Coffee Filter Leaves…

My favorite season, fall, is fast approaching! We’ve had some beautiful cooler weather these past few days, and my attention has turned to creating fall themed crafts and layouts. I’m going to show you how to use coffee filters, splash Ink, and chipboard leaf shapes to create gorgeous fall colored leaves!

Supplies:

• Niji Splash Ink
• Nori Paste
• Coffee filters
• Chipboard leaves of various sizes

Begin by wetting down some coffee filters, squeeze the excess water from them, and lay them flat on newspaper or scrap paper.

Mix up your favorite fall colors with Niji Splash Inks. Using Niji  Waterbrushes, begin dabbing the colors onto the coffee filters. Start with the lighter colors first.

Set the filters aside to dry. Using some white craft paint, base paint the chipboard leaves white so the lightly colored coffee filters will show up when adhered to them.

Once all components are dry, use Nori Paste and attach the leaves to the coffee filters. Lightly press the filters onto the chipboard pieces, allowing them to gently wrinkle, which will give beautiful texture to the final project.

Allow the leaves to dry before using a craft knife to cut them from the coffee filters. Gently ink the edges of the leaves to add depth, and you’ve got beautiful embellishments for fall projects!

Here’s a layout I used a few of the leaves on, pretty right?

I’m very honored to have been a member of Yasutomo’s design team and be featured this month for my final time. I love the products, they never let me down and I will always be a loyal fan. Thank you for reading along!

Making a Spirit Journal

Lately I have been on a journey. I’ve been nurturing my spiritual side more and more, and learning all kinds of things along the way. I thought it would be a wonderful idea to make a spirit journal that I can add notes, drawings, or any little things that remind me of the lessons I learn along the way. This is the start of my journal.

I began with canvas album pages. I used Fluorescent Niji Oil pastel Crayons to make shapes on the canvas pieces.

Then I mixed up Authentic Chinese Watercolors, and began coloring each of the canvas pages.

This is just the beginning of my spirit journal, and I will be adding more and more to it as I go. Stay tuned for my next post where I will share more of my project as it develops.

~Rebecca

Toothbrush Mist Effect

Hi everyone! Today I am going to share a simple misting technique using Niji Splash Ink and…. A toothbrush! It’s a fun technique, and great to keep in mind if you want to mist some color on your art, but you don’t have any misters or spray bottles on hand.

 

Supplies:

• Niji Splash inks
• An old toothbrush
• Scrap paper to practice on

 

Begin by getting some color ready.  Mix  desired colors using Niji Splash Ink. Once you have the right color, add a little water to thin it down. (I used pure magenta and cyan here.)

 

Now dip the toothbrush into the ink, and shake off any excess drips. The bristles still hold plenty of color! Holding the brush over your scrap paper, test out the technique. Rub your thumb down and over the brush head, and watch the misting fun begin!

 

Once you’ve mastered it and feel confident, you can apply the technique to layouts, artwork, cards, anything crafty!

 

Here’s my finished layout:

 

Doesn’t this look fun! Are you willing to try it? Let me know! 

 

To see amazing art supplies, visit Yasutomo today!

~Rebecca

Building a background with Splash Inks!

Hi everyone, I hope you’re enjoying nice spring weather! This morning we actually woke to about an inch of soft fluffy snow, that coated my spring flowers. It’s melting pretty quickly, but I was able to get some pictures of it. Here’s one I just have to share:

 

So today, I want to share a layout that represents the nice spring weekend we had. I took my kids to an Easter Egg Hunt, and we also went to a store that had face painting and the Easter Bunny there to celebrate their brand new remodel. You can bet, I’ve got a lot of wonderful pictures to scrap from the day! I used Niji Splash Inks to make a colorful statement on this layout, and I’m going to show you how to do it too.

 

Supplies:

• Niji Splash Inks
• Niji Waterbrush (Flat)
• Heavy weight white scrapbook paper
• Patterned papers, doily, paint brushes, picture, etc.

 

Step 1:  Squeeze desired colors of Splash Ink onto a palette and add water to soften the color.

