Friday, April 18, 2014

Friday Focus - Distress Paints

Hi everyone, Jenny here as your host for this week's Frilly and Funkie Friday Focus this Easter weekend. And this time the spotlight falls on (drumroll please...) Distress Paints!!! That means all those yummy paints, now in all your favourite Distress colours, are 15% off the already discounted prices at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Check out the Friday Focus tab at The Boutique this week to see all the colours available.

Those of you who've played with Distress Paints will already be converted I'm sure, but for those of you wondering what all the fuss is about I hope the following tutorial will show you one way of getting the most out of your paints.
Start with some thick uncoated paper or card as you'll be using water and your base needs to be able to stand up to this. You also need it to have some degree of absorbency to grab the paint as it dries and moves. I also adhered some die cut shapes to the card (those new Frameworks dies are great for this) to create extra patterns and texture on the finished piece. You may see there's a large crease on the card in the bottom right corner. That was on this piece of card when it came out of the pack, but knowing I'd eventually be chopping it up to the required size, that was not a problem.
What's so special about Distress Paint? For a start it is very 'wet'; that probably sounds ridiculous but it means you've got a lot of play time. Sometimes you need a paint to dry quickly so it won't mix and will layer. In this case I needed one which would remain fluid enough to mix together. Having splodged random patches on my craft mat I added some water and dragged my piece of card through it a couple of times.
The next important property of Distress Paint is it's water-reactiveness. The paint started reacting initially when I misted it with water on my mat. Once on my card the water started to help it move and mix. Notice though, it isn't going 'muddy' because the paints maintain their colour integrity despite this spritzing and smooching. That's another important property. Notice, I didn't cover the card completely - that's good!
Now grab that water bottle and mist the paint on your card again to get that paint blending even more. Once you've got some 'movement' you can start drying the paint with your heat gun to 'fix' it in place, but remember, the paint that is still wet continues to be activated further if you add more water so you can keep blending if required. See the left over paint? Tim Holtz makes me physically wince (sorry Tim!) every time I see him mop it up with a cloth!! Being a thrifty crafter I prefer to reach for blank card offcuts and dab them into that paint to get the blotchy patterns you can see below.
Stuck for which colours go well together? If in doubt think back to those early years in school where you learned about primary and secondary colours. If you pick yellow and blue tones they will mix beautifully to give you... purples! Only kidding, but hopefully you get where I'm going with this. If you are unsure try mixing a little drop of two colours to see if you like what you get.
With the paint dry it's time to get those white bits covered with complimentary Distress Inks. Blend them over the painted areas too to get some even richer, deeper tones.
You'll all be familiar with spritzing and flicking, splattering water over your inks to get them to react. Well the same thing will happen to the layer of ink over the paint. Once dry you have the most beautiful mottled background to work on.
I put the plainer pieces to one side for a future project and chopped up the die cut piece to fit a square card blank. Then I added some stamping using Archival Ink because it won't react to water.
I wanted to add some dramatic shading to this and really pick out those die cut shapes so I dribbled some Black Soot Distress Ink mixed with water across them (you could also get this result by using Black Marble Dylusions Spray). Many of you may gasp in horror at this choice of colour; if so you could reach for those brown shades or some deeper orange/blue colours to get a similar effect. I also stamped a little bee - it's one from my rubber stamp stash but if you need one there's a great version on a Wendy Vecchi set that I'll list below. And to add a little extra texture I poured Glossy Accents into a few of the honeycomb 'holes'.
To finish the card I added vellum and Kraft Coredinations spring greenery using those new Sizzix dies that I hope you picked up when they were discounted at The Boutique last week. Sanding the Kraft card and inking the edges before shaping the leaves makes a big difference to the finished elements. The daisies were also die cut, shaped, coloured and glittered (where have I seen a version of that before?!) After layering them I added some pieces of filigree metal, a splattering of White Linen Dylusions Spray and a simple sentiment. And here's the finished result...





I hope you can see from these close ups how the Distress Paints combine beautifully together and with Distress Inks to create the most beautiful base for some simple finishing touches. If you haven't played with them in a while or felt nervous about trying them I hope this has given you a few ideas of your own. And of course with all the colours in the Distress Range now available in paint form, you can begin/expand your collection at those fabulous Friday Focus discounted prices HERE.

As ever there's a linked list of products used below (with alternative FJB suggestions). The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice this card even qualifies for our current challenge 'Flights of Fancy'; it's not too late to enter if you haven't already done so to be in with a chance to win one of two fabulous prizes.

Thank you for joining me today. I hope you feel inspired to create and have a lovely weekend. Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see a knockout Saturday Step by Step with the wonderful Nancy. You're in for a treat with this one.

