, 

and I wanted to share my newest 

venture with you.

 An inspiration canvas

inspired by the AMAZING artwork

of Kelly Rae Roberts.

 I began with a 6x6 pre-gessoed canvas.

I sort of dry brushed acrylic paint in a 

Tiffany Blue like shade, not going for full coverage.

Once dried, I lightly sketched 

the shape of my "person".

I then used white gesso, and a flesh tone

acrylic paint for the neck & face.

For the body, I cut from of my favorite

double sided patterned paper, for a top & collar.

I also used the same paper to make hearts.

Of course every gal likes a crown, so I fussy cut 

roses from images I had printed out to create a floral one. I also added a paper doily and a cute little bird to sit on her shoulder.

To finish, I used mini alphabet stamps from my stash,

and added the phrase "Embrace Possibility" to her top.

It felt AMAZING to feel good today, and to feel inspired.

time to head back to my crafty space!

Until next time......Happy Crafting!

A Glimpse Of Why Paper Flowers Really Make Me So Happy

Hello there,

Welcome to INSPIRE.

What a weekend we had here

in my little corner of Ohio, as we had the remnants 

of "Harvey" camp out for a couple of days,

giving us some chilly fall like temps

and quite a bit of rain in a 24 hour period.

NOTHING however, compared to how the

people of Houston and surrounding area's have suffered

enormous loss and are now faced with rebuilding their lives.

My continued thoughts and prayers for all.

With the weather we were dealt here, it was a good time

to stay indoors, have some hot soup, and create something that brings me great joy, paper flowers for crafting.

These are a few new designs I have created,

incorporating some fall colors of deep orange & golden yellow in a "curly" style, using ink dye & paint.

The deep purple below, was misted by my favorite glimmer mist, and will also be lovely in my fall crafting.

And of course here in the Ohio valley, we must have deep Burgundy, as I had created my very first mulberry paper flower.

For every "single" new flower design (one to keep for future reference) I did use ScraPerfect's Best Glue Ever, and also using their No Clog Writing Caps, not only with the BGE, but also with my mixed media glue, for the "lot" of each new design.(the link to ScraPerfect is featured at the end of this post)

Creating little pieces of paper beauty, can turn even the bleakest of days, into to days of joy.

If you haven't yet gave making paper flowers a try, you really should, just play with die cut, punched or even hand cut flower designs, and see how easy & relaxing this form of art truly can be.

Thank You for visiting today!

Until next time....... Happy Crafting to you! 

Michelle

http://scraperfect.com

Flower Making How To With The Best Glue Ever and No Clog Writing Cap

Hello there!

Welcome to INSPIRE.

Thank you for visiting today.

Today's feature is my latest DT 

product project featuring

ScraPerfect's 

Best Glue Ever & No Clog Writing Caps.

https://scraperfect.blogspot.com

These two products together worked amazing 

in my favorite crafting obsession, 

making paper flowers.

This week, I created 4 new designs

and these 2 products made it so simple 

to layer the flowers, with minimal amounts of glue used.

Head Inver to the ScraPerfect blog

for full details following the link below

the project photo above.

To purchase ScraPerfect's 

Best Glue Ever & No Clog Writing Caps

follow the store link below.

Until next time.......Happy Crafting!

Michelle

 http://scraperfect.com

Easy Glitzy Animal Print Card How To: A Robin's Nest ExclusiveHe

Hello there!

Welcome to Inspire.

Today I want to share with you the link to my latest

DT project for The Robin's Nest.

A very easy card to make, but with lots of glitz.

https://chatteringrobins.blogspot.com

Want to see all the details? 

Head on over to

the Chattering Robin's blog by following the link 

featured with my project photo above. 

Love the glitter cardstock you see? 

Go by The Robin's Nest online store

to find it and so much more!

http://www.shop.robinsnest-scrap.net

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy Crafting!!!!

It's All About Breakfast At Tiffany's For Me Please August #ccbchallenge

Hello, Welcome to INSPIRE!

I wanted to stop in and share with you

my latest project, which is actually my entry 

for the Canvas Corps Brands

August Challenge

"Let's Visit The Cinema".

#ccbchallenge

http://blog.canvascorpbrands.com/august-challenge-lets-visit-cinema/

My ideal visit to the cinema

would very likely be a film featuring 

my very favorite actress 

Audrey Hepburn.

One that is tops for me is 

"Breakfast At Tiffany's".

My project began with a

Tolsby frame IKEA.

I first covered the frame

with clear gesso, followed by 2 coats of

acrylic paint in a "Tiffany" bluish color of course.

Once the paint had dried thoroughly, I used a few spritz's

of a couple of my favorite Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in the shade of Blue Raspberry,

along with selections from the 

the Exclusive Heidi Swapp Color Kit.

