katy leitch featured blogger canvas corp brands

Katy Leitch – Featured Blogger

We are inspired by the world around us and love to showcase new and exciting artist, designers and crafters and our guest designer series is a great way to inspire our Crew as well as each one of you to try something different, show off a new style or help you think outside of your creative box, so from time to time we like to invite crafters to be our Guest Designer/Blogger for a month to challenge us to see things in a different way and so that we may learn more about our products through the eyes of a new designer.

This month we have invited Katy Leitch, the editor of MixedUp Magazine, to play with our new 7gypsies line – Architextures. 

‘Hi, I’m Katy and I’m delighted to be joining CCB today as a guest blogger. I was sent some of the new Architextures range of goodies to play with. I love anything vintage so these products were right up my alley!’ – seems like Katy loves the products as much as we do!

katy leitch featured blogger canvas corp brands architextures

Before we move on to the arty part of the blog, let’s find out some things about Katy.
We have asked her some
 questions to get to know her better:

Where are you from?
I live in the UK in the Midlands, and am originally from Birmingham.

How would you describe your design style?
Eclectic – I work in quite a few different styles and like to explore and experiment.

How long have you been creating?
Forever really, in some form or another. I started my journey into papercrafting as a scrapbooker in 2005.

What is your go to product right now?
At the moment, I am using my Stabilo All pencil for everything so maybe that’s my ‘right now’ obsession. On my desk there is always gesso; stamps; a black inkpad; and a box of mark making tools, including old rubbish like store cards and bottle tops.

Do you have a signature touch you like to include in all your pieces?
Yes and no. My pieces tend to have their own personalities but there are a few things that often appear. I absolutely love rubber stamps and use them a lot. I also like to add 3D or textural elements and my work usually has words incorporated somewhere.

What advice would you give to someone who gets in a creative slump?
We all have them and it will pass. When I feel like this, I try to make small projects I can complete in one sitting, like an ATC or mini journal page – that way I feel a sense of accomplishment even if I can only concentrate on crafting for 30 minutes. The other thing I do is prepare backgrounds or even sit and colour stamped images – sometimes the inspiration just doesn’t come but you can always prep some components for a later piece of work. If all else fails – go shopping!

What is the oddest thing that has inspired you to create?
I don’t really know if it’s odd, but I like to repurpose old things – recent projects include upcycled sardine tins and vintage chocolate moulds.

Tell us one thing that people might not know about you.
I have a Masters in History of Ceramic Design.

How often do you create?
It depends on my mood – sometimes it’s every day, sometimes I can go a week and just not feel the creative urge; although, I tend to feel there’s something missing when I’m not making regularly.

Do you jot down your ideas before you do them or do you create as you go?
Mostly I plan in advance but I rarely write things down – it’s more that I mull over the ideas in my head, especially for DT work where I want to show the new products I’ve had to their best advantage. I have been making an effort this year to be more spontaneous, so I’ve been working more fluidly in my journal without planning – sometimes it works, sometimes it’s very, very ugly!

So, now that you know a bit more about our Guest blogger, let’s talk business… we mean art, of course…

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The first of Katy’s two projects is an altered cover of the Architextures Composition Book. With layers upon layers of various Architectures elements, this is a true lesson in how-to make mixed media fun and easy (just as we had intended from the beginning!). But what did Katy think about our book (one of many on offer, may we add)… 

‘I was most surprised by the Composition Book – it’s much more than just a little notebook, it’s fabulous quality, with thick, sturdy pages inside. I’ve decorated the cover for this tutorial and I look forward to filling it with art!’ – she says.

katy leitch featured blogger canvas corp brands architextures

Products used:
7gypsies Architextures: Composition Book
7gypsies Architextures: Tall Base – Chicken Wire
7gypsies Architextures: Junque Pack – Parlour
7gypsies Architextures: Parchment Rub-ons – Inspire
7gypsies Architectures: Findings – Angel Wings
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist: Gold, Suede
Tattered Angels Chalkboard Mist: Monolith
(‘My Glimmer Mist’s are older ones so some of the colours I used are no longer available – however, I used grey, brown and gold tones so there are plenty of substitutes available in the current colour range.’ – explains Katy.)
Acrylic paint – translucent white, Payne’s Grey

Clear gesso
DecoArt Texture Sand Paste
Spellbinders Seth Apter Die
Wooden heart
Book paper
Gilding wax
Brass embellishment

Add some gold Glimmer Mist around the edge of the Composition Book using a paintbrush and dry.

Add some of the same colour to the wings and let it settle into the crevices – allow to dry naturally.

Paint a piece of torn book paper with translucent white paint to tone down the print. Cover a heart shape with book paper and similarly treat with white paint.

