Bright and Sunny Shabby...

It's been sunny and hot-hot-hot here lately, so I guess that's what put me in the mood for a bright shabby chic card...and that's what I ended up making to share with you today. :)

I made this flower stem a while back, using Prima leaves, a couple stamen clusters, die cut flowers using the LLLC Cherry Blossom Flowers die, and some bright yellow premade sweetheart blossoms to fill in the small spaces. Against the taupe woodgrain paper, it was a nice contrast, so it became the center of attention for this card.

A couple Maya Road grey pearl stick pins were the perfect addition to the top of the stem...

and white pearls were added after the stem was glued down to give a little luster to the niches between the flowers...

The loopy white diecut doily made a fun base for the stem, and twine dyed with Distress Ink added some colorful loopy accents to go along with the diecut...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:  Maja Design "Vintage Summer Basics" collection

Dies:   Memory Box "Whimsy Circle";   LaLa Land Crafts "Cherry Blossom Flowers"

Punch:   Martha Stewart "Vintage Doily PATP"

Stamens:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy            Sweetheart blossoms:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Leaves:   Prima            Ribbon:   local craft store             Pearls:   Recollections

Pearl stick pins:   Maya Road             Miscellaneous:   twine, cheesecloth, "Mustard Seed" Distress Ink

Thanks so much for visiting today...I hope your week started with a smile!

Mixed Media Steampunk Card...

Hello, again! I mentioned on Monday that I'd be sharing a card using another of the "smoosh" papers in the photo...and here I am to share a mixed media Father's Day card with a definite steampunk influence - something you don't see me make very often. (This is the gold, copper, and silver metallic piece in the very front of the photo from Monday's post.)

Although I'm showing this late for this year's holiday (had to be sure it was well in hand first), it could easily be adapted for any occasion requiring a masculine card by switching out the sentiment square I used here.

I've had this Father's Day sentiment stamp for quite a while now, but hadn't ever used it. It's perfect for this card, so I stamped it onto kraft cardstock and embossed it with black powder.

The fun part about this card is that, although it looks like it has a lot of metal embellishments, the only real metal pieces are the small findings in the centers of the cogs, and the paper clip - all the rest are chipboard, painted to give the impression of metal...

The chevron piece was cut from medium weight chipboard, treated with Dusty Attic Rusting Powder, then dry brushed with Lumiere Olive Green paint to add a green patina. 

The cogs were die cut from lightweight chipboard (I cut two layers for each so they wouldn't warp from the paints) and painted with both a blue and green metallic paint after first coating with black gesso. 

The Tim Holtz Grungeboard crown, arrow, and numbers, and the Dusty Attic chipboard chain at the bottom, are all painted the same as the cogs. Here are a few detail shots...

I had more fun over in the upper right corner. First I mixed some modeling paste with Cattail Copper Brown Lindy's Stamp Gang Magical powder, then mixed in some gold micro beads, and applied it through a distressed harlequin stencil, leaving some areas of some of the shapes uncovered.

Once the brown was dry, I added black heavy gesso through the areas left uncovered by the copper paste, sprinkled gold micro beads onto the black gesso, and removed the stencil. 

(And now comes the part where I breathed a sign of relief that my experiment worked, because, in my push to do this, I realized I hadn't experimented first to be sure this *would* work the way it did in my brain.)

Once the harlequin shapes were completely dry and stable, I went over the bright gold micro beads in the gessoed sections with an aqua (BT5) Spectrum Noir solvent marker. Thankfully, it looked just as I had hoped it would...the aqua shade was the perfect blend with the metallic paints used on the left side of the card...phew! 

After mixing up some Cowabunga Copper Lindy's Stamp Gang Magical to add some "distressed shading" to the right of the uneven harlequin shapes, I used the little bit of paint left to add some splatter to the right side of the card.

Supplies:

Dies:   Tim Holtz Sizzix "Chevron";   Memory Box "Antique Gear Set"

Sentiment stamp:   Inkadinkado

Color mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals and sprays;   Lumiere 'Met Olive Green" paint;   Viva Precious Metal Effect Paint "turquoise";   Dusty Attic Rusting Powder;   Spectrum Noir marker BT5

Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop "Mini Harlequin"            Chipboard chain:   Dusty Attic "Mini Chains"

Crown,  arrow,  numbers:   Tim Holtz Grungeboard 

Miscellaneous:   brads,   Prima mini findings,   paper clip,   Golden modeling paste,   gold micro beads,   heavy black gesso,   black embossing powder

Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit today!

Mixed Media Canvas - Where There is Love...

Happy summer Monday...it's now official...there's a reason for the hot, and very dry, weather we're having! LOL

Today I have another photo-heavy Mixed Media Monday share for you...an 8x10 canvas board with a fun and *very* colorful background...

