The question is: Beeswax or NOT ?!

Hey everyone, 

I've got an amazing tutorial from Guest Designer, Ellie Knol to share with you today. She's used my Spiral Shell and fragments of my Water Droplets stamps. Hehe, she cut it up into different shapes. I say go for it! Make the groupings of drops into whatever shape feels natural for you to use in your artwork. 

As always, Ellie's explanation is entertaining and inspiring to read. Lots of eye candy too. Hope you enjoy her project as I have :)

The BIG question....  

which one do you like more : the card  

without ...

or with beeswax ? 

Let me make the decision for you! 

Please watch the process  ...  

warning - a lot of steps, get yourself a cup of coffee.. 

and ENJOY!

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Gather all your supplies....(you see : I made a list)

...from paper napkins to... 

 .....the beautiful stamps from Designs By Ryn 

...and ....YES, the melting pot (for adding beeswax)!  

Start by tearing pieces of the tissue paper and  tissue wrap paper.

Using decoupage glue, adhere it to your cardstock...  

.... keep adding more until you're happy. 

Keep in mind that this will just be for filling up the background:

 it will get muted down with gesso. 

Dry top layer with the heat-tool.
 Rub down the tissue paper with a piece of paper on top. 

(this will prevent the tissue paper to tear)...

Add another layer of decoupage glue.  

This will be the collage with the shell..  (happy??)

Add some color to the background with watercolor crayons 

Apply a watered down layer of gesso. This will let the color run and blend. LOVE this!

  Again - this will be the collage with the shell..  (happy??)

Grab some adirondack inks (or any other water-based ink) to coördinate with the colors.  

Sponge the edges with it... 

 ..adhere some cheesecloth ..

 Grab some watercolor pencils to coördinate with the waterbased ink

 (my colorchart already knows which coordinate). 

 Color the heart and edges of the shell with it ....I used a blue, a green and a rust pencil... 

Also add some of this color in the background (the butterfly for instance).

 

NOW (don´t tell Ryn!) I did something to my tool (drops stamp) to be able to use it partially!  

 I cut it in parts! 

I'm happy! 

  Stamp the drops randomly in the background,\

... also stamp some on a seperate piece of cardstock, cut these out,.and adhere them to the background, 

Adhere the shell. 

Here you can see that I've added some white to the edges of the shell with an acrylic marker. 

I was unsure whether I would still like it after applying beeswax,
so I decided to photograph the finished card, just in case... 

NOW ONTO THE BEESWAX!

Add a thin layer of melted beeswax to the whole card. 

Let all the extra beeswax drip off the surface back into the melting pot by heating it with a heat tool. 

Add a thicker layer of beeswax in places where you want to be able to stamp into the beeswax...

I used the edges of the Honey Locust Leaf stamp to add texture to the beeswax: 

heat the beeswax with the heat tool inch by inch and press the stamp into it .

.., and add shine with perfect-pearls.  

   

 The drops are awesome!

The finished project! 

 I HOPE YOU LIKE IT !!??

Koi Pond Card

Hey everyone,
Here's another one from me. Two in a row! I'm on a roll ;) This card reminded me of a fish pond. It developed organically again. I had no idea I was going to add fish until the end.

For this one I followed my usual process. I'm really into layering in this order lately. Here are some rough steps...

• I started with Dylusions ink sprays
• Rubbed green distress ink through my Gingko stencil
• Coated the card with Golden - Regular Gel (Gloss). As I applied the gel I tapped the brush to give a different texture to the gel. You can see it in the light blue areas. Much different than brush strokes.

• When dry, I brushed white paint over the gel texture in certain areas of the card. It caught the ridges and made the patterns in the gel visible.
• I glazed over the white with light turquoise
• Over that, I used modeling paste through my Gingko stencil
• When dry, I set the stencil over top again and sponged on pearlescent paint. Makes a nice base for whatever colour you choose to add on top. In this case, the green has a bit of a shine to it from the layer below.
• The Koi Set stamps were stamped and then fussy cut from another sheet that I sprayed with orange and red Dylusions.
• I stuck them on with Golden - Regular Gel (Gloss) and then added some gold paint to the scales and eyes

• Last touch was adding some green beads here and there. Algae or eggs. Whatever. Just liked the effect and extra texture

Hope you like this one! Thanks for all of the comments on my last piece :) Loved reading your feedback! I don't usually comment back on here because I'm told that it doesn't notify you that I replied but I definitely do read every word left for me.
If you've got any questions just let me know. I will try to respond either by email or by finding your blog to leave you an answer to your question. Sometimes it's tricky finding a way back to you. You can always write to me at designsbyryn@gmail.com too.
Okay that's it for now.
Bye bye,
Ryn

Japanese Amemone meets Art Metal

Hey everyone,
I haven't had a lot of time to make cards lately but here's one that I was happy with. I've been really enjoying learning how to layer in my card making. I call them my little experiments and find that that attitude takes some pressure off of having to make everything "perfect". I don't worry so much about where the piece is going when I begin. So different from the purposeful designing that goes into the stamps and stencils. This is my free-flow art therapy ;)
Here is my first play with metal leaf. Hope you like it!

