Leisha's Blog: A new design opportunity- Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

Hi all, and welcome to my very first post with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. It's been a little while since I have had a chance to really play around with chipboard so I was excited to see what I could come up with. I love the delicate scroll work in this memo board piece. With such a big open area to play with, I really wanted to experiment with some different textures. In addition to the memo board base, I also used some really pretty Swirl Medallion pieces in two different sizes to become my focal point in my background.

So here is what the memo board project will look like when it comes to you. It's a pretty simple one to put together, and in fact the tabs are all one way, so it is literally impossible to get them in the wrong way :) The next pic is the board once assembled. Since I was painting my project I assembled it before I started to decorate. Sometimes if I am covering with paper, I might do that before assembling.

Since I know I was going to be adding lots of paint to this piece, I started with couple of coats of white gesso. This serves a few different purposes. It primes my surface so that it will accept the paint layers without compromising the chipboard and making it soggy. It also allows the paint colors to really pop. I was sure to get into all the edges of the scroll work too, so that even the parts where the colored paint didn't hit, the project still looks complete.

Next, I added my chipboard pieces to the background. You can see that I cut the larger Swirl Medallion into two pieces and aligned them along the edge of the project. This is a great way to extend your design across a larger project creating a cohesive look. I also added a Meadow Flowers piece which I also cut into two to add to the different layers of the project. I also added a few decorative metal pieces. I again covered these all in gesso.

I then added some texture paste through stencils, some mesh tape and some crackle paint, all to add some more interest to my background. While it looks a little busy at first, then co-ordinating paints over the top help to blend it all together.

Once dry (I used a heat tool to speed up the process, plus it also allows my texture paste to bubble up even higher). I started with the paler green paint sprays first, dabbing with paper towel if it got too splotchy, and heating between layers. I then added the lighter blues, then the darker colors using the same process until I was happy with the effect.

Next I added some extra highlights using acrylic glaze paints and a small brush, allowing it to fill into some of the spaces in the Swirl Medallions. Finally, when dry, I dry brushed some gold paint over the relief areas of the project.

When I was happy with the way the colors looked and everything was dry, I embellished the project with gauze, flowers and leaves, creating clusters with the vines and large flowers first, then tucked in the smaller flowers. These wont really be seen once I pop a little notebook into the tray, but when empty, it should make a nice decorative piece on my wall.