Do you remember this photo from a while back?

This is a pic of some of my "smoosh" papers - pieces of mixed media and watercolor paper colored by "smooshing" them into the leftover paints from previous projects and/or my handmade color charts of Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays and Magicals. (On Thursday, I'll be back to show you a card made with the bronze/gold/grey piece in the front...but today's piece features a bit of three of the papers in this stack, along with a few others not pictured here.)  

I wanted to make a brightly colored background for a canvas, and that's when I remembered my smoosh papers...and realized I already had the background in my basket all along! So I pulled out an 8x10 canvas board as a base, and started laying out and rearranging and re-sizing pieces. I stamped the final-choice pieces with a few fun mixed media stamps using grey Archival Ink to add some muted background images, then began gluing the pieces to the canvas with matte medium. I wound up with a starting canvas looking like this...

Then I took some smaller pieces, punched and played with the edges and ends, added stitching to a few, and glued them down with matte medium on top of the base pieces to add texture and more color variety ...

The next step was to pull out a couple coordinating stencils and add crackle texture paste...

Next up, splatter some white acrylic ink over the background, just for fun. Then I added some more LSG Magicals to color and shadow the crackle paste areas once they were completely dry.

Before adding embellishments, I needed to add an "anchor" for the large floral cluster and little pieces that would fill the center of the canvas.  I die cut two of the "Sketchy Rings" dies and glued them together in the center to form one long piece of distressed circles. 

The clear frame in the center is a Making Memories frame that's been in my stash forever...I knew I'd find the perfect use for it one day! 

And finally, black Archival Ink was brushed around the outside edges. I think the dark contrasting edges keep the eye from drifting off the edges of the canvas, and bring it back to all the fun embellishments and sentiments that will be in the center...

And now on to some closeups of the finished piece. There were quite a few "happy accidents" as I was pulling embellishments for the canvas, and I love how so many long-stashed pieces, in addition to the clear acrylic frame in the center, finally found the perfect use.

The "love" key was a recent purchase, but it was gold and didn't have enough contrast with the background, so I covered it first with black gesso, then accented with a couple different colors of Lumiere paints - and now it's perfect...

And then I found this in my metal charms drawer, and how perfect a fit is it? It's an old Making Memories plaque with the perfect quote to go with the "love" key. I accented the lettering with pink acrylic craft paint, then added more Lumiere paint around the edges, popped some foam adhesive on the back, and nestled it into the sides of the flowers...

There's still a bit of the black diecut circles peeking through at the top...I didn't cover them completely...LOL. ..

The metal butterfly was originally a dark bronze color. I had added Alcohol Inks in magenta and copper to it for another project, but didn't use it then. I pulled it out again for this canvas, dry-brushed black gesso around the outer edge for contrast, then added some Lumiere paints to the inside to bring all the colors of the canvas onto the butterfly...

I discovered that one of the Tim Holtz Idea-ology clock faces fit inside one of the diecut circles perfectly...the color was just not right. Dry brushing a little more black gesso and Lumiere paints took care of that, and a couple small black watch hands in another tiny stash drawer add the perfect finishing touches. 

Below that, another happy find...a long-held Making Memories word charm, this time the word "life," the second half of the quote in the larger sentiment charm...perfect! :)

Supplies:

Color mediums:  Lindy's Stamp Gang assorted Sprays and Magicals;  Lumiere paints "Halo Blue Gold" and "Halo Violet Gold"

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co. "graffiti art";   LOTV "Set 66-Grunge Elements"

Stencils:   The Crafters Workshop "Mini Chicken Wire" and "Mini Chicken Wire Reversed"

Art Mediums:   Studio 490 Crackle Texture Paste;  Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso;  Liquitex Ink!-Titanium White

Dies:   Memory Box "Sketchy Rings"             "Love" key,  metal butterfly,  lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com

Metal clock face:   Tim Holtz             Fleur de lis charm:   Prima             Chipboard chain:   Dusty Attic "mini chains"

Clear acrylic dotted frame,  metal word charms:   Making Memories             Pearls:   Recollections

Flowers:   Prima,  Wild Orchid Crafts,   local craft store            Pink stamen clusters:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy

Miscellaneous:   watch hands,   acrylic craft paint

Thanks so much for visiting today - I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Shabby All Occasion - Cardabilities #125...

Twice in recent weeks, a peek at the current Cardabilities sketch has been just what I needed to get my mojo working. Today's card is a bright, but shabby, all occasion card based on the current sketch - with one change - I turned the sketch upside down for fun!

Here's the finished card...

and here's the right-side-up current sketch that it's based on :) ...

