A graffiti tutorial and some May winners ...

I will be announcing our May winners shortly but first I would like to introduce you to our next edition of Tips, Tricks and Techniques for 2015 presented by our very creative team member, Helene Bogren.

Hello Helene here,  today I will show you how to make your own patterned paper in graffiti style. Graffiti makes your layout cool and you can choose your own colour palette. You can also choose any word that suits the theme on your layout and make it the perfect size.

I chose the word STAR and added an arrow that points on our daughter on stage. I let the word bend to frame the photo.

The first step is to sketch the word with a pencil. You can find a lot of inspiration with different designs on the internet. Just google the word graffiti and choose pictures.

When you are satisfied, fill in the lines with a water resistant pen. When dried erase the pencil lines.

Now it is time to colour your graffiti! I have tried three different ways – watercolours, Gelatos with water, and Pro Markers. They all work, but the results differ. Today I used watercolours on watercolour paper. It is my favourite as the colours blend perfectly.

I will also show you two samples coloured with Pro Markers (to the left) and Gelatos adding water with a brush (to the right).

When I finished my graffiti I used it as a photo mat on a layout. I cut out the end of the arrow to highlight it.

Here is a close-up of the finished layout. I hope you get inspired  to try it out. It is a lot of fun!

Wow Helene, what a sensation technique and your page is amazing.  

and now onto our May winners .....

  Thank you everyone for playing along with us last month - we had some more fantastic entries and it was really difficult to select our team favourites.  Of course each month we do a completely random draw so anyone is potentially a winner :)

We were working from this work by Sarah Beetson called The return of the young prince.

Criteria - use of stars

Erina is our winner of the prize pack from Flourish with a Bling. 

Sue Smith is our winner of the prize pack from Mystical Scrapbooks.

Our random draw winner of a lovely prize donated by DT member Elaine Schoof is #15 - Regina Chandler.

Congratulations ladies.

Could the winners please contact me with their postal details.  Don't forget to grab our winners badge from the sidebar. 

Our Creative Team highlight from last month is Tone-Lill with this vibrant creation.  She will receive a little surprise something from me.

Don't forget to enter this month's ARTastic challenge.  All the details are in the left sidebar. Remember you have until the end of the month to submit your entry.

Please pop back on the 15th when we will have more delightful team inspiration to show you.