The background was made with Dylusions Ink Sprays on mixed media paper. When dry, I coated it with Golden - Regular Gel (Gloss). I love how it increases the vibrance of the Dylusions sprays. Not that they need it - I just love colour.
Over top of that layer I painted on the Adhesive in random shapes. I wasn't sure if it would work on a glossy surface but I thought, why not try? After waiting for the adhesive to dry I applied the metal leaf. You have to wait for it to dry first otherwise you'll have a mess on your hands trying to adhere the metal leaf to the wet glue. Instructions are on the bottle. The metal leaf stuck to the adhesive and brushed off of the glossy surface. Hurray! It worked! I used a dry paintbrush to smooth it down.

Next, I added some Deco Art Media - Crackle Glaze. It dries transparent which is great for adding a bit of texture without covering up your background. I rubbed some silver paint into the cracks when it was dry and cleaned the left over off of the surface.
The piece needed a focal point so I used modeling paste through my Japanese Amemone stencil. After it was dry, I put the stencil back over top and sponged on some pearlescent paint and then turquoise.
When using a sponge to apply paint I've found that it works best when the sponge is just the slightest bit damp. Not wet by any means. I wet mine and then use a paper towel to soak up as much water as I can from it. Right now I'm using dollar store make up applicator sponge wedges.

Finally, I added some coloured rhinestones on the top right gold patch. The gold needed to be broken up a bit and I liked the little bit of twinkle that they added. Reminded me of stars. You can kind of see them in this shot below.

Hope you liked my card! I would love to hear your thoughts on it so please feel free to leave me a comment. Wishing you a great day!
Bye for now,
Ryn

More from Guest Designer - Ellie Knol!

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great Easter/long weekend :) Thanks for stopping by!

I've got a second spotlight for Guest Designer Ellie Knol today. She's made three new creations with the stamps that I sent to her and has written up how she made them. Hope you enjoy!!! 

If you would like to read a bit about Ellie or see her last fabulous photo tutorial HERE is the link to her last Spotlight. You can also visit Ellie at her own blog HERE. 

Ok, on to Ellie's projects in her own words...

Who on earth would not like playing with these stamps - the Honey Locust Leaf is my most favorite stamp from Designs by Ryn!  

Those drops? Can you have two most favorite ones please? 

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The African daisy needs to be on this background as far as I am concerned!

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To make the background was easy peasy:  just spray some inks onto cardstock, put plastic household wrap over it, leave to dry, and voila!  

The stamps from Designs by Ryn do the rest.. .. aren't they gorgeous?

The drops were stamped on the background, and also on a seperate piece of paper. I then cut them out, and adhered the cut-out drop over some of the stamped drops. 

April Customer Creation Challenge

An InLinkz Link-up

April News!!!

Hey everyone!

Hope you're doing well :)

Things have been good and busy around here! Just to let you know, I'm trying reallllly hard to peel myself away from the online world on weekends. I've realized that that I need time to myself to recharge and do non-work related things. It's just too easy to peak at my phone and get absorbed by all of the eye candy on Pinterest, emails, blogs, YouTube videos etc... The online world truly is never ending! Nice weather is returning to Ontario and the sunshine is reminding me that I like to be active. I will surely start to develop back problems if I spend all of my time sitting with my devices. So, for the sake of my body, mental wellbeing and creative spirit I must take a break! Lol.

If you write to me on weekends or leave comments on any of the social media sites that I maintain, I will look forward to reading and responding after the weekend - Monday :)

March Challenge Winner

Thank you to everyone who shared their art in last month's challenge! I really appreciate seeing your creations. I've randomly drawn a winner for March. A big congratulations to... Nikki!!!

Please contact me to receive your free cling-mounted stamp or stencil: designsbyryn@gmail.com

The piece that Nikki entered (using Silhouette Dove Set) and her blog post HERE

April Sales

(Last chance for cling-mounted Faeries)

I have decided to discontinue offering the individual cling-mounted faerie designs. The four designs below have been discounted by 50%. The other designs will be available as long as stock lasts.

The unmounted sheet "Faeries" will still be available going forward. It has all of the designs on it for $29.99 and is available in my online shop and at select retail stores.

Acorn Faerie Set - NOW $5.99

Harp Faerie - NOW $4.99

Hugging Faerie - NOW $4.99

Dancing Faeies - NOW $4.99

Retail Stores

I am very happy to say that wholesale is doing well. Thank you to customers around the world who have approached their local stores and asked them to check out my designs. So appreciate you helping me to get out there :)

A BIG thank you to all of the store owners who are offering my designs in their shops!!! I'm very happy to be working with you!

HERE is a link to my retailer list.

Classes

If you are a store or independent workshop instructor and you are planning a class using my designs please do let me know the details! I'd love to hear about it and help to get the word out there about what you are offering.

That's all my news for now! Wishing everyone a great Easter weekend! If you don't celebrate, wishing you a great weekend all the same :)

Bye for now,

Ryn