Mixed Media - Believe in Magic...

Happy Monday, everyone! I had to take a little break from crafting recently to tend to some family business and a sick family pet, but I was able to sneak in some crafty time in small bits and pieces during the past couple weeks, and will have a couple projects to share with you this week. :)

The first is a canvas (of sorts) to get back on track for Mixed Media Mondays. I recently purchased some newly released paints by an artist friend, Cheryl Mezzetti. They're called Perfect Paints, and they're acrylic paints with a beautiful sheen to them...colors that are brilliant with just a bit of reflectivity that makes the colors dance...they're called Shimmering Matte Acrylics, and the hardest decision to make was which colors to start my collection with!

Here's the finished project...

Can you tell what my "canvas" is by this photo?

In my stash, I had the backing chipboard piece from an empty wirebound 9x12 watercolor paper pad, already gessoed for later use. When my paint order arrived, I pulled out that piece, and started laying on colors - just playing to see how they covered, how they blended with each other, and what would happen when I layered one on the other after drying. These colors are so rich!

When I saw how beautifully the colors blended, an idea started to take shape...and that's about the time that other life issues started taking priority over my crafting time. So I started jotting notes on post-its as the ideas came while I was tending to other things, and playing with those ideas when I had a few minutes in the evenings.

Along with the paints, I purchased a few colors of Perfect Paints Polishing Plasters...a sort of molding plaster with color...but a bit of a different texture, and when buffed, a slight sheen...or when burnished, a shabby, vintage look. So, following my "try this" notes, I pulled out a couple stencils, and played with laying down the Plasters...and then I had this...

Here's where you can see how different the colors look when the combo of natural light and Ott lights aimed at the canvas board (in my little homemade photo booth) reflect the sheen of the paints. In real life and to the natural eye under normal room lighting, the colors look more like they do in the first photo above. 

I used "Organic Sugar" Polishing Plaster for the stripes along the left side, and a combo of "Cayenne" and "Sunwashed Clay" Polishing Plasters for the tree and branches. Once they had dried, I burnished each with the metal blade of a palette knife, and it gave them a smooth but vintage appearance.

As a finishing touch, I used Stabilo All pencils in black and brown to add a little bit of shading and dimension before adding embellishments on top of the pastes.

And here's where taking stepout photos ended, as I only devoted short periods of time in the following couple weeks to add bits and pieces to the canvas board. 

Among the little burlap flowers and diecut cardstock leaves decorating the tree branches, I added some dark bronze metal flowers, touched up with pink and yellow Shimmering Matte Acrylics. I also dry-brushed those colors on top of the multicolored micro and seed beads that I added around each of the larger metal flowers...

These chipboard hearts were first painted with the pink paint (Peony), and then a watered-down "wash" of the Peacock Blue paint gave me the violet/purple shade for a little variety...

I had painted this chipboard fairy for another project, and didn't use it, so I covered it up with black heavy gesso, then added some of the Peacock Blue and Peony paints to the wings, and topped them with some Rock Candy Distress Stickles...

The sentiment stamp is by Unity Stamp Company - it already has some of the words "blocked" but I drew in a couple more lines and some white dots around "magic" for fun...pens write beautifully over these paints! The pink and blue Shimmering Matte Acrylics were added inside the crystals of the butterfly to make it stand out a bit more...

Supplies:

Color Mediums:   Perfect Paints Shimmering Matte Acrylics ("Cantaloupe" "Rain Slicker" "Peony" "Peacock Blue" "Moss Green")

Perfect Paints Polishing Plasters ("Organic Sugar" "Cayenne" "Sunwashed Clay")

Stencils:   The Crafters Workshop "Branches Reversed";   Tim Holtz "Stripes"

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "Fancy Believe";   My Favorite Things "Rose Leaves"

Chipboard:   Dusty Attic "Garden Fairy" and "Heart Attack Panel Small #2"

Stamp:   Unity Stamp Company "The Time is Now"

Burlap flowers:   The Paper Studio             Metal flowers:   theFunkieJunkie.com

Crystal butterfly:   Prima             Gems:   Prima and Creative Imaginations

Mixed media ink supplies:   Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens (black);   Stabilo All pencils (black & brown);   

Mangaka black fine and medium pens;   Uniball Signo white gel pen

Beads and glitter:   Rock Candy Distress Stickles;   Martha Stewart clear coarse glitter;  silver and pink German glass glitter;  

 Doodlebug Sugar Coating BonBon glitter;   craft store micro and seed beads

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

Mixed Media - With Brave Wings Color Challenge...