I chose a mini promotional poster

of the film "Breakfast At Tiffany's" as the photo, added a a clipboard cut from cardstock in black & light gray, and vellum printed with wavy filmstrip over the surface of the frame.

Now, when I think of Tiffany's, I think

dazzle, sparkle & shiny,

so to finish the design, I added foiled stars (using ScraPerfect's Best Glue Ever & Transfer Foil) in various sizes, and loads of bling.

For the backside of the photo frame

I used black yardstick, a couple of vellum filmstrips

with one of the most iconic images from the film,

Holly Golightly, standing with her pastry and coffee, as she walks and gazes into the windows of her 

beloved Tiffany's.

Thank you so much for visiting today.

Head on over to the 

Canvas Corps Brands Blog

for ideas featuring most crafter's beloved brands,

 like 7 Gypsies, Tattered Angels, Canvas Corp & so many more.

Until next time...... Be Creative!

The Dynamic Duo of Best Cleaner Ever & Best Glue Ever To The Rescue

Hello Crafty Friends!

Have you ever heard of the 

Best Cleaner Ever?

How about the Best Glue Ever?

Did you know they are crafting's 

dynamic duo when it 

comes to rescuing your used cutting mats?

Well then, you just HAVE to

head on over to the 

ScraPerfect blog, 

where today I am sharing

a tutorial on how to effectively

clean & restore my  

cutting mats.

Seriously, you have to check this out!

Just follow this link

and be amazed!

https://scraperfect.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-best-cleaner-ever-best-glue-ever.html

Have a crafty weekend!

  

My Adventures In Creating New Mixed Media-How To Create Beautiful Texture

Hello & Welcome

to INSPIRE.

What's this? More than one post this week? Why yes! Summer activities have dwindled here for us and has allotted for some much needed creative time.

This new "lull", had me thinking, about my endeavors in finding new ways (to me) to create mixed media art.

It also had me reflecting about the many influences of seasoned MM artists that

I have followed for quite some time,and have learned so much from, and how some of my new discoveries, could be new to another.

So, I have decided to make a project each week, that has me trying new ways of creating, and sharing these new adventures here on my blog.

Here is the first in what I hope is many more creative ideas to share,

a mixed media canvas using used tea bags, vintage sheet music, sprays, Prima/Prima Artists mica powders to create a great textured background for the focal piece of this canvas art, a paper clay flaming heart.

I am new to using paper clay, and patience isn't my greatest trait, lol, but I have discovered that I can let this clay air dry for a certain amount of time, and then bake it at a low temperature for an extended amount of time, and the results are perfection.

As the background goes, I collaged the sheet music with the tea bags, using some to cover the sheet music, while collaging other bits of sheet music on the top of the tea bags, all using clear gesso.

I then used tinted mica powders in a light patina blue & ivory, sprinkled randomly on the surface, followed by sprinkling a metallic mica powder in the same manner. Once powder was in place, I misted each spot with water, made "drip" lines with some, then dried all with my heat tool.

Final step in the background, was using glimmer sprays in darker colors, to add points of interest around the edges & center of the canvas. I also used these to color the lace & burlap used.

Using a mixed media glue, I added the patina'd embellishments including the paper clay flaming heart that I had made, all in which I used a variety of gesso, paint & powders to achieve the aged look.

I have to say, this MM canvas, is my very favorite so far. And the products I used, were just AMAZING in bringing the look together.

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Please visit again soon!

Until next time, have a creative adventure too!

   

We All Need A Little Faith, Hope & Love

Hello there!

Welcome to INSPIRE.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Today I am sharing one of my latest

personal projects,

some inspirational word art.

In today's world, we all can use 

some faith, hope & love.

The core piece in this project was the pre-made

lacquered word faith.

Only using minimal items to create this, gesso, gel medium, glue, a couple of embellishments,

made this a relatively easy project.

I raided my hubbies scrap wood

stash, and found a perfect piece

to mount the word to.

The first thing I did, was lightly sand the base, 

followed by a coat of white gesso

to cover it.

I chose to do a light sanding when the gesso had dried

 to give a bit of distress look.

Using gel medium,

I added delicately printed 

rose tissue paper to the front of 

the word FAITH, 

in a random sort of pattern.

I then used mini stencils & 

distress ink, to ad the words Hope & Love to the front of the base.

While snagging scrap wood,I snagged a bottle 

of my hubbies wood glue,

to glue "faith" to the "base".

To complete my design, I added

a couple of mini paper roses 

(in shades of pink course).

A delicate shelf or desk sitter,

to inspire, to encourage 

in these times in which we live.

Hope you like this project.

Visit again soon

for more projects

to "INSPIRE".

Happy Crafting To You!!