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx



46 comments:

  1. Fabulous tutorial Jenny, great colour combination. Sue C x

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    1. Thanks Sue. Coming from a master of backgrounds that's such a compliment x

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  2. Another stunning card and amazing tutorial Jenny, such daring colours but the end result is fabulous!! Love the background to bits (I now absolutely need that hexagon die). The way you have finished it with the flowers and greenery is fabulous too!

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment Astrid (and apologies for adding to your shopping list!) x

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  3. The background is fantastic Jenny, such gloriously bold but beautiful colours that really makes those beautiful daisies 'pop'! Your tutorials are always excellent, love your humour too. The resulting card is a triumph. Anne xx

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    1. Thank you so much my friend. Glad you enjoy my humour as well as the tutorials. Have a wonderful Easter x

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  4. Thanks for the tutorial for a wonderful piece of art. Have a wonderful Easter. Jean.x

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    1. My pleasure Jean and thank you for your comment. Have a happy Easter too x

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  5. wonderful tutorial jenny and a fabby make. love it xx

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  6. Love the colour choice and that fab contrast with the white flowers. Happy Easter!Chrisx

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  7. I love the distress paints, i love the way you create this stunning background! FAntastic work! happy Easter to you! BArbarayaya

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    1. Thank you Barbara. Coming from you this is a real honour x

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  8. So glad you like it Astrid. Thank you x

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  9. What a fantastic tutorial on the distress paints, Jenny. Thanks for all the wonderfully detailed information on the paints themselves. And your piece is just gorgeous. I LOVE the colors you used - fabulous work with these awesome paints!

    Hugs,
    Linda

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    1. Thank you so much for your lovely comment Linda. I'm really pleased you enjoyed this one x

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  10. Your piece and tutorial are both amazing, Jenny!! I love distress paints and use them all the time, but you have given me so many new ideas. I feel like breaking them out this very moment.
    Thank you so much for sharing your creativity!!
    Hugs,
    Nancy

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    1. Thanks for your lovely comment Nancy. Can't wait to see your results x

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  11. Lovely use of Distress Paints. The painted background is gorgeous and I already have that die! "-) Thank you for a wonderful tutorial. I live in the desert and always mist a palette for paints! I did a wall technique once that you applied newspaper in a brick fashion to pick up some of the print and then you remove the paper. Quickly learned in the desert with no humidity, some techniques are very tricky! It took me so long to peel off bits of newspaper!

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    1. Sounds like you've got so many more challenges to contend with there Terry. Think I'd have ended up leaving the newspaper bits in situ!! Thanks for your lovely comment x

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  12. great tutorial TFS the white flower is the real focal point, i love it
    bibiana

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  13. so nice, your colors are wonderful!

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  14. Awesome work and great tutorial!

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  15. Gorgeous DP background and a stunning finished card, Jenny - beautiful work!
    Alison x

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  16. A fabulous tutorial Jenny and I love that wonderful DP background. The colour combination is wonderful and the white flower just sets it off. And great use of the honeycomb die - I have a lot of trial cutouts in different papers, so guess where they will be going! Thanks for such great inspirational ideas!
    Jennie x

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    1. Thank you so much Jennie. So glad you've got something from it x

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  17. Love This, Jenny!!! I'm partial to the spritz and flick and ink splats, myself and LOVE what you've done here :) This is such a fun piece! Very Springy :) XOXO-Shari

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    1. Thank you so much to a fellow spritz and flicker Shari!! x

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  18. This card started out great and every step made it more and more fantastic. I love the finished product!

    Will you have a booth at Scrapbook Expo in Orlando the first weekend in May?

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    1. Unfortunately not Dodie, but if you are going I hope you have a fabulous time and get inspired to create art x

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  19. Great tutorial Jenny. It certainly does make a fabulous background.
    Happy Easter, Julie x

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  20. Brilliant, absolutely fantastic and a great tutorial.
    I have just got round to playing with my stamps and inks now you are tempting me!! Mmmmm!! will order some paints and have a go?? Am I brave enough.........??
    Thank you for the inspiration
    Hugs

    Patricia xx

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    1. Go on... I dare you!! Thanks so much for your lovely comment Patricia x

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  21. Awesome! but HOW did you make those awesome daisies?

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    1. Thank you! If you look in the May 2014 issue of Craft Stamper magazine you'll find out!! x

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  22. A sensational card from a brilliant step by step. TFS xx

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  23. A great step x step Jenny leading to a wonderful conclusion! Your card is gorgeous - stunning colours, great technique, great design. Chris xxx

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  24. Gorgeous creative project and thank you so much for the easy to understand tut! Thank you for sharing your creativity with us.

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