When it comes time to share my trade show projects and I know I will be planning them out to post over several days, I can never decide whether to share my favorite project first or save it until last. This time that turned out easy, since I have two favorites- one gets to be first and one gets to be last. I have six projects to share and will be posting one each day until I share them all.
Let me say, this new line, Cappella is absolutely 100% what I would design a line like if I had the graphic design skills and artistic ability to design paper. It is packed full of colors that I love, shabbiness that I love, bit of vintageness that I love. . . simply put, I absolutely love this line. It really pained me to cut into it.
I actually go to do two projects with it for the show. The first is a canvas with words that are very important:
This project combines lots of layers and textures and tons of foam adhesives square, which you know I just can't create without!
On the "do" letters I had a fun discovery. I painted the raw chipboard letters with Shimmerz new Pearlz paints. They gave the letters a really cool silvery metal look. I decided that I decided I needed some glittery bling, so I painted a layer of Shimmerz Blingz over the Pearlz. It looked great but the more I looked at it, the more I decided it needed shine since there were several epoxy elements on the project. I grabbed my Glossy Accents, but since I was going for the vintage distressed look, I grabbed the Crackle version.
As the Crackle Accents started drying, I noticed that it was flaking up. Evidently, because Shimmerz paints are water based, the crackle pulled some of the water out and kept it from binding normally. I had a definitely "oh, no" moment because the letters were already stuck on the project and the last d and o I had in that size. As it flaked up I noticed that what was left was pretty cool. It looked like rough metal. It was still glittery like, but not really shiny. The Crackle Accents also took on a silvery opaque color. Some bits of the crackle came off, but others hung tight so I left it as it dried and decided that it was a very happy oops result. The blue letters were already blue but got a light coat of regular acrylic paint to give them some variation and then a coat of Crackle Accents. No weird reaction for it, just yummy vintage crackle.
Another fun touch was my experimenting with the paper flowers. I wanted them to have a sparkly and shiny finish instead of the mat paper finish. I first brushed on some Shimmerz paints with a stipple brush and then painted each flower and leaf with a coat of Mod Podge. The end result was sparkle, light shine, and almost a waxed or plastic look that looks very pearly.
Okay, enough photos and talk about this one! Be sure to check back tomorrow to see my next BasicGrey piece!
