Mixed Media art box

Hi and welcome to my blog. Mixed media is fairly new to me and while I have so much fun experimenting with textures and styles I still have a lot to learn. Pinterest is an amazing source for techniques , tutorials and of course and endless supply of inspiration! I also found some really great challenge blogs to play along with. Anything But Cute has great monthly challenges... I love that we have a whole month to play along with.... and the DT has stunning samples to get your creative mojo going!! This month they have a magical mood board for us to play along with.....

 

Isn't this stunning??? There's so much here to be inspired by... the gorgeous colors, the glittery texture and of course all that gold!!! 

 

 

I pulled out my inks, stencils,glitter ( yay, I love glitter!!!) and whatever else I could find to start my project. Take a look....

 

 

 

 

I have several of these wooden boxes from the dollarstore just laying around waiting to be turned from drab to mini works of art. I started off by adding layers of texture with my stencils and modelling paste ( Prima) and scraps of paper and a bit of painters mesh. Then I spritzed Tim Holtz diastress and Lindys Stamp Gang inks in  browns, blues and yellows( spritzing water between layers ) to achieve the desired effect. I then added more layers of gold tones from Prima Bloom sprays  for the final touch.

 

 

 

 

I stamped randomly with a few Prima stamps ( honeycomb and script) before I started on the flower cluster. I used mainly Prima flowers which I inked for an aged looked. I made a larger flower from Graphic 45 Topography paper , on my Silhouette diecut machine. The moraccan chipboard was made on my Cricut Explore - I cut sections of the shape and used the same colors as the box .I used strips of paper from the same collection here as well. A few buttons ( I have tons of them in my stash!), wooden shapes, enamel dots, crochet flower, cheesecloth and lace ,glitter, a wooden paintbrush and a bit of gesso on everything completes this cluster nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

I made this ART by adding chocolate brown Gelato by Faber-Castell with their Whipped Spackle. I love  the thickness of this medium , yet it's so lightweight and dries very fast. Look at how the letters just pop off the box! Awesome!! I applied TH Distress Glitter ( in gold, of course!!) in random places throughout the box. My last embellishment is this pretty glittery butterfly.

 

I had so much fun creating this altered box, I hope you enjoyed it ,too! Thanks for visiting my blog today!

 

 

 



A Mixed Media Father's Day canvas

 

 

 



Hi and welcome to my blog. My favorite aspect of mixed media is that you can take so many types of art forms and mix them together.. stamping , stencilling ... it all works beautifully together to create one of a kind works of art!! Anything But Cute Challenge blog  encourages us to have fun with this style with great monthly challenges. This month 's challenge is Make it Masculine and the DT has great projects to share and inspire so go check them out!!



 Today I wanted to share with you a mini canvas I made for my hubby for Father's day. My husband works out of country so I wanted to make something portable but at the same time durable. I found some thin 7X7 canvas at a local boxstore which are perfect for this type of craft. I started off by using a brick stencil and Prima Art Basics Modeling paste. I love the chunky texture and it's a perfect medium for adding lots of layers of colour!

 

I love how this canvas looks already and I haven't added anything yet!!

 

I then added layers of color with Lindy's Stamp Gang and Tim Holtz Distress ink sprays. I usually end up going for more brown tones in my masculine mixed media projects but this time I wanted a different look so I used more gray and yellow tones with splashes of black and white.

 

 

Next, I pulled out some background stamps. They are great way to add layers without bulk.

 

Now onto the next steps.......

 

 

I heat embossed some chunky argyle pieces that I custom made with my Cricut Explore with a Ranger puffy black embossing powder and for a bit of shine, I then spritzed the pieces with Prima Bloom spray in Precious Stone. I adhered a few strips of washi tape to the two corners. Then I added some Prima embellishments, buttons, ribbon, and a stamped sentiment from CTMH set Family Love , some AC enamel dots, and here is the finished project......

 

 

I love how this turned out and I can't wait to give it to my hubby!!

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog.... have a great creative day!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Altered Starbucks bottle... a mixed media project

Hi and welcome to my blog!  We are enjoying a beautiful  sunny day here , although the it's still quite cool... but soon we will be enjoying the lazy days of summer!!!! Many parts of the world may be enjoying flowers in bloom , but not us unfortunately... so I guess I will just have to make my own May flowers! I have a few of these Starbucks Frappuccino bottles just waiting to be altered. Here is what I started out with.....

I covered the entire bottle with some Gesso and then started layering  with texture and colours .......

 

 

 I watered down my Prima chalkboard paints and then spritzed them as I applied them to the bottle. I did the same thing with my spray inks, until I achieved the desired look. I love the vintage shabby look of these colors together. Next I dug through my stash for bits and pieces of lace, leaves, wooden accents.... really anything that I thought would look good !

 

There's a bit of everything here.... some stamping, stencilling, inking.....and of course lots and lots of flowers!!! The tag was made from a Prima journaling pad. I stamped this beautiful sentiment from Flourish stamps and added a few flatbacked pearls and attached it with a mini clothespin.

