Autumn Time

As some of you may be aware I love Autumn, the autumnal colours this time of year are always spectacular! With this in mind and seeing Alison‘s amazing Memory Plaque for the Metallics Challenge over at PaperArtsy, I wanted to join in the fun and create some metallic elements too ( grin!).  Thanks for the inspiration and here’s my Autumn Time page.

I started by making the metallic leaves which were green fabric leaves from The Works; I painted the whole leaf with a coat of either gold or bronze metallic acrylic paint and then I also applied some of the paint thickly on areas of the leaf. I left them for a few minutes to dry and then, as Alison had shown on the copper sheet for her plaque, I used a heat gun which made the paint on the leaves bubble creating some lovely texture and metallic shine. I made sure to keep my fingers out of the way of the bubbling paint and the heat, then I left the leaves to cool. For the background I applied black Versafine Ink through a clock stencil by Craft Sensations and applied black Papermania embossing powder over the top. I shook the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and tapped the page against the table to make sure I removed any stray powder. Once the excess powder was safely returned to its container, I used my heat gun to melt it by sweeping the gun over the clock images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder changed to a glossy smooth and dimensional finish. Then I applied gold Spectrum Aqua Marker to the page and stamped a clock image from a Steampunk stamp set by Docrafts using black Archival Ink. I didn’t like the brightness or embossed finish which I had created so I covered the whole page in white gesso using a palette knife to tone it down. While the gesso was still wet I rubbed some areas of the page with a baby wipe and some kitchen towel to expose the gold colour as well as the embossed and stamped images underneath. Next I added Sanguine, Cold Grey and Dark Sepia Big Brush markers by scribbling the ink onto an acrylic block, spritzing the block with water and pressing it onto the page. I secondary stamped some leaf images by BoBunny using black Archival Ink to give a lighter watermark image effect. I love the layered background that resulted; it has so much texture and detail.

To continue the metallics theme I used some foiled decoupage from Docrafts called Autumn Birds, which I edged with Faber-Castell Dark Sepia Big Brush marker. I cut one of the border pieces to edge a tag that was also from the decoupage pack, and used a piece of cream card to create the “Autumn Time” wording. I did this by colouring the card with diluted Sanguine Faber-Castell Big Brush marker by scribbling the marker onto an acrylic block and adding water with a paintbrush. Then I stamped it with the BoBunny leaf stamp using the same sanguine marker (not diluted this time) along with a Cold Grey Big Brush marker, to add some texture. Then I added the wording with an alphabet stamp set by Dovecraft using black Archival Ink. I cut a square of brown paper from a Design Pad by Craft Sensations and framed the bird decoupage picture with it using double-sided tape. To finish, I arranged the other decoupage elements along with the metallic leaves that I made earlier, sticking them to the page using double-sided tape and Glossy Accents.

I love autumn and used the other craft leaves to decorate my autumnal window display, which looks very cheerful this year (grin!). I really like the metallic look of the ones I created for my page so I may create some for next year’s display (double grin!).

I added clocks to my page so I could join in the fun over at Try it on Tuesday for their “Time or Clocks” challenge and I’m so pleased to be able to join this challenge with my Autumn Time inspired page.

There is an exciting new theme for October over at Country View Challenges and I’m really pleased to join their “Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues” with my mixed media and autumnal coloured page.

As I created metallic leaves for my page, I’m also joining the “Heavy Metal” challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tsukineko Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Gold)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Sanguine 188, Cold Grey IV 233, Dark Sepia 175)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• Poundland Metallic Arcylic Paint (Gold, Bronze)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Docrafts Creativity Essentials A5 clear stamp set (Steampunk DCE907125)
• BoBunny stamp set (Falling Leaves #12105154)
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Docrafts Anita’s Foiled Decoupage (Autumn Birds ANT169593)
• Poundland Design Pad (Changing Seasons CR0701/16PL1)
• The Works (Craft Leaves)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• X-Press It double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape