Guest Designer - Helen Hollinger

Please say hello to our Guest Designer for the 'It Looks Real' challenge.  Helen Hollinger of Never Enough Time was the top pick from the Terrific Tags challenge.

Hi there everyone! I’m Helen and I am thrilled to have been asked to be a guest designer for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog today!

I am a retired nurse with a hubby of 35 years and 2 grown sons, ages 29 and 25! I have always been a crafty sort of person… knitting, crocheting, and scrapbooking! Once my sons got old enough to say “No more photos Mom!”, I found art journaling and mixed media! Now my major focus is on this! I love getting messy, trying new techniques, finding that perfect quote and just playing!

Enough about me .. today I am making a faux leather card, because today we need to make “It look Real”. This is an easy technique and can be done in a short amount of time!

Step 1: For a faux leather look you need to get some parchment paper of some sort. I used Tim Holtz Glassine paper that I have had forever. You can use parchment paper or wax paper, but I would suggust that you cover the entire surface with gesso first so that the acrylic paint can stick to it.

I am also using DecoArt Fluid Acrylic in Burnt Sienna, Golden fluid acrylics in Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold and Raw Umber.

Step 2: Scrunch up your paper into a ball to give it a crackle kind of look. It is best to do these 3 or 4 times to produce finer lines. Totally up to you! Once you have it scrunched up, start layering the acrylic paint down over it, blending the colors to give you the desired effect.

Step 3: Now comes the fun part … adding the embellishments you want onto your card! This is always the most stressful for me, as I never know what I am going to use until I get started!

Step 4: Once everything was glued into place, I added some different waxes I had and played until I was happy with the result! Added a sentiment, and done!

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Helen has made a fabulous faux leather card with lots of additional techniques to inspire you.  Pop over to her blog to check out her work and then come on back and share your creation with a faux element for the 'It Looks Real' challenge.

The challenge runs through Tuesday, November 5th at 11:55 pm EST and can be found HERE.