CARD - Playing with Chalk Pastels pt 1

I don't know about you, but I get the most excited, while card making, when I have a blank slate... a lovely, clean, white smooth piece of paper to work from. A white piece of paper or cardstock can turn into just about anything... you can print on it, stamp on it, slather it up with all kinds of artsy, gloopy, or glittery stuff. This time around I have been playing with a 48 pc set of chalk pastels I have had in one of my crafting drawers since forever. I bought them once when I had an opportunity to visit a Michaels store. They were in the art supply section, the cheapy stuff. I think they were under $5!! :D Leow-Cornell brand. They are definitely not artist grade but very chalky and very blendable. I also have a small set of artist soft pastels and they work great for what I was doing too; any chalky pastel stick will do. Note * I am not reinventing the wheel here, just a fun and simple technique and I dare you to only make one paper! LOL

Ingredients:
cheap white paper
chalk pastels
cottonballs or facial tissue
pearlescent or shimmery paint ( acrylic or watercolour )
liner brush
fixative spray
things to emboss your paper like cuttlebug and embossing folders ( optional)


What I did:
-I cut copy/multipurpose paper into quarters, the size I want for my cardfronts.
-I Selected 3 or four coordinating pastel sticks - card above used a yellow, peach, light pink & dark pink.
-Draw random curly cues & swirls all over the paper, use all the colours.


-Then take a cotton ball or a balled up facial tissue and lightly blend the paper, try to follow the movement of your curly cues. The result will have a soft & light pastel feel, go back over with more curly cues of pastel and blend again if you want a more vibrant look.

The result above is actually more colourful in RL. Here is another try:

-this one I didn't overblend so the lines are more prominent.

*(Alternative, use one chalk pastel at a time and blend between colour applications.)
-I then sprayed my paper with a fixative spray so the chalk stayed put.
-After I was "done" with the chalks, I pulled out my Niji Pearlescent watercolour set and wet the gold, primed up a liner brush and just started making swirlies until I filled up the paper with curly cues.



-For the card above, I cuttlebug embossed the paper. The "lacey" front was made with a combination of embossing folders from the "Frills" and "With Love" sets.

If you don't think you have the knack for painting your own curly cues, try stamping with gold ink and or embossing. Another thing you could do is cuttlebug emboss your paper, lightly brayer some versamark and then emboss with gold embossing powder OR just brayer some gold or shimmery ink/paint over the raised areas.

LATER, I got a little more adventurous and the fun ensued. But THAT is another story.... ( pt 2)

Have a great day!
Fred :)*