Topical Tuesday: Chalkboard Ornaments

Hi there, it's Tobi here with a fun kid-friendly Topical Tuesday!

I bought a package of plain, clear Christmas ornaments knowing I wanted to decorate them somehow, so really this was all just playing around... 

First, we painted our ornaments with Black Gesso. Yes, there's BLACK gesso! It dries matte so I figured it would look just like chalkboard paint (because I didn't have any...). 

Next, using a few stamps from Holly Jolly Christmas, I stamped in white pigment ink onto the ornament. Hint: don't mount the stamps on anything. Use your fingers to help the stamp hug the curves of the ornament. 

So when all was said and done, I liked the clean-and-simple look of the black and white (with a touch of red) better than my attempt at colour: 

I still have a few ornaments left to decorate, I wonder what I'll do with them??!! 

Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoyed my post today!

Topical Tuesdays - Mixed Media Journal

Hi there! It's Tobi here from Tobi's Place with my first Topical Tuesday post.

Recently I've become infatuated with mixed media and specifically "art journaling" and today I am sharing with you how I go about incorporating stamps into my designs. This is my Dylusions Journal that I have put off decorating on the outside because I didn't want to commit... Well today is the day! I'll take you step-by-step through the process!!

Here it is plain:

1. Cover the area with Gesso: 

2.   Apply paint or colour of your choice through a stencil. I used Gelatos and applied them with my finger: 

3.    Stamp images of your choice in Archival ink. (I used stamps from Daisy Delight): 

4.   Add shading with a Stabilo pencil. (In case you don't know, a Stabilo pencil is an acrylic material, so it works really well on acrylic paints! Just smudge with your finger or you can wet it too...): 

5.   Add colours to the flowers with watercolour crayons or gelatos. Smudge with fingers:

6.   Add colour to the background with PanPastels: 

7.   Outline the stamped images in white pen. This step was the essential "finishing touch" that the flowers needed because none of them stamped perfectly (the surface was really bumpy) and after all of the smudging with my fingers the colours didn't "pop." 

8.   The decoration is complete: 

Now all it needs is a title: 

Thanks for joining me today and I hope you enjoyed this peek into my process!!