The flowers in the cluster are all handmade using Spellbinders' Rose Creation dies - only this time, I didn't make them into roses. I used the three smallest dies in the set to color and form "generic" flowers, and used clusters of little pearl stamens in the centers. 

I added white cheesecloth, and cheesecloth dyed to match the orchid purple flowers, to add texture under the flower cluster...

In this detail shot, you can see the teal embossing powder that I scattered along the edge of the doily diecut  - I used the same powder in the left corners of the background paper...

I love embellishing stick pins with pearls and spacers. In this case, a Maya Road leaf pin with my last pink jeweled spacer (now on a hunt to find more of these at a bead store somewhere!) and a couple pearls...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima "Zephyr" collection;   Authentique "Cherish" collection

Dies:   Prima "Pineapple Doily";  Spellbinders "Rose Creations";  My Favorite Things "Royal Leaves"

Sweetheart blossoms:   Wild Orchid Crafts             Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com

Leaf stick pin:   Maya Road             Stamens:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy

Embossing powder:   Lindy's Stamp Gang "Tilt a Wheel Teal"           

Miscellaneous:   ""Broken China" and "Seedless Preserves" Distress Inks,  cheesecloth

Thanks so much for visiting today!

All Occasion Card - a Style Potpourri...

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's share is a fun mix of styles - a bit freestyle collage, shabby chic, and mixed media - all in one little card.

The freestyle collage comes in with the lighthearted layering of mixed patterned papers and elements...the shabby chic with the distressed edges and subtle, vintage color mix...and the mixed media with a couple of coloring techniques on the background and the flower cluster...

The floral cluster starts with a couple large flat flowers that have been in my stash for a loooooong time. :)  I stacked them, then added a crocheted lace piece and more paper roses. All the roses were lightly coated with a dry-brushed layer of gesso to soften the colors and blend them together in a shabby-chic way...

This center rose started out ecru in color, the same as the crocheted piece beneath it. I used Lindy's Stamp Gang C'est la Vie Cerise Magical to tint the rose to match the highlights of this Magical paint that I had used around the edges of the background patterend papers...

Tiny gold microbeads were glued all around the floral cluster...just for fun...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima "Almanac" "Nature Garden" "Botanical" and "Zephyr" collections

Color medium:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Magical - C'est la Vie Cerise

Large flowers:   Prima, Petaloo             Small roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Crochet doily & rose, bordered velvet ribbon:   Prima

Pearls:   Recollections             Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com            Stamen cluster:   local craft store

Miscellaneous:   gold micro beads,  twine,  thread,  gel medium

Thanks for coming by for a visit today - I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Grateful - Cardabilities #124

Hello, again! I was feeling in the mood to make a layered, softly-colored, shabby-chic card, and when I ran across the current sketch at Cardabilities, I knew it was a perfect inspiration that would be so much fun to play with.

Here's the finished card...

(and here's the inspiration sketch...)

This time, for a floral cluster, I used a couple mini gardenias, next to a small lily, and just a couple mini roses, all sitting inside a twine wreath (inspired by all those threads inside the circle on the sketch)...

and atop a chipboard heart and heart circle frame that are inked and coated with clear German glass glitter for a slightly sparkly, sugared look...

The sentiment, perfect for either a thank you card or friendship card, (because I like to leave my options open when I'm not making a card for a specific use at the time) is a Tim Holtz "Big Chat" sticker backed with chipboard for stability...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   My Minds Eye Lost & Found "Heirloom"

Chipboard heart and frame:   Maya Road            Dies:   Sizzix "Flowers Branches & Leaves"

Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts              Pearls:   Recollections              Sentiment:   Tim Holtz "Big Chat"

Lace and pearl stem:   local craft store

Miscellaneous:   clear medium German glass glitter,  twine,  Liquitex Ink! acrylic inks - Carbon Black & Titanium White

Thanks for visiting today!

          

Mixed Media - Double the Fun...

It's Mixed Media Monday on the blog, and I've got two projects to share with you today, so I hope you have a few minutes to sit back and enjoy the picture show. :)

First up, an all-occasion card made with one of my "smoosh papers" - a piece of mixed media paper literally "smooshed" onto a craft sheet covered with leftover colors from another project. In this case, it's Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays.

The piece was the perfect size for an A2 card, and I liked the way the colors distributed so much that I wanted a lot of it still showing after embellishing. I added only a bit of modeling paste through a Prima stencil in a random pattern, and a bright floral cluster. Instead of using leaves in the flower cluster, I pulled out an old fern punch for a fun change of pace...

Here are some closeups of the floral cluster...

The only rose in the cluster is the large one in the center...all the rest are pretty little sweetheart blossoms...

