Happy Birthday Sheilah!!!

Hello everyone,
Hope you had a good weekend! Mine was just what I needed - good friends and some time in nature. Sunday was a close friend's birthday party. I've been working on a mixed media card for her using Candra and can finally show it here without spoiling the surprise.

I'm not really sure where to begin explaining how I did this one. It's been a work in progress for a long time. I would add one layer... get stuck... leave it... and repeat... Adding acrylic paint into the mix is fairly new for me and I haven't yet figured out a process for what works and what doesn't. Lots of experimenting!

The background started with Dylusions Ink Sprays as usual. I then used modeling paste through a TCW stencil that I borrowed from a friend. After it was dry I used Golden Regular Gel (Matte) to paste down pieces of handmade paper. It's grid pattern (seen in top photo) added some nice texture along with the stencil. I also used Glossy Accents to glue on some glass seed beads for even more texture.
Overtop, I applied many layers of gesso and acrylic paint. In hindsight, I might add the beads after the paint layer so that they don't get covered like these did. Depending on what you want it still has a neat effect. The gold peaking through in some areas is by Golden.

I just love this paint! Head on you can't really see it but when you look at the surface at an angle the paint shines brilliantly. I used the blue version on the wings of the moth. You can see the effect below.

Candra viewed head on. I stamped onto a Japanese rice paper with VersaFine and then coloured around the image with a light blue Tombow marker leaving the inside the natural paper colour. I then painted on some of the Interference Blue. You can see only a subtle hint of it in this shot.

Candra viewed at an angle. You can really see how the blue pops out. So yummy! The gold is doing the same below.
I think that's about it for this one. Hope you enjoyed it. Many thanks for the lovely comments that were left for me on my last post. I enjoyed reading them :)
Bye for now,
Ryn

In Search of Clear Water

Hey everyone,
The weekend is here again and I am looking forward to a couple of days away with my friends. Hope you enjoy yourself as well - whatever you have planned. It's Victoria Day weekend here in Canada. That means an extra day off for most people and fireworks. Do you celebrate this holiday where you are?
I thought I would post something quickly before I take off. This is a card that I made a little while ago using Clown Fish and Seaweed Set from my collection.

The background is a combination of Dylusions Spray Inks. I used modeling paste with a stencil from TCW on the left and rubbed some Distress Ink on top to add a bit of colour. It's hard to see in these photos but I also brushed on some gold acrylic paint from Golden.

The colour combination was a strange one for me but I just kept working with it. I brought out the greens by rubbing ink around the borders and stamping Seaweed Set in a clear area. It's organic form created a neat contrast to the almost mechanical feeling geometric shapes of the stencil.
I made the Clown Fish for another project but decided that they fit this one better. I never would have expected that I would like the bright orange on that background but I think that somehow it works. I imagine the two characters on a journey through the polluted ocean to find some clean and healthy water.
Well that's it for now. I hope you like my latest little experiment. Wishing you all a great weekend wherever you are :)
Ryn

Customer Gallery #13

Hello everyone,
Hope you're enjoying the Spring and that you had a great a great Mother's Day :) Here are the latest sent in projects. Sorry it's taken me a bit longer to get your gallery up.

By Barbara using Gerbera. Her blog post HERE.

Another make by Barbara using Raindrop Set. She created this beauty at Eileen's latest workshop. You can check out Eileen's workshops HERE.

Frédérique's make with her free stamp (Silhouette Dove Set) from March's Customer Creation Draw.

Another piece by Frédérique using Raindrop Set.

Sabine's creation using Raindrops. Her blog post HERE.

Theresa's used Raindrop Set, Ornate Leaf Set and Seaweed Set in this card. She's got a great visual tutorial on her blog post HERE.

Shoshi's created a great tutorial for this card as well. She's used Water Droplets as honey. Why not?! A great idea! Her blog post HERE.

Julie's underwater world using Rising Bubbles.

A big thanks again to everyone who shared their art this go around :) Bye for now,
Ryn

May News!

Hello everyone,
The time has come for some new sales and to announce the Customer Creation Draw winner for April. For the month of May I have chosen these three stamps to discount by 50%.

Begonia ~ $4.49

Black-eyed Susan ~ $4.49

Day Lily ~ $4.49

The random winner of last month's Customer Creation Draw is... Jools Robertson!!! Below is her contirbution to the draw using Water Droplets from my collection. Many thanks for sharing your art with us Jools and congratulations on winning a free stamp :) Please get in touch with me through email designsbyryn@gmail.com to collect your prize.

Her blog post for this creation.

That's it for now. Wishing you all a great month of May :)

Ryn

Mama Fish

Hello everyone,
Wishing everyone who celebrates Easter a great holiday weekend :)
The background for this card is one of my very first experiments using molding paste and stencils. The background colour was created with Dylusions Ink Sprays. I then ripped up some decorative paper from Tim Holtz and brushed on the paper pieces with Golden Gel Medium (Regular Gel Matte). For the next layer I borrowed a friend's stencil and used a palette knife to apply Golden Light Molding Paste. When dry I did something strange and tried adding colour to the dots with Pan Pastels. It seemed to work but I wasn't happy at all with the colour choice and had no idea what to do with it next. The background sat for a couple of months unfinished until I made Butterfly Fish for another card. It didn't work for the card that I was thinking of but was just the touch I needed for this one.

The little bit of orange that I had used on the fins made it stand out and gave a little life to the colour palette in the background. Butterfly Fish was coloured with Tombow markers and highlighted with a Sakura white gel pen.

