Flowery Mixed Media All Occasion Card...

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's share for Mixed Media Monday is a summery all-occasion card.

I did take step-out photos as I went along this time, but then I pulled a total Homer-Simpson-DOH! move and reformatted the card in my camera before I double-checked to be sure I had transferred the photos to my computer. (It was a busy and stressful week around here last week with a very ill family pet, so I prefer to think that was the reason for my distraction....more than likely it was simply lack of good sleep...LOL)

So if you see items on the supply list and wonder "where are they?" they're most likely on the base of the multi-layered background, and now slightly covered with the flowers and embellishments...

I started by coloring a piece of mixed media paper with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays, then adding some die cut lattice shapes in two corners, and molding paste through a stencil across most of the front. 

In the lower left corner, I die cut a couple pieces of paper doily, colored them with the same sprays, and layered one on top of the other, with foam tape and a piece of lace between the two. Then both upper right and lower left corners got more stenciled molding paste for texture.

Here are a few closeups around the page...in this photo, you can barely see the edges of the two die cut doilies with the lace between them...

The two fuchsia-colored flowers were made using Spellbinders Rose Creations dies, but forming them into generic flower shapes instead of roses...

One day while we were out shopping together at a fabric store, my friend was searching through the remnant bin for animal prints, and found a beautiful piece of wide, sheer lace...she told me it was destined to go home with me...LOL...so it did...and a piece of it was a perfect subtle addition to the lower right corner of this card...

Lately I find I love to add little details up in the corners of my cards...and this one was no exception...

Supplies:

Color mediums:   Lindy's Stamp gang sprays - Screamin' Banshee Black,  Pink Ladies Pink,  Tilt a Wheel Teal

Stencils:   Prima "Flourish";   The Crafters Workshop "Mini Circle Explosion"

Dies:   Cottage Cutz "Tea Time Doily";   My Favorite Things "Wild Greenery";   Spellbinders "Rose Creations" and "Grateful Lattice"

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com and local fabric store             Small roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Stamens:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy            Pearls:   Recollections

Miscellaneous:   Golden molding paste,  cheesecloth

Thank you for visiting today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Art Journal - Wildflower...

It's Mixed Media Monday again here in the Korner, and I have a colorful journal page to share today.

Unfortunately, I didn't take stepout photos this time...and this is one of those pages with a lot of steps. But I think once you see it and I explain what I did, you'll get it. I played with Dylusions acrylic paints, and masks and stencils...and this spread is one of the few "flat" journal spreads I've made.

So, once again channeling my "flower child" younger years, here's the finished double-page spread in my small Dylusions art journal...

I started by eyeballing where I wanted my two figures to sit on the pages, and in those two general areas, went to work creating a background of text tissue paper, hand-drawn flowers, circles, pens and inks, Dylusions paints...fun and bright colors.

Then I placed the masks over the areas I wanted to show through, and used black heavy body acrylic to cover the rest of the background around the figure masks. 

I knew the text I'd be using, and since it was song lyrics, I happily remembered I had an older Tim Holtz music mask in my supply stash...and an older Heidi Swapp loopy flower mask, too. I left the masks over my two figures, laid the music and flower masks down over them, and added more colorful Dylusions paints over the black gesso, covering most of the background with blocks of color.

After that dried, a stenciling of black heavy gesso at the bottom, and more magenta paint through the same stencil around the top and sides, and it was ready for the quote and handwritten lines.

Here are a few closeup shots...

I printed the text onto white cardstock  (the font used is called Janda Truly Madly Deeply) and glued the words down through the center of the spread, then hand wrote another line from the song up the sides of the two figures...

Supplies:

Art Mediums:   Ranger Dylusions acrylic paints-Bubble Gum Pink, Squeezed Orange, Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime, White Linen;   Liquitex black heavy body acrylic paint;   Art Basics black heavy gesso;   Sharpie white poster paint pen;   Uniball Signo white gel pen;   Ranger Fudeball black pen

Masks:   Dylusions "Annie" and "Flossie";   Tim Holtz Idea-ology "concerto";   Heidi Swapp "daisy"

Stencil:   Tim Holtz "dot fade"             Orange gemstones:  Heidi Swapp

Thanks for visiting today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Mixed Media Shabby Chic Meets LSG Color Challenge...

Hello again, friends! Blog-worthy projects are happening less than usual lately while I play with a few new (to me) mediums and practice some new (to me) techniques, but now and then I like to take time out to go back to what I know and create something from start to finish.

I love combining a bit of the shabby-chic style with mixed media, and this month, Lindy's Stamp Gang has a beautiful palette of colors in their monthly color challenge. So out came my sprays and the fun started. Here's the finished result...

