Textured Cuttlebug Cards How too

Okies here we go on how to make these....Firstly Celeste asked me to tell people that she was shown how to do this by Gaye Todd with some input by Kasha Rolley....got to give credit were it is due please folks and do not claim this as your own.ALSO I am not sure if it is exactly how Celeste and the others do it as I did not ask and just guessed...Celeste was telling me how she adds the stamped tissue to texture and sent me a sample with a base to try and I got very intrigued by the base and gave that a go myself.So here is the general explanation for what I do.The pictures will show about five different bg papers used in the frames as I wanted to make a sequence of photos to do a video with and wanted to cut down time so pay no attention to what bg you see

STEP ONE:Using gel medium glue a pale background paper to a heavy card base.My bases are the sturdy backings from old writing pads.Think thick and strong

STEP TWO:Make your Cuttlebug embossed card bits.They can be any colour but a uniform colours is good if you want to add bright colours on top.If I want to use white gesso on top I usually use white card and if I want to use black gesso I use black card.Tear three to four of the Cuttlebug embossed pieces ROUGHLY so they make a rough frame ie;tear them so they have two straight sides and two will look roughly like an "L"shape that has the centre torn out and the other two a reverse "L" shape.(see the blue "L" shape on the white card below and the white "L" shape on the blue card below).TRIAL them on the base card so you have a framed edge with a central window but don't glue in place yet.Tear more of the centre out if needed.

STEP THREE:Glue the torn Cuttlebug bits in place.I used the blue pieces here so you can see it better

STEP FOUR:Paint over the whole piece using gesso.I have used white gesso below on a white Cuttlebug embossed pieces.Paint the frame and the centre.If the centre bg paper is really pale and you loose it a bit here just wipe off the excess so you can still see bits here and there thru the gesso.The image has only half the card painted so you can see how the gesso blends the torn Cuttlebug pieces and that is what makes the rough feathery edges look seamless.Let it dry or use a heat gun to dry it off and then paint on another layer of gesso.Dry again.

STEP FIVE:Stamp the image you want to use on white tissue with Brilliance Graphite black ink.Heat set the ink with the heat gun.Tear bits of words from an old dictionary,bg words sheet,old music papers or whatever you like to use.Also tear strips of the white tissue and crumble them then loosely straighten them back out

STEP SIX:This part you can do now or after you apply colour but I will do it now for you.Use the watered down PVA glue(white glue that dries clear...if you have Elmer's glue that will do) to glue the words down.Apply the watered down glue under and over the words and use the paint brush to gently push the words into the textured areas.Let it dry.Roughly tear around the stamped image and glue in place using the watered down PVA glue under and over the image.Be gentle here as the tissue may tear.If you do not like where you placed it just peel it up and try again.If it tears just take it off and do it again.Again gently push the tissue into the textured areas.Leave to dry thoroughly.The tissue will become see thru as it dries and that lets some of the bg peer thru.

Now glue the scrunched bits of white tissue down using watered down PVA glue.These bits proved texture to the end piece.Of course this part can be done before painting with gesso,now or after adding colour so don't panic if you forget or you don't want to do this step at all.On the sample below I have only glued the top left scrunched bit in place so far.Once these bits dry paint over them with more gesso to blend them in as I did with the top left piece

STEP SEVEN:now the fun starts.Add paints,inks,chalks or whatever you want to use to add colour to the frame.In the sample below I have left white part uncoloured so I can show what I did in the video.For this one I used a Versamark watermark ink pad and applied a wet coating all over the frame avoiding the words.Next I sprinkled on Artee adhesive powder and activated the adhesive by applying heat from the heat gun.Then I dusted on Pearl-ex powder.Blend the colours so you don't have defined edges.I'm finding if I apply the colours beyond where the edges of the torn Cuttlebug embossed pieces meet and just slightly into the frames area that this too helps the end result look more seamless.Rub a small amount over the words with your finger

On the one below I left a black section uncoloured to use in the video.This time I used black gesso over the Cuttlebug frame.Then I applied a wet coat of Stewart Superior black Palette stamp and stick glue pad.Hit it with the heat gun to activate the adhesive and then dust on LumiArte Polished Pigments Primary Elements.I coloured the Lion with LuminArte Twinkling H2O's.(I need to temper the yellow more on this with some white)These two products used together give a highly pigmented all over shimmery effect

On the next sample I used Daler-Rowney liquid Pearlescent acrylics on the frame.I was aiming for shimmery pale dream like colours.I've fully coloured the frame here and the little horse was stamped on shrink plastic and coloured with the water colour pencils and Twinkling H2O's before shrinking.That bit isn't stuck down as I still need to colour the horse on the stamped tissue part and may not use the shrink horse yet.Also after I painted over the bg paper centre part with white gesso I then painted over that again with Pearlescent white before I glued the stamped tissue image in place.When I use paint I apply a small watered down bit to the words and dab excess off if I need too.

STEP EIGHT:Now to highlight the texture more if you want dry brush on metallic gold paint(I used Jo Sonja pale gold below),rub on coloured rubbing waxes or swipe a dark coloured ink pad over the piece.Of course you can leave that part out if you like but it again seems to tie all the elements together.On the last sample below I did a wash(painted on watered down paint) of Golden Quinacridone Nikle Azo Gold acrylic paint over the white gesso painted frame and around the stamped image.When dry I then did a wash of Golden Dioxazine Purple acrylic paint.The edges were darkened using Adirondack Espresso ink.I think I shall leave him uncoloured and just spray on a little walnut ink or do a gold paint wash to finish it off

STEP NINE: Lastly add embellishments of choice such as keys,page pebbles,words or whatever takes your fancy.Layer it all onto card stock and you are done.No images for that as there are finished samples in previous posts.These would look great as canvas art.I'm thinking of doing some vintage transfers in the frames rather the stamped images as well...or even using family photos for Christmas cards would work too