 

Step 2: Use the Niji Waterbrush to apply stripes of Splash Ink onto the white paper.

 

Step 3: When dry, add some patterned paper to the background. Slightly cover the Splash Ink you already painted on. This is your background.

 

Step 4: Use Black Splash Ink as an accent color, where you can place the photo and it will “pop.” Place this somewhere on the patterned paper.

 

Step 5: When dry, build your layout. The doily and photo go directly on the black accent color. Add the paint brushes to the side and draw on some squiggly paint lines from the tips of them if desired. Add a title and journaling if you like, and you’re all done!

 

 

If you like this page and want to see more wonderful art supplies, visit Yasutomo today!

~Rebecca

Customize Your Flowers!

I have a confession, one that my close scrappy girlfriends already know… I love flowers. It’s hard for me to make a project without them! Sometimes though, I might not have that perfect color to make my masterpiece. What is a girl to do? Well, if said girl has some Splash Inks on hand, she can custom color flowers to suit her every need!

 

Supplies:

• Niji Splash Inks
• White flowers, any texture is fine
• Bowl of water

Begin by squirting out Niji Splash Inks into a tray. You can play with the color combinations, and you don’t need to mix the colors, they will blend on their own as they run together.

 

Place the flowers into a bowl of water. It is important they are wet before beginning, otherwise, they won’t soak up the color very easily.

 

Grab one flower, and dip it into the Splash Ink. Let it soak up  color all the way through the layers. If the flowers is very thick or has many layers, you can flip it over to color both sides.

 

Remove the flower, and drop it back into the bowl of water. Set it aside to dry.

 

Continue dipping the flowers and rinsing them. You will want to change your water often so the muddy color won’t effect the flower colors.

 

Now just set the flowers aside to dry.  You can make any color you need with Niji Splash Inks. The next time I see paper crafting flowers on sale, instead of getting every color of a style I love, I’m going to stock up on the white ones and color as I need them!

 

 

To see more great crafting supplies, head over to Yasutomo TODAY!

~Rebecca

The gift of wine

  Do you need a good hostess gift idea, or just a bottle of vino to cheer up  a friend or loved one? Wine and champagne have always been an excellent choice for gifting, that practically everyone can enjoy. How about making the bottle even better with pretty packaging that you can upcycle? Do you know those paper bags that stores frequently place wine bottles in? I’m going to show you how to take that, and make it fabulous! Do you want to know another awesome pairing? Yasutomo and Altered Pages! I am so happy to work with their beautiful images this month!

Supplies:

• Niji Pearlescent Watercolors
• Niji Large Waterbrush
• Altered Pages “Heart of my Heart”
• Paper sack

Begin with Niji Pearlescent Watercolors, a large Niji Waterbrush, and the paper sack. Pick a color you like, and paint one side of the bag.

After the bag has dried, add a bottle of wine or bubbly. Fold down the top of the bag to show the neck of the bottle.

 

 

Cut out a heart tag from the Altered Pages “Heart of my Heart” sheet. Glue it onto a doily.

 

Glue the tag onto the front of the bag, and add a coordinating ribbon. Now you have a great gift!

 

To see more great art supplies and project ideas, visit Yasutomo today!

~Rebecca

Grandma Hugs

I recently came across a photo taken last year, one I had forgotten about actually! It’s a picture of my mom and my son, hugging. It’s a great pic and I wanted to scrap it as soon as it was rediscovered!

To do this, I wanted to make my own background paper. I began with a piece of cream cardstock. I stamped on some simple white circles with acrylic paint. This was my base paper.

To this, I began to use Niji Pearlescent Watercolors to distress the paper. Using copper, gold, and bronze shades, I splattered some of it on, masked in other places, and just brushed it on as well. No rhyme or reason, just getting color everywhere was my goal.

To give it texture, I poured a little bit of water on the paper and gently crumbled it into a ball. After carefully unfolding it and allowing it to dry, it was ready to build my layout onto!

This is a fun technique, I hope to able to share a photo tutorial on it very soon!

~Rebecca