Guest Spotlight with Ellie Knol: A Photo Tutorial

Hello everyone! 

It's been a pleasure to connect with other artists and to showcase their art using my stamps and stencils. Last week I showed you Tammy Baker's mixed media light switches and this week I'm happy to feature Ellie Knol. 

Ellie's shared a full start to finish photo tutorial on how she made this piece using my Maidenhair Fern stencil and Honey Locust stamp. Love the layering in this! It's really neat to read Ellie's thought process along the way too... Hope you enjoy!

Ellie's Photo Tutorial

 

Her creation process in her own words...

Finished page !

*****

Enjoy the process!

 Start by adhering music paper to your page. Tear the edges to make it fit, leave out some space on the edges.. add torn pieces to fill it up. 

Apply structure paste to the page with this gorgeous Maidenhair stencil from Designs by Ryn. 

Leave to dry. 

Spray custom made sprayinks over it.  Oops, I lost the light in the ferns...

****

From here you will see:  if you just play  .. the next steps just happen.. 

... scratch the top layer off the structure paste to reveal the white .. still not happy? !

... add darker lines around the maidenhair's leaves to get it back in balance.Also add some light color to the leaves. 

..add some journaling to the page, 

(I even wrote ... Grrrrr...  somewhere, also about the layering...and enjoy playing .. )   .. still not happy ....

... add some lighter black stamped and some darker black stamped images around the fern ...  highlight the edges of these stamped edges with a white acrylic marker. I used the Honey Locust Leaf stamp here.. never thought I would use it this way, LOVE the effect!

 I am happy now!!!

A bit about the Artist

"I was born in Brazil and lived there for 9 years after which my dad and mom immigrated to South Africa. At age 23 I moved to the Netherlands where I got married (we have 4 children and one son in law). I started stamping at the end of 2009 after watercoloring for about 12 years. I LOVE to play with paper, stamps and colour (hence the name of my blog) and everything else of course: all sorts of media from gesso to watercolor pencils. From inks to acrylic paints! I hope I inspire you to have some stamping fun!"

Ellie's blog: http://elliecreahoekje.blogspot.nl

 

Thank You

 

 A BIG thank you to Ellie for creating this beautiful page and tutorial! It's been great "working" with you so far!

Many thanks to you for stopping by my blog and for reading my post. Ellie has made a few more great projects which I'll share soon. More to come!

Hugs from Canada!

Ryn

Tammy's Mixed Media Light Switches!!!

Hey everyone,
A few weeks ago I showcased polymer clay artist Tammy Baker. I've invited her to do a couple of guest spots with my designs because her art is just fantastic. For the first batch of switches she pressed the stamps into polymer clay to create a really neat 3D effect. HERE is a link to that post.
For this post, I asked her to showcase the stamps in an inky mixed media style that she uses on some of her switches. For these she's stamped the designs onto the surface. Love her use of crackle, colour and details (those postage stamps are so cute!) I'll post the results below as well as her technique but first a bit about Tammy.

A bit about Tammy

"I live in Sunrise, Florida, just west of Ft. Lauderdale and north of Miami. I have always loved to create, be it painting or making jewelry. For many years when my kids were young we traveled the state doing Art Shows on the weekends selling my mixed media jewelry. Then for some reason, life just got in the way of creating. I packed up my supplies and put them in the garage. Many years passed and my daughter grew up and had my granddaughter, Tiffany. When cleaning out the garage and opening up the boxes of beads, gems and filigrees, Tiffany asked me why I didn’t make things anymore. Her curiosity and enthusiasm sparked that creative fire deep inside of me. This was in 2009, since then I have two shops on Etsy and a few items on Society 6."

Tammy's mixed media switches

In this piece Tammy has used Fiddlehead Set from my Spirals and Leaves unmounted sheet

In this piece Tammy used Striped Reed Set from my Spirals and Leaves unmounted sheet.

In this piece Tammy used Ornate Leaf Set from my Spirals and Leaves unmounted sheet

In this piece Tammy used Sea Bubbles Set and Striped Reed Set

How does she do It?

