Colour....an altered wooden box for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

Happy Monday crafty friends!  In my quest for organization I found this plain wooden box at Dollarama that's the perfect size to hold coloured pencils for art journalling:

I primed the surface with gesso then attached bits and pieces of chipboard and other goodies from my stash and covered the sides with patterned paper. I gessoed over all the items on top then painted them in a random pattern with Twinkling H20s . When that was dry I brushed a layer of iridescent green Silks over the top and then spray misted the whole project lightly here and there. Some microbeads and Prills scattered around were the finishing touch.This is the completed project:

I used a frame from the Easter build a layout set as well as pieces from the Gears and Spring shape sets:

I had already picked out the foam letters and was thrilled to see how perfectly the oval frame fit! Check out those purple beads-they're Prills by USArtQuest...I got them in a kit and now that I finally tried them out I want more-lots more!!

I inked the edges of the patterned paper and misted it as well to pull the colours of the project together:

This was so much fun to alter; thanks for stopping by and have a terrific week!

Gypsy Soul Lasercuts Items Used
Build a Layout Easter (oval frame)
Gears Shape Set
Spring Shape Set (flower)

Other Items Used

Twinkling H20s
Silks
FabScraps paper
 Prills/Lavender and Lace
various mists
gold ink
ModPodge

microbeads
various flowers and embellishments

playing with texture paste

hi there; if you've seen much of my work you'll notice that I LOVE to use texture paste, usually with stencils. I make my own paste and it's super-easy!

I don't measure my ingredients but start with about 4 Tbsp of baby powder and add 1 Tbsp of acrylic paint (whatever colour you want your texture paste to be) and about half a Tbsp of white glue (kids' school glue or any other kind works fine) Stir til it's combined; I like my paste fairly thick so it won't bleed under the stencils-I love a clean and crisp design. The stiffness of cake frosting is about right; you can add a more powder or paint until you get the consistency you want.

I use a palette knife like you'd use to spread frosting but a lot of people like to use an old plastic card (like a credit card or gift card) Place your stencil on the paper where you want your pattern and spread evenly scraping off any excess. You may want to hold the stencil down or tape it on the corner to keep it from shifting.

Here I used coloured acrylic paint to tint the paste:

Substitute baking soda for baby powder for a rougher texture...that's what I did for these bricks:

I started out with a thinner paste and added some sand to it for extra texture on my starfish:

In a sealed container it will keep for a long time. I usually just make up a bit at a time because I often colour it but you can make a larger batch-just be sure it's well sealed! It dries quickly-which is great on your project but not so great if you leave sitting out for a while....take it from me-trying to chip hardened paste off of your dish is less than thrilling! It washes easily with warm soapy water though, and if you ever do forget to wash it out or cover it, soaking it for while in hot water will soften it enough for cleanup.

Here's a recent page I made using several different stencils:

I hope you found this helpful and that you'll try making your own texture paste-I would be lost without this wonderful concoction!!