Sprite Delight III at Aurora Wings Challenge Blog

Happy Monday everyone! And what a way to start your week than with a new challenge at Aurora Wings Challenge Blog. This 23^rd Aurora Wings challenge is the third round of Sprite Delight, or Sprite Delight III. I get the pleasure of playing along with the other talented and artistic designers as an Aurora Wings February Guest Designer. Mitzi’s delightful sprites have been a favorite of mine for several years now. I don’t think that I will ever get tired of creating fun journal pages and art cards. All of her sprites can be found in her Aurora Wings Etsy shop.

Mitzi’s sprites are created as flowers, plants, or insects. I do have several Aurora Wings sprites colored and waiting on me for projects. For this project I decided on the Ranunculus Sprite and can be found in her Etsy shop. My color scheme decision making is helped along with an online search for that particular kind of sprite.  Now it’s time for me to start the Copic coloring process.

Copics used for my coloring:

Skin: E000, 00, 04, 11, 21, and R20;

Flower: RV63, 69, and YR20, 23, 24;

Leaves and slippers: G40, 43, 46, 29.

I decided several months ago to start a 6” square “Sprite Journal.” With that said the following pictures and products links are the process of creating my second sprite journal page. (You can find my first sprite journal page here.)

To begin, I trimmed a 6” square of 140lb mixed media paper. After trimming I laid down a coat of DecoArt’s White Gesso. No picture here because I don't think you need to see a "white" page! LOL

The photo above, and before I started adding colors, shows DecoArt’s Doily stencil used with DecoArt’s Modeling Paste. After that was dry, I added DecoArt’s Misters in Orange and Primary Magenta. I added one more mister in Yellow Green and wiped this green with a baby wipe.

I was trying to tone down all the bright colors. At this point I covered the page with DecoArt’s Soft Touch Varnish. I have depleted my stock of DecoArt’s Matt Medium, but this

varnish was lovely to work with.

I added Crystal Craft Twinkles (DecoArt of course) to the page. I think that you can tell in the above photo the reflection of the twinkles.

Still too bright for my taste, so I tried the White Shimmer Mist to help tone it down some.

I was still not satisfied, so decided to mix Americana Acrylic Paint in Hauser Medium Green and Evergreen.

I started dabbing the green on and added a few flower stems.

Almost finished…I cut a couple of die cuts with Spellbinder’s Happy Days dies from designer paper. Next step was using Orange Misters to darken the bright paper. I felt my page still needed something. I have a large stash of chipboard patterns. I choose Make it Crafty’s corners and covered them with DecoArt’s DecoArt Lavish Green Metallic Lustre. (Love this medium! DecoArt has a new color, Rose Gold, and they are getting ready to launch more new colors for 2016.)

The last bits to be glued down were paper flowers (which received a coat of the Craft Twinkles), the sentiment, and the Ranunculus Sprite. My sprite was fussy cut with a bit of the white left around the image and glued onto some black cardstock. That black cardstock was then fussy cut like the first time. I like the main image, or subject matter, to pop off the page. Now my journal page is complete!

This very last picture is a photo of the all the DecoArt products that I got messy with. Don't you love getting messy?

I hope you join us for this challenge. Mitzi has provided you with the cutest pineapple sprite for you to use in this challenge. Hop on over to the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog and pick it up. Isn’t she the cutest?

Thanks for stopping by and a very big thank you to Aurora Wings for this opportunity! If you have any questions, please contact me.

Aletha Jane

AJ’s Design Artz

AW February Guest Designer

New Release Time at Aurora Wings!

It’s almost the weekend and I hope that a lot of you find time to be creative. Aurora Wings has a new release today. With that new release we have an Aurora Wings Designer’s Showcase blog showcasing a brand new sprite. We can never have too many of Aurora Wings' sprites.

Are you ready to learn a little about my creative process? This is post is photo heavy, of course, but hopefully you will learn something new.

Meet the latest addition of Mitzi's growing collection of sprites...Ice Cream Sundae Sprite. 

My first course of action is my Copic coloring of this cute little sprite.

Photo 1 will show you my first step getting my substrate ready. I added DecoArt’s Matte Medium to my watercolor paper. After that was dry is where I started adding DecoArt’s Modeling Paste and Tim Holtz layering stencils Bubble and Hearts.

I let this dry overnight and added more matte medium the next morning.

Photo #2 is my beginning of adding some fun new spray paints.

The paint shown here is Pink Cherry Fizz. I love the way it dripped and dried.

Photo #3 is my last layer of paint. This one is Peacock Teal Shimmer.

I love the blue of the pink and teal combination.

Photo #4 is all about my doilies. Doily A is a combination of Vivid Violet and Peacock Teal Shimmer. Doily B is Peacock Teal Shimmer only. The shimmer in this Peacock Teal is unbelievable. (If you would like the links to these amazing paints,

please email me at ajsdesigns@cox.net. The subject line should read “paint links.”)