Messy Mixed Media
"I define my Messy Mixed Media method as using many different craft mediums in a serendipitous or spontaneous way. This leaves a very chaotic composition that is pulled together my the crackle finish that covers the entire surface.
I start off with a plain metal or plastic switch plate purchased from a home improvement store. I take my acrylic paints and squirt out a small amount of several colors on my tile palate. Then I use my fingers to "finger paint" the background, mixing the colors together. I may even add more paint after the others dry. It’s all about the layering. I may add glitter paint, then Modge Podge. (or decoupage glue.) Stamp some random images, then Modge Podge. Add more glitter paint in a different color. Modge Podge. Add postage stamps, text from books or magazines, Washi tape or even found objects. Then Modge Podge. Yes, there is some down time waiting for the Modge Podge to dry, but it is worth the wait. I will usually add another layer of stamped images before the crackle coat.
With all this Modge Podging I get clear layers in between each medium giving it depth. It’s hard to see in the photos, but when you look at the technique in person you can see how some things come forward as others are pushed back.
At this point the pieces are still very chaotic. This is the time to add the crackle medium. After it is dries and the cracks have appeared I usually add a metallic paint to the top. I wipe off the excess before it dries and the rest goes down in the cracks pulling everything together and adding the final layer. I hope you will experiment with this fun technique!"

A generous coupon for Tammy's Etsy shop

Tammy has also offered ALL of us a coupon code for 15% off in her Etsy shops. All of her pieces are original hand made pieces of art for a really reasonable price. I bought one for myself for my birthday. Couldn't resist. Kirk and I spent a good while looking at it when it arrived. Like a little treasure in the mail :)
The code is RYN15. A BIG thank you Tammy for your generosity!!!
Tammy's stores:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/tmbakerdesigns
https://www.etsy.com/shop/studiotambria

Bye for now!

Thanks so much for stopping by and for reading through my post. Hope you found Tammy's art inspiring as I do. I've got another Guest Designer post coming up next week. Ellie Knol made a whole tutorial for us! Exciting :)
Bye for now,
Ryn

New Stamps and Stencils are now available!

Hey everyone,
Just a quick one today. For those of you who follow me here instead of Facebook I just wanted to let you know that I have made my new Stamp and Stencil designs available on my site! You can find them HERE

For more photos and info on my new designs you can check out my last two blog posts. Both full of photos and my design process.
Sending my best to you :)
Ryn

New Stencils coming out Tomorrow!

New Stencils
Hey everyone! As I said in my last post featuring my new Stamp designs, I was going to do one big post with my New Releases but I had WAY too many photos to share with you! I'm breaking up the news into two posts. Here's the Stencil portion...
These stencils are all 6" by 9" laser cut from Mylar. I tried to design them so that you can use parts of the design or the whole thing to make them as versatile as possible. Hope you like them! They'll be available on my site along with my new unmounted stamps on Wednesday March 11th!!!

Gingko S-5

Above are my first experiments using my Gingko stencil. In the first image I used modeling paste. When dry, I put the stencil back overtop and sponged pearlescent paint on. When dry, I sponge on green paint. You can see the pearlescent paint shining through. Love that effect!

The second image is a mix of Distress ink through the stencil (in the background) and the same modeling paste technique in the bottom right corner.

Japanese Anemone S-6

In the first image I used the same modeling paste technique as with the Gingko leaves. The second is Distress inks rubbed through the stencil.

Hibiscus S-4

The first image of Hibiscus was done by rubbing Distress inks through the stencil. For the second card I used modeling paste. I haven't added colour to it yet so that is the colour of the paste.

My Design Process

Thank goodness for the built in camera in my phone. It makes gathering research pics when out and about so much easier! This Gingko lives in my neighbourhood. I also collected some leaves from the ground to study them close up. Here are my rough sketches and first inkings.

I started with many lines in the leaves (true to life) and ended up simplifying as the design progressed. I think they look much better with less linework.

I still prefer to draw on paper instead of directly into my computer. It takes more time this way because I have to scan and then clean the images. I think it's worth it though.

You may remember that I posted on Facebook asking for your help in identifying this beautiful plant. Thanks to you I now know that it's a Japanese Anemone :)

Gathering research photos at my local garden center...

As you can see the designs get a lot more refined as I go. I try to start loose and then tighten the images by smoothing the linework etc...