Give the Junque pack crackle effect sticker a coat of clear gesso – this gives it a tooth which enables water-based media to adhere better to the slightly slick surface. Add areas of Suede Glimmer Mist.

Mop away the excess mist while still wet to just add a hint of colour and rust-like distressing. Repeat this process with the Monolith Chalkboard Mist or other grey colour of mist.

Stick the paper and crackle sticker to the book cover. Cut some pieces from the Chicken Wire Base and adhere these also.

Take a die cut frame (Seth Apter) and add textured modelling paste (I used DecoArt Texture Sand Paste) to it. When dry, wash with Charcoal Chalkboard Mist and Suede Glimmer Mist.

Treat the frame sticker with Payne’s Grey acrylic paint on a dry brush to add a little more definition to the details. Edge the heart with gilding wax and add the sticker.

Cut some words to fit a bookplate from some packaging (this is the packaging that came with the Rub-ons I was sent but didn’t use on this piece).

katy leitch featured blogger canvas corp brands architextures

Add some small areas of gilding wax over the crackle background. Assemble all the elements onto the book cover. Finish by adding the brass embellishment and the words behind a bookplate.

katy leitch featured blogger canvas corp brands architextures

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Katy’s second project is a more feminine and colourful card made from a recycled piece of cardboard and our Architectures packaging! Yes, you got it right! She used the packaging as the base for her card! How cool is that?!?! Well… let’s allow Katy’s work speak for itself…

katy leitch featured blogger canvas corp brands architextures

‘I love to upcycle and recycle and I’m a bit of a hoarder of junk…. This piece makes use of various scraps from my desk as well as the packaging from some of the Architextures product I was sent – I love it when the packet is as pretty as the contents! I’ve also used Glimmer Mist to customise my embellishments.’ – explains her inspiration Katy.

katy leitch featured blogger canvas corp brands architextures

Products used:
7gypsies Architextures: Tall Base – Chicken Wire
7gypsies Architextures: Junque Pack – Parlour
7gypsies Architextures: Parchment Rub-ons – Inspire (including packaging)
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist: Vintage Pink, Suede (or other pink/brown shades of your choice)
White gesso
Brown pigment ink
Corrugated card
Metallic foil (Grafix)
Cheesecloth
Scraps of lace trim
Gilding wax – Rose Gold (DecoArt)
Embellishments – including paper and resin flowers and pearls


Quick steps for making Katy’s card:

1 Cut and distress a piece of corrugated card. Dry brush with white gesso, edge with brown ink. Cut a piece from the Junque Pack packaging, distress with scissors and ink the edges.

2 Add some rub-ons to sticky metallic foil (Grafix) and cut out. The vintage rub-ons look cool on metal!

3 Take a scrap of cheesecloth and dye with Vintage Pink and Suede Glimmer Mists. To do this I sprayed pools of mist onto my glass mat and dipped the cheesecloth into them while scrunched to get a variegated effect.

4 Dye some paper flowers with Vintage Pink mist – I used a variety of colours of flower so that each was tonally different once altered with the spray.

5 Assemble the Junque Pack panel, some of the Chicken Wire Tall Base and the metallic rub-ons onto the background. Add the dyed cheesecloth.

6 Continue building the layers by adding pearls and scraps of trim dyed with Suede Glimmer Mist (I got the subtle colouration by spraying from some distance away).

7 Finish with a quote cut from the rub-on packaging. Your one-off card is ready!


We hope you enjoyed meeting Katy as much as we did! It’s always very exciting seeing crafters play with our products and putting their own spin on them. Thank you, Katy for sharing with us!

You can see more of Katy’s crafty inspiration on her blogFacebookYoutube and Instagram.



About

Canvas Corp Brands is the home of Tattered Angels, 7Gypsies and Canvas Corp (Canvas Home Basics). We are a manufacturer of surfaces, paint and vintage reproductions coming to you from Springdale, Arkansas.


'Katy Leitch – Featured Blogger' have 2 comments

  1. April 30, 2017 @ 9:08 am Leandra Franich

    Both these projects look so lovely Katy! I was excited to see what you had done as we are stocking these products now to take to U.K. Shows . The books and those amazing 3D sticker elements have generated a lot of positive feedback! Thanks for more ideas! ~Leandra

    Reply

  2. May 1, 2017 @ 7:30 am Leslie Lineberry

    Wow, not one but two terrific pieces! Love your loaded layers and your treatment of the elements Katy!

    Reply


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This blog is a compilation of inspiration from the Canvas Corp Brands family including Canvas Corp, Tattered Angels and 7Gypsies.