And here's the color board the card is based on. The fun part is that this color palette lends itself to soft pastel colors, as well as bright sassy colors. I chose a little of both - a little softer with the background, and a little sassier with the flower colors. :)

I created the background paper by spraying 4 colors of Lindy's sprays onto a piece of mixed media paper. For this background, I used Bonjour Butter Flat Fabio, Aloha Avocado Flat Fabio, Queen of Hearts Red Flat Fabio, and Blue Hawaiian Blue Starburst sprays. 

I started randomly spritzing a little of each of the colors around the page, using a small mask to cover part of the page. Then I removed the mask, and filled in the white space left with more of the same colors, but this time, dropping the color in using the wand portion of the sprayer, and spritzing with water to spread them out. Here and there I dabbed excess color off the page with a paper towel, so you can still see some of the original lines from the stencils in parts of the background.

When that was dry, I applied some molding paste through a stencil for some subtle texture...

I added a large floral cluster over some twine and lace strips run vertically down the left side of the front.  I began with the pale yellow flowers, then added the medium blue roses, and finally the bright red lilies - a little potpourri of color intensities ...

The large yellow rose in the center is made using Spellbinders' Rose Creations dies-it was a little too bright, so I toned it down with cream colored craft paint to blend with the soft yellow of the lilies...

Supplies:

Color Mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays

Stencil:   Prima "flourish"          Dies:   My Favorite Things "Wild Greenery";   Spellbinders "Rose Creations"

Lace:   Tim Holtz idea-ology            Small flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Stamens:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy            Pearls:   Recollections

Miscellaneous:   twine,  Golden molding paste

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

Watercolor Potpourri...

Hello, again! My crafty mojo is apparently on a small vacation lately, and when that happens, I start to reorganize my work space, and play with making clean and simple watercolor cards (which is a lot more fun, and truthfully, more productive, than the reorganizing chore... ha).

So today I have a small collection of watercolor cards to share with you. A couple pieces were practice pieces that turned out perfect for a card front. I'm thinking I should tell myself that they're all "practice pieces" from now on. I seem to relax more when I view them that way, and when I relax more, they have a tendency to turn out just the way I want them to! You'd think I'd be wise to my own Jedi-mind-tricks at this age, but I admit it...I effectively psyche myself out a lot, even as an adult who should know better. :)

So on to the picture show. This first pair is made using a Unity stamp. For one, I drew a brick wall in the background, and after I painted the second one with no background, I liked it, too. So, both became all occasion cards with the same sentiment...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co. "Erica Girl" and "enjoy this day"

Color Mediums:   Grumbacher Transparent Watercolors;   Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Miscellaneous:   white twine,  small colored gems,  "yellow" Stickles

This next card is a 4"x 6" note card that I painted after seeing a red poppy card painted with a similar treatment. Unfortunately, I didn't note the name of the creator of the card that gave me the idea, I just wrote "shade with brown" next to the words "large poppy stamp" in my little idea notepad. (I sometimes do this rather than pinning the inspiration piece so I don't copy it too closely.) So if you see this and it reminds you of a similar card, please let me know and I'll edit this paragraph to credit my inspiration artist!

It was a little difficult to photograph this purple to look the same as it does IRL, but hopefully you can see the raspberry highlights and deep purple shadows...

On this card, I double cut the "hello" die in black and white, heat embossed the "just saying" stamp with white powder onto black cardstock for contrast, then spot-glued them both to the twine bows using liquid glue...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "divine" (poppy);    Altenew "Super Script" ("just saying")

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "small hello"

Color mediums:   Sakura Koi watercolors;   Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Miscellaneous:   twine,  clear sequins,  white embossing powder

This final pair of images were my small "practice pieces." I was playing around with coloring and shadows on penciled-in tables beneath the flower pots. I liked how they turned out, so I cut the pieces from my practice pad, and turned them into note cards...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima "Nature Garden" collection (purple);   Glitz Design "French Kiss" collection (brown);   My Minds Eye Lost & Found "Heirloom" collection (dot)

Stamps:   Penny Black "A Bunch" (jar);   Hero Arts "Things We Love" (single flower);   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages" (hello);   

Altenew "Super Script" (just saying)

Color medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com            Pearls:   Recollections

And last but not least...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Glitz Design "Vintage Blue" collection (gold and blue);   Pink Paislee "Cottage Farms" collection (taupe print)

Stamps:   Penny Black "Flower Gallery" (irises);   Penny Black "A Bunch" (jar);   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages" (sentiment)

Color Medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Pearls:   Kaisercraft and Recollections

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