Steampunk Mermaid Box

Hello to my dedicated readers!

It has been a really long time since I have blogged.  Life has been busy and I truly lost my creative mojo when all of my design team commitments stopped at the same time. It seems that good old Alpha Stamps has brought back my magic as they recently asked me to do a guest project.  The theme was right up my alley, so I could not resist.

For this piece I used Graphic 45's Voyage Beneath the Sea paper.  The colors are amazing and the content was perfect for this mash up.

Since I absolutely love working with Dresden, I used a nice selection of turquoise trim to really make this treasure chest seem regal and I think it did the trick!

Of course most of my projects are covered in lots of metal bits, so I used a great variety of metal and chipboard gears, some ocean themed embellishments and I added some tine glass spheres too.

I just loved the juxtaposition of the ocean theme with the industrial gears.

Of course Alpha Stamps has so many amazing collage sheets, so I had to use a variety of steampunk ones to complete my project.

I chose not to hinge my project so that I could just take the lid off, but this treasure chest has so many options to add hardware.

I filled my little box with some sea glass I had on hand. A perfect vessel for my ocean treasures!

I hope you enjoyed today's post!  It was so fun to work for Alpha Stamps once again and I truly appreciate your readership folks!

Cheers,

Rhea

Magical Woman

This is admittedly quite different for me!  I do not usually use people in my art, let alone try to draw them.  After a few You Tube videos on "how to draw" a few different things, I set out to create my journal page for a round robin I am in locally.  The theme of this book is Magical Women.

Since I am not present at the meetings to share my techniques, I thought I would write about a few things I did here.  It feels good to dust off the old blog!  To start out this page I added a layer of Tim Holt's tissue paper with soft gloss gel.  I then followed with a thin coat of white gesso.

Next came sketching with pencil while watching many videos.  I had to just make peace with some elements I was not happy with.  I then started to add some flesh color and hair lines with oil pastels. Pitt pens, brush markers and whatever was in my art journal tackle box added lots of elements to this mixed media spread.

To get the stencil pattern on the hair I used Pan Pastel in black, it added a great texture.  The purple/blue background started off with some acrylic paint, but also ended up with oil pastels and gelatos before I was happy with the shade.  I used a fixative before adding in my stickel swirls, and glued on sequins.  There was a bit of flicking done with a white paint pen as well somewhere in the process.

My magical women was inspired by "The Mists of Avalon," one of my favorite books with strong magical women.  Those that resided on the isle were marked by crescent moons on their foreheads.  I am hopeful the recipient likes my entry in her magical book!

Cheers,

Rhea

Steampunk Heart Hanging

The inspiration continues after learning so much from Finnabair!  I have also used a lot of her product in this project as well since I am on such a kick.  It was great getting back to a classic steampunk look, my absolute favorite!

The focal of the piece is actually a Masonite kit from Retro Cafe Art that I have been hording for some time.  I added Finnabair's silver micro beads and lots of layers of resin to achieve really great dimensional wings.  For the mica heart I made a great discovery.  I was able to dye my mica with alcohol inks prior to using them to customize the color.  This opens up so many possibilities with the mica I have on hand!

The heart also has lots of Finabair's mechanicals which were also coated with resin.  I love to layer the metal pieces to achieve different looks.

The base of this hanging is a burlap panel.  I love how this provides for a natural texture to begin with.  I also used lots of die cuts, Masonite shapes, metal bits, found objects and wooden embellishments in the collage.  All of it was brought together with the use of gesso, a dusting of metallic finishes and some mica flakes.

I made this piece specifically to keep my big designing dreams alive.  I have not been active with a team for a while and it is part of my creative life that I truly miss!

Cheers, 

Rhea