There's the added complication of engineering when designing stencils as well. The design has to hold together. I think of the linework as little bridges. They can't be too thin or they might collapse but to keep the design flow I don't like making them too fat either. These are my 4th, 5th and 6th stencil designs and I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

Here's a very happy me when I received the proofs for my stencils and saw that the designs worked out really well! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and for reading about what I'm up to. I so appreciate your support and enthusiasm :)

Bye for now,

Ryn

New Stamp Designs coming March 11th!!!

Hey everyone,
Good news... No, GREAT news!!! I've got some new designs to share with you. One of my goals for this year was to focus more on creating. I feel really good to be off to a good start. I've got new Unmounted Stamps and new Stencils all coming out at once! They will be available on my site on Wednesday March 11th!
I was going to do one big post but I had WAY too many photos to share with you. Instead, I'm breaking my New Releases into two posts. Here's the Stamp portion...

Hibiscus UM-M5

Hibiscus have been high on my list for a while. I just love the variety of colours that they come in! My challenge to myself was to avoid making them look like a Hawaiian shirt. I'll share some of my design process and sketches for this in my upcoming Stencil post...

Above is a 8.5" by 5.5" unmounted sheet. It will be available in my online shop for $19.99 CAD. I'm currently cling-mounting the designs. They'll be ready to go up on my site soon. I'll be sure to post when they're ready.

As always, I've tried to make the designs as versatile as possible for all of your different styles. I think the negative and positive versions will be fun to combine. I've also tried something new and made a stencil design with the same motif. Should be a lot of fun to layer both the stamps and stencils together... Here's a sneak peak of the stencil...

Moon Wings UM-M4

I am also releasing my whole moth series in one 8.5" by 5.5" sheet. This includes: Candra, Selini, Lucine, Tsuki and Luna from my current cling-mounted collection. For now, they will be available both cling-mounted and unmounted on my website. The new sheet is called Moon Wings UM-M4 and is $19.99 CAD.

Many of my retailers have ordered both Hibiscus and Moon Wings unmounted sheets and should have them in stock soon. HERE is a link to my retailer list if you'd like to find a store near to where you are.

Gallery of Examples

The Design Team and I haven't had a chance to try out the Hibiscus designs yet. I can't wait to see what they come up with! Here are some of our pieces using the Moon Wings stamps...

I painted Selini with acrylic paint in this one

A tag by Wendy using Candra. Her blog post HERE.

Shirley's card using Tsuki. Her blog post HERE

Miranda's card using Lucine. Her blog post HERE

Kellie's piece using Lucine. Her process video HERE

Karin's card using Candra. Her blog post HERE

Eileen's card using Lucine. Her blog post HERE

Anja's card using Candra and Lucine. Her blog post HERE

Alie's card using Lucine. Her blog post HERE

One more from me using Luna

I hope you like the new designs! I'll be posting again very soon with the New Stencils ;)

Bye for now,

Ryn

March Sales and News

Hey everyone,
Just a quick one for me today. I've got another post coming in the next couple of days with some New Designs ;)

Sales for March

For this month I've discounted these stamps by 50% I decided to go with a Sea theme...

Cardinalfish - $4.49 CAD

A piece that I did a while ago with Cardinalfish. Coloured with Tombow Markers.

Clown Fish - $4.49 CAD

This piece is by Anja from the DT. Here's her blog post for this piece.

Leafy Sea Dragon - $4.49 CAD

This piece is by Shirley from the DT. Here's her blog.

Octopus - $4.49 CAD

This polymer clay lightswitch is by guest designer Tammy Baker. Here's Tammy's Etsy shop.

Customer Creation Winner for February

Thank you to all of you who took a moment to share your art with me last month :) You know that I always enjoy seeing what you make!
I've posted the challenge for March so please feel free to contribute again. As always, it's anything goes. You can mix and match whatever brands and products as you like as long as my stamp or stencil is clearly visible. You can post up to 3 projects - one photo per project. You do not need a blog to participate but if you do have one please link back to my challenge. Much appreciated :)
The random winner for last month is... Gerrittina!!! A BIG congratulations!!! Please get in touch with me at designsbyryn@gmail.com to collect your free stamp.
Below is her contribution to the challenge using Selini from my Moon Wings collection (soon to be an unmounted sheet). HERE is her blog post for this project.

Well, that's it for now. I'll be back in a couple of days with my New Designs!
Bye bye!
Ryn