Supplies:

Color Mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays  - Pop Rock Purple,  Tea Pot Purple,  Hydrangea Blue

Stencil:   Prima "Circular Lattice"            Dies:   Memory Box "Quinn Flourish"

Punch:   Punch Bunch "Large Fern"             Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts             

Stamen cluster:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy             Pearls:   Recollections

Last Monday when I shared the butterfly through the brick wall journal page, I mentioned this art journal page layout. It was purely a "work of wonder" as in "I wonder if this will work!" 

It's an experimental blending of different types of mediums (more than an artful design). To my pleasant surprise, since I had never combined some of them before, they all worked together beautifully. (There was one experiment that didn't work out exactly as planned, though, which you might spot right away.)

I wanted to play with using die cuts for texture instead of art mediums and stencils...and I wanted to try to blend wax based color background mediums (Gelatos and Neocolor II watercolor crayons) with water-based spray colors (Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio spray) and various pens (Ranger Fudeball, Uni Posca, Uniball Signo)...

Here are some progress stepout photos, starting with the die cuts gessoed after gluing onto the pages (a bit hard to see since everything is white)...

You'll notice there are some white splatters on the finished page. Instead of splashing white ink onto the finished pages, I wanted to see if liquid frisket would stand up to all the different product layers, and then come off smoothly when it was finished...and it did! The orange dots are the liquid frisket...

The next step was base color. I used Gelatos inside the circle diecuts on each page (I applied them in a circular design then used a wet watercolor brush to spread them through the circle), and the rest of the background is Neocolor II pencils applied much the same way - scribbled on, then spread with a larger wet watercolor brush.

There was a method to my madness with the butterflies. I added two colors inside the white diecuts on the background, and as you can see in the finished page, when I applied a second black diecut with raised wings over them, I ended up with dimensional butterflies with the colors under the black outline diecut - a fun technique...  

Here are a few closeups showing the finished butterflies and a few other details. You'll see in the closeups how perfectly the liquid frisket came off after the pages were dried. :)

In this first one, you can see that I outlined the bottom butterflies in white for more accent. The hand drawn scallops around the edge were done with a black Fudeball pen, with white accents inside the scallops drawn with a UniBall Signo in white...

I drew inside and outside the circle diecuts with a black Fudeball, and accented inside the circles with a white Uni Posca paint pen...

In this photo, you can see to the left and below the butterfly where I used a Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio spray (South Shore Sand) to shade and add some dimension to the scribble diecut texture and around some of the diecuts. I wasn't sure how, or if, it would adhere over the Neocolor II's, but it surely did. Even though the Neocolor II's are labeled as "wax pastels," they behave much like any other watercolor once they're dry...

Here's a closeup of one of the circle diecuts, colored with Gelatos and accented with black and white pens...

I also added some of the Lindy's Stamp Gang spray around the circle diecuts for shading, and randomly inside the honeycomb diecuts in the corners. (And yes, I glued the sequins on "upside down" because I liked the way the stamped creases on the back side mimicked the honeycomb pattern of the diecut. :) )...

Have you spotted the one step that didn't work exactly as I had hoped, but was worked around to a degree? Yep, it's the flowers on the lower left. I was curious how stenciled flowers would apply on top of textured diecuts. First I pulled out my black heavy gesso, then realized that wasn't much of a challenge, because of it's thicker consistency. So I went for broke and pulled out my bottle of regular black gesso...and boy was I in for some fun.

I was very careful...and I mean "very"...to make sure my stencil was flat on the top of the page, but I took a deep breath, and instead of using a sponge applicator (which is what I'd normally do with regular consistency gesso) I pulled out a small palette knife. And you probably know what happened next...seepage to the nth degree! LOL

But it wasn't so bad that I couldn't take the edge of the knife and pull out the edges of the flowers to look like large, spiky, blooms. And one advantage to the "seepage" is that the design doesn't just rest on top of the diecuts, but seeps down to the base of the page, making it a more continuous image (and at least now I know what will happen to the design with this technique...LOL)...

Supplies:

Dies:   Tim Holtz "Mixed Media" and "Scribbles & Splats";   LaLa Land Crafts "Fancy Butterfly";   Simon Says Stamp "Bubble Parade"

Color Mediums:   Faber Castell Gelatos;   Caran d'Ache Neocolor II wax pastels;   Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio "South Shore Sand";   Ranger Fudeball black pen;

Uni Posca white paint pen;   Uniball Signo white gel pen

Art Mediums:   Golden white gesso,  Golden gel medium,   Darice Studio 71 black gesso,   Grumbacher "Miskit" liquid frisket

Word stickers:   Tim Holtz "Small Talk"             Stencil:   Tim Holtz "Wildflower"             Miscellaneous:  sequins, small colored gems

Thanks for stopping by for a visit...I hope your week is starting with a smile!