It wasn't until the whole card was finished that the dots started looking like strands of fish eggs. I imagined the Butterfly Fish guarding her young. To accentuate this idea I used Stickles to dot the centres of a few of the "eggs".

Sometimes creations really take on a life of their own. I like that.
Bye for now :)
Ryn

Sunshine!

Hello everyone,
I can't believe how sunny and warm it is outside today! Finally!!! I must have walked down my street with the biggest smile on my face. This is a card that I made a little while ago. It reminds me of summer so I thought I would share it today.
I used Flying Hummingbird 3 and Striped Reed Set from my collection.

I've been using the same formula for my cards lately so my process for this card is similar to the last few that I've posted. Dylusions Spray Ink background. The tribal stencil is from The Crafter's Workshop.

I coloured Flying Hummingbird 3 with Tombow markers and blended the colours with water. I then added Stickles around his face to capture the iridescence that make hummingbirds seem like flying gemstones.

I also sporadically added Stickles to the background and coloured the leaves of Striped Reed Set with a green Tombow marker. To add some dimension to the card I popped up Flying Hummingbird 3 with some adhesive foam. Viola! C'est fini!
Hope you like it :)
Bye for now,
Ryn

Customer Gallery #12

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well :)
Not much to say today so I will get straight to your art. Many thanks to everyone who has been sending in their projects! It's as if you all coordinated to send in water themed pieces. Makes for a great collection of images for the Spring!

Deb's used Raindrop Set in this textured canvas. Her blog post and an awesome step by step tutorial HERE

Jane's take on Rising Bubbles. Her blog post HERE with more close up shots of the great details in this piece.

Heike has done an amazing job of cutting out Seaweed Set (bottom right) and has used Rising Bubbles in the background. Her blog post HERE has many other projects using Original Rust (used on the anchor). Neat effect!

The last two pieces are by Sonja for a Gelli Plate workshop. She used Rising Bubbles in the first and Water Droplets 2 in the second card. You can check out her blog post HERE

Lastly, some of the happiest raindrops I've ever seen! Cornelia's blog post HERE

Hope you enjoyed this gallery. There sure are a lot of talented people out there. Keep on creating :)

Ryn

Lots of News!!!

Hello everyone,
It's the beginning of the month and I've got a lot of things to announce today. No pranks, I promise ;)
Water Droplets is Back!
Firstly, I have restocked my shelves and Water Droplets is once again available in my online shop. The are also a few other designs that have been restocked such as Dreaming Mermaid and Left Corner Mermaid. Thank you to everyone for being patient! I've sent off emails to all of you who had asked for a notification. It should be waiting in your inbox.
April Sales
This month I have discounted another three stamps by 50% for you. In anticipation of Spring I thought that Raindrops might be a good theme.

Raindrops ~ $4.99

Circle Cluster Set ~ $5.99

Rising Bubbles ~ $4.99

Customer Creation Draw Winner

The time has also come for me to randomly pick a winner for the Customer Creation Draw. Any sent in projects from now until the end of April will be included in this month's draw and will be announced on the first of May. This month's free stamp goes out to Frédérique!!! Here are the beautiful pieces that she sent in...

If you would like to give her a visit HERE is a link to Frédérique's blog. A big thank you for sending in your art!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by :)

Ryn

The Journeyer

Hello everyone,
Here's a card that I ended up giving to my father. In it I used Koi Set and Water Droplets from my collection. The background colour is Dylusions Ink Sprays and the stencil behind the Koi is from istencil.

Koi was coloured with Tombow markers and highlighted with Stickles and a white gel pen. I love making ribs in the fins with white. Underneath him and in other areas of the card I used glass seed beads to create texture. The thought to "glue" them to the page with Glossy Accents randomly popped into my head as I was making this card. Love how it turned out!

To make the Water Droplets "pop" I lifted some of the colour out of them (wetting and then soaking up the water and colour with a paper towel) and then highlighted the bottoms and top reflection with a white gel pen. Oh, and while I'm taking about Water Droplets. I'll have more in stock by April 1st. Thanks to everyone for being patient.

Well that's it from me today. Thanks for visiting :)
Ryn

Customer Gallery #11

Hello everyone,
I see other people take to social networking without any troubles but for me it has been a step by step process. Every move towards more exposure has been a little scary. Posting some of my cards in this space over the last few days has been one of those steps. I've been inspired for years by the art of my Design Team (blog list on the right hand side) and by other blogs that I have seen but still timid about putting my own art out there. I just want to thank the people who have left such encouraging comments here and on Facebook. I really appreciate you taking the time :)
Okay, so on to your art. This post is about you after all. As always, I loved seeing all of these creations as they appeared on my Facebook wall or in my inbox. Thanks to everyone for being brave and for sharing their art. A winner for March will be randomly drawn and announced on April 1st. Oh dear... That's April Fool's Day isn't it? I assure you, it won't be a prank ;)
Hélène Côte Bleue, the winner of last month's Customer Creation Draw made this with her prize, Flying Hummingbird 2.

Hélène's blog post HERE.

A mixed media canvas by Wilma. Her blog post HERE.

This and the next are by Evil Edna. In this card she's used Seahorse Set. Her blog for this card HERE

Evil Edna's second card using Flying Hummingbird 2. Her blog post HERE.

A card by Shaz using Water Droplets subtly in the honey comb. Her blog post HERE

These last two are by Frédérique. The first uses Water Droplets 2 and the second uses Trickling Water Set and the largest drop from Raindrop Set. Her blog post HERE.

That's all from me for now. Hope you enjoyed this gallery and have found some new and inspiring bloggers to visit :)

Ryn