Hello, again! I know I've been gone more than a week, but I've got a fun Mixed Media Monday canvas to share today with LOTS of photos, so I hope that makes up a bit for my unscheduled absence. :)

At the start of the month I made note of this month's color challenge over at Lindy's Stamp Gang. But then I got distracted by life, and this became a project completed in small bits of time, with many starts and stops, and I lost track of the fact I was following a color board inspiration! Thankfully, when I finished, I realized I still had the ingredients of the color challenge board front and center.

Here's the finished 12 x 12 canvas...there's lot of glittery bling on this one, so I tilted the camera down a bit to capture more of the details and less of the reflection...

And here's the LSG color board with this month's challenge colors - I picked the minty-aqua, fuchsia pink, and golden tan as the three colors I would play with:

You might be able to see by the edges that I started with a piece of vellum with torn edges as the base of everything - gluing the vellum unevenly gave me the horizontal texture lines that I wanted to build into the background - you know I'm a big fan of texture! So it started like this...

A little hint: to "iron" down the vellum creases to make them flat, I turned the canvas over and used my brayer on the back side...

The next step was to apply a coat of white gesso over the vellum and canvas - now you can really see the horizontal creasing...

Then I added crackle paste through a Prima Netting stencil, and more in the upper right corner using the Tim Holtz Speckles stencil (as always, you can click on any of these photo to see it larger and, in this case, see the crackle detailing better)...

And finally to the step where it all comes together - COLOR! :)  The background colors are Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals - Autumn Maple Crimson, Merci Beaucoup Mint, Bonjour Butter darkened with Cafe au Lait and for shading and darkening, Sandra Dee Sepia ...

Once I placed all my larger elements on the canvas and had an idea how the layout was going to look, I stamped a criss-cross stamp with brown ink randomly around the open areas...

Then it was time to start gluing down elements and bling to get to the final finished product. Here are some closeup shots around the canvas, starting with the beautiful fabric and bead Prima butterfly in the upper left corner...

I painted the brick chipboard piece with both the Red Hot Poker Orange and the Autumn Maple Crimson colors so it had a beautiful soft iridescent glow beneath all the beads and flowers and buttons and pearls...

The metal lock piece was gessoed and painted and stained to look old and rustic, so it would blend with the painted chipboard chain...

Under the mulberry rose and metal leaf is a double-layer diecut heart from one of the newer Tim Holtz mixed media dies...

To make the chipboard words stand out from the rest of the embellishments, I first coated the piece with black gesso, then painted it with Aqua Stickles. When that dried, I accented some of the letters with a white Uni Posca paint pen. The final coat was with some of the Merci Beaucoup Mint Magical, to blend it all together and tone down the glitter just a bit...

Love this "hope" charm! I didn't have a chipboard piece that worked beneath the circles...a flourish just didn't look right, but I felt it needed something beneath the embellishments and beads. So I handcut a few strips of chipboard and painted them with the Red Hot Poker Orange Magical. I wanted to mimic the look of the thinner pieces of the circle above it, and the strips were the perfect balance for the embellishments beneath the circles...

And last but not least, the little group of goodies in the lower right corner...painted wooden angel wings, a painted wooden birdcage, a painted urn button, another word stone, and lots of bling and flowers with another little snippet of lace...

Supplies:

Color mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals - Cafe au Lait + Bonjour Butter,  Autumn Maple Crimson, Merci Beaucoup Mint, Sandra Dee Sepia

Art mediums:   Liquitex white gesso;  Darice Studio 71 black gesso;  Golden crackle paste;  Aqua Stickles;  Coffee Archival Ink,  Viva Inka Gold metallic paints (rose quartz, hematite, and violet)

Chipboard:  Dusty Attic "Mini Chains";   ScrapFX Wordlets ("with brave wings...");   Blue Fern Studios "Shabby Brick Bits" and "Graduated Circles"

Wood Accents:   Kaisercraft "Wooden Flourishes/Wings";   local craft store (birdcage with bird)

Stencils:   Prima "netting";   Tim Holtz "speckles"            Dies:   Tim Holtz "Scribbles & Splat" (heart)

"Hope" charm, metal door lock, fabric butterfly:   Prima            Metal leaves & corner scrolls:   TheFunkieJunkie.com

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co. "she remained true" and "distressed criss-cross"

Pearls:   Recollections                     Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts          

Background vellum:  Tim Holtz "Wallflower" collection

Miscellaneous:   word stones,  seed beads, urn button, spiral clip, cheesecloth, lace pieces

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