These last two photos are really close ups of more embellishments. My sentiment is computer generated. 

"Happiness" is a wooden embellishment from Prima and painted with DecoArt’s Black Gesso. 

Before I go any further, I would like to say that I will be creating a 6” journal dedicated to Mitzi’s sprites. My inspiration for this adventure comes from a dear friend of mine, Bonnie. Check her blog, Artful Digits, for more mixed-media goodness. (Yes, Bonnie, I am using your technique of fussy cutting the image and layering. Thank you!)

Below is the final piece. You can see the glass reflection of the Fun Stampers Journey Glaze that I added to the sprinkles and glass dish. My flags were created with Fun Stampers Journey's 2" wide Sweet Tape. I placed the tape on watercolor paper and drew the flags on the back, cut them out, and added them to the piece. The candy dots are Fun Stampers Journey's Candi Dots. Take a visit to my Fun Stampers Journey site and check out the new catalog, lots of fun stuff this year.

Did you know…?

That including our Aurora Wings Showcase Blog, we have a Stamps by Aurora Wings Facebook group, There is a contest/challenge for you to join every month.

At our Aurora Wings Challenge Blog, a new challenge begins every third Monday of the month. This month our theme is “Things with Wings.” You know Mitzi has many images with wings, so why don’t you join for your chance to win some images. Those using an Aurora Wings image may enter up to three times. I would advise you to use an Aurora Wings image.

How about a Stamps by Aurora Wings weekend sale? You have a chance for even more savings checking out the “sales” section and use your sale code along with those savings. 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you head over to our Aurora Wings (AW) Showcase blog and check out the fantastic pieces of art created by all the AW Showcase designers.

Aletha Jane

AJ’s Design Artz

AW Showcase Designer 

SCACD Eclectic Sea Rubber Stamp Release

Today SCACD celebrates a newly released exclusive rubber stamp set Eclectic Sea (9 rubber stamps all together). The Eclectic Sea is a twist of sorts in how something land bound might be seen in the ocean; for example a Sunflower that is now a Coral Sea Flower and vice a versa. So check out the collection as these are really unique and elegant. SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are so happy to be showcasing them to you now.

This collection is now available for purchase in the USA. Please click here for the Eclectic Sea collection. For our interested international friends, please email Susana directly.

I was assigned the amazing Humminghorse rubber stamp to work with. Ocean themes have never been something that I would gravitate towards, but I am so glad I was sent this eclectic sea rubber stamp. I have created a mini mixed-media wall art and had a lot of fun getting out of my comfort zone. Thank you Susana!

My first step was the coloring of Humminghorsewith Copics. I wanted to also mention that there is a very similar digital image, Hoverfly, that is available in the SCACD online store.

Before I start with my process photos I wanted to give you a list of my supplies used in my Eclectic Humminghorse mini wall art.

Supplies:

6”x6” canvas

SCACD’s Humminghorse rubber stamp

Copics

White Prismacolor pencil

Silver gel pen

DecoArt’s Media Matt Medium

DecoArt’s Media Modeling Paste

DecoArt’s Media Patina Green Antiquing Cream

DecoArt’s Media Carbon Black

DecoArt’s Media White Simmer Mister

DecoArt’s Media Turquoise Shimmer Mister

DecoArt’s Media Yellow Shimmer Mister

DecoArt’s Media Liquid Glass

DecoArt’s Champagne Glamour Dust Paint

DecoArt’s Copper Kettle Metallic Lustre

Memory Box Oceana Corner Die

Memory Box Steampunk Corner Die

Memory Box Swimming Seahorses Die

Carmen Medlin Mini Kelp Forest Stencil

Black tissue paper

Other:  metal gears, sea shells, shell sequins, mica flakes

The photo above is showing the black tissue paper adhered to the canvas with matt medium. I did wrinkle the tissue before adhering it to the canvas. I added a layer of matt medium on top of the tissue paper. After that was dry I used the kelp forest stencil and modeling past for more dimension. After that was dry I brushed on another layer of matt medium.

 This next photo is the next step for the background. With the last layer of matt medium I used the patina green antiquing cream over the entire canvas. Then a baby wipe was used to remove most of the background green except for the kelp. After that was dry I added more patina green to the kelp only, let that dry, and added the shine with liquid glass. This added more dimension.

Now it’s time for all the fun embellishments that I have picked out. The Oceana Corner die and Steampunk Corner die were cut on brown cardstock twice. I glued each design together. When they were dry, I changed the color with the Copper Kettle Metallic Lustre. I added two coats of the lustre and they were shinning copper.

The above photos are the finished piece. I wanted to mention that after adding all the dies and embellishments I used the mister acrylic paints. The finished piece was rather bright, especially all the copper and yellow, so the patina green antiquing cream came to the rescue.

I hope you enjoyed my journey making this Humminghorse piece come to life. For you next stop please head to Dianne’s blog. If you are lost head back to the SCACD Store blog.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Aletha Jane

AJ's Design Artz

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