Feature Artist - Earth Day - Welcome Jenny

Hello Everyone!

Anne here, I am so thrilled to introduce you to our Feature Artist for April, the lady who was the winner of my 'Ring out the Old' challenge in January.  Please give a huge welcome to the super talented Jenny of Pushing the Right Buttons !

Jenny is one of those fabulous artists whose work and style is instantly recognisable, she is so clever with design, layers and textures.  Whether it is a card or a large canvas Jenny's attention to detail is exceptional.  Jenny has some fantastic tutorials on her blog, HERE, that are definitely worth visiting - she loves to share her experiments and new techniques.  Every time I visit Jenny's blog I learn something new!

Jenny's project for us today really showcases her style and also the thought that she puts into each and every project she does.  Can you tell, I am a big fan!

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Hi everyone! My name is Jenny Marples from 'Pushing The Right Buttons' and I'm thrilled to have been asked to be a Feature Artist here at Anything But Cute. Being lucky enough to count several members of the Design Team as good friends and 'colleagues' it's a real honour to join them for this month's challenge.

As a mixed media designer, educator and demonstrator I love getting the opportunity to share tips, techniques and ideas wherever possible. I am proud to be Design Team lead/member for several companies/blogs, to have appeared on a number of online tv shows and to have had my work published in craft magazines on a regular basis. Behind the scenes I am lucky enough to be married to my best friend and be mum to three wonderful sons (oh, and one rather large daft dog). Being creative is a big part of my life and I hope some of that passion rubs off others along the way - we all need to 'share the love' in our own way!

When the theme 'Earth Day' was mentioned I went off in search of inspiration and was hit with a multitude of logos featuring the planet and branches. This is my interpretation of that logo with the addition of butterflies to symbolise the beauty and delicacy of the natural world.

It was also an opportunity to experiment further with the new Distress Crayons; here are some suggestions for using them on your backgrounds. I started with some Tissue Wrap and a die cut globe stuck down and covered with a thin coat of gesso this time. You could easily use some patterned paper instead and by cutting the main image from black card you will help it to stand out more.

Having scribbled blue and green Distress Crayons on top I blended them together with my finger. If you find they are not blending easily add more colour and you'll find they glide together.

The great thing about these crayons is that they are water reactive, so having spritzed the entire background with water I was able to dab off some of the colour with a tissue. To be really eco-friendly you can save this and use it in another project!

To finish the background I blended some of the Black Soot Distress Crayon around the edges with my finger again and rubbed the Picket Fence version over the globe die cut. And it was all mounted on a piece of MDF board painted black.

To finish the piece I added a die cut branch covered with muslin, lace flowers, buttons, paper flowers and a coat of Antique Linen Distress Paint.

The die cut butterflies were also coloured with Distress Crayons and I added a little Ground Espresso Distress Ink over the top to provide some shadow contrast.

Hopefully you will now feel even more inspired to create your own Earth Day project and share it here at Anything But Cute. I really enjoyed working with this theme and would like to thank Pamellia and the Design Team for inviting me to be a Feature Artist this month.

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Wow, how impressive is that!  Jenny's attention to detail just shines through in this gorgeous project!  Thank you Jenny, from the whole team for joining us here at Anything But Cute.

I hope you will feel encouraged to join in Samra's Earth Day Challenge, if you have not already done so.

You have until the 4th of May to play - and you will find all the challenge details as well as lots of inspiration from the brilliant Anything But Cute design team by clicking on the challenge link.

Happy Crafting
Anne