BE DAZZLED BY KYLA de RUITER

Our amazingly talented guest artist exposé this month is this sweet and fun lovin' gal...

Kyla is an all round amazing artist. Her style is very exploratory, looking at how mediums work together to create interesting and unexpected effects. Kyla lives on the Gold Coast, Australia with her husband and 3 gorgeous girls. Works and also runs a small business called Inky Fingers where you can grab lots of fabulous mixed media style goodies and ephemera packs. As you can imagine life gets pretty hectic and when its completely nuts its time to head into the craft room or inky lab and start grabbing for those sprays and distress (De-stress) inks!

SO LETS LEARN A LITTLE MORE ABOUT HER....

I'm an avid everything- gardener, reader and blockaholic! When I get excited about a subject, I'll talk your ear off! My most fave quote ever was coined by Donna Markova-
'I will not live an unlived life'.

I was introduced to Page Drafts when I met the lovely Emma! I love that Em's sketches are original, layered and easy to follow. I can just slot my photos and embellishments into the sketch if I'm feeling lazy and know that the layout is going to look fab!

HOW DO YOU USE SKETCHES?

I don't scrapbook so much anymore, but I do use sketches quite often in my art journaling and card making. I love creating backgrounds for my journaling books, using lots of inks, gesso, stencils and old papers etc. But sometimes I hit a blank when it comes to actually using my backgrounds and that's when Page Drafts sketches come in handy, they get me moving again. My cards were developing a bad habit of looking the same, but

in turn making more orginal and interesing cards that I love!

Below is a card I created using a sketch from Page Drafts.

Artist Tips: When creating a card using a regular 12 X 12 sketch as inspiration,

select one part of the sketch to really highlight in your card design.

'You Are Some Kind Of Wonderful'

by Kyla de Ruiter

Credits:

Page Drafts Template # 2.1 by The Nifty Pixel

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ART JOURNAL STYLE?

I'd say my style is a mix of both messy and neat! I love a messy background but when it comes to putting all the elements on they have to be neat, straight, balanced and in proportion. If its not it does my head in. I also dabble in digital art journaling and love extracting my own digital stamps to create interesting points of interest.

I'm inspired by a lot of artists from all fields of mixed media. When I see a product that's been used in an unconventional manner, or a style that just hits me, I have to have a go at it.
It's made for a few raised eyebrows!

'Breathe'

by Kyla de Ruiter

Painted Nest Challenge #25 Freebie by The Sissy Sparrows

'Watching'

by Kyla de Ruiter

'Shine Bright'

by Kyla de Ruiter

CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE TIP OR TRICK WITH US?

Sure.... I love using stitching in my projects; this technique adds texture, pattern and colour.

It's easy to make simple stitching guides by using clear acetate (or transparencies),

grid paper and a pointed stylus or embroidery needle.

Step 1:

To create the acetate guide, overlay a clean sheet on top of some grid paper. This will allow you to easily follow the points of each square.

Step 2:

Using an embroidery needle begin poking holes following the grid underlay. Make sure the hole goes straight through the acetate template.

Step 3:

Now Overlay the acetate on top of your background design and repeat step 2. Instead of poking holes in a grid like format, try poking holes in different pattern formations like hexagons, chevrons and stars. Once you have finished creating your hole guide on your background, remove the acetate template and store it to use on another project.

Step 4:

Now the fun part begins...select an embroidery thread and start stitching making sure to follow the existing hole guide pattern you poked into the background paper. After you have completed the stitching flip your project over and tape the stitching down on teh underside or alternatively using double sided tape adhere another sheet of lightweight cardboard or cardstock on the underside. This prevents anything catching on the stitching and ruining all your beautiful needle work.

Artist Tip: Use repositional tape to fix the acetate and background paper together as

this will prevent the guide from slipping and ensuring a perfect grid when poking the holes.

'You Are Exquisite'

by Kyla de Ruiter

Wow, thank you Kyla for sharing such an incredibly effective technique, it looks amazing!

If you would like to check out more of Kyla's fabulous projects head over to her BLOG and say hello. You'll also find a link to her store there and many more techniques that will inspire!

Thank you Kyla for guesting with Page Drafts this month!

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