 

 

 

 

Here is a closeup of some of the stamping and stencilling that I used. Most of my flowers were from Prima and the lace is actually cut from a 3 inch lace trim I received as a free gift from a recent order... I cut random sections and coloured it with some watered down chalkboard paint ( SeaBreeze). The chipboard sections were made with my Cricut Explore from a Morroccan cutfile I found online. A few buttons, some twine, a metal flower and bling and this project is finished!!!


Im entering this bottle over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge for their May Flowers challenge.

I'm also entering this over at Anything But Cute mixed media challenge blog for their first challenge!!!! Yay!! .... another great blog dedicated to all those great mixed media styles ( Thanks Pamellia!!!) . OMG... so much talent from the DT.... love it!!!

Here's the current challenge...







 

 

I hope you enjoyed my little project and thank you  for visiting my blog today!!

 

 

 

Treasure friendship card

Hi , I'm back with another card to share with you today. I've been pretty busy these past few weeks completing my wreath orders , but I'm in limbo right now waiting for my supplies to arrive! What better way to use my downtime than to take part in a few of my favorite challenges,right??

This week over at Frosted Designs, we are challenged to use splatter on our projects.. yes!!!! I love adding splashes of color to my cards and layouts!! The DT has some great projects to get your creative mojo going!
I'm using the current sketch over at Mojo Monday as the starting point for my card... here's the sketch;



 

Isn't it such a fun sketch?? Love it!!!

 

This is what I came up with for both challenges..........

 

 

 

 

I used leftover papers from Prima Time Traveller and My Mind's Eye Portabella Road collections . I mixed some Primary Elements by LuminArte in Emperor's Gold with Prima Art basics 3D Gloss Gel and then stencilled the grunge part of a Prima stencil along sides of the dark paper and then because I still quite abit of the mixture leftover , I grabbed my Tim Holtz  Doily stencil and covered the smallest mat. In RL this gold looks stunning, I assure you! It looks rather orange-y here, but it is much softer and has a very lovely golden shine. I had to stamp, of course, so I used a grungy background stamp from Crafty Individuals on the second mat and then I stamped randomly a word script ( Prima) over the same mat and on the top layer., using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. The lovely flowers are brand new to my stash , Magnolia  flowers. The butterfly and word stickers and ephemera are Tim Holtz Idea-ology . The burlap circle is from a scrap of burlap that I modpodged , cut out and inked the edges. I outlined the words , and just about everything else with a watered down brown Gelato color stick. Finally, I splattered the entire card with  white Gesso and this card is done!!

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!

 

 

 

A Shabby Chic -mixed media card

Hi and welcome to my blog. I love the look of shabby chic especially when its combined with mixed media techniques/styles. Most of my projects these day are a blending of these two and this card is no exception. I had some beautiful floral papers leftover from a previous project , and after distressing, stencilling, etc, I came up with this card......

 

 

 

I used a grid stencil with some Prima Modeling Paste and the stamped chicken wire (Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany)  on the base. For a bit more texture I added a bit of cheesecloth and then started layering my flowers ( Prima , Wild Orchid Crafts, Petaloo). I had the butterfly cut already ( Silhouette cutfile)  and the ribbon and hemp twine are from my stash. The twig is leftover from my son's diorama project.... anything left in my craftroom is not safe from me!!! The banner sentiment and floral papers were from a kit I purchased at Frosted Designs.

 

 

I'm entering this card over at The Mixed Media Challenge for their flowers challenge. Here's the inspiration photo and info:

 

HOW TO PLAY
1. Create a mixed media CARD based on the theme, with or without the optional element.
2. Display the challenge graphic on your blog post and link back to this challenge post.
3. You may enter as many times as you want, as long as each entry is different.
4. You may combine a maximum of 7 challenges (6 other challenges plus ours).
5. Submit your projects by April 25, 11:55 p.m. PDT (GMT-7).
6. We'll announce the winner and highlights on April 30.

 

Adding a basket to your card was the optional element, which I opted not to use , although I may have to make another card with this element.

 

That's my card for today... thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

Tim Holtz twelve tags of 2015 ; February tag

Hi all! I'm late getting my tag made for the TH 12 tags of 2015  because my order of TH goodies hasn't arrived yet!!!! Here's what I came up with using this month's tag tutorial......

 

I used an assortment of tags and papers from my stash to create the base layer and then added various goodies to finish it off. The hearts were cut out of muslin , inked and stamped with a TH script stamp in Frayed Burlap ink and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Stain. The key and lock were a brassy color so I painted them with a few coats of Brushed Pewter Distress paint.

 

 

 

 

Here's a pic of some of the inks, stamps and paints I used to create my tag .... all Tim Holtz except the gel medium.

 

Click here for the full tutorial .

 

That's my February tag....I can't wait until next  month's tutorial!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

Mixed media sewing trinket box

Hi and welcome to my blog. I've  mentioned before  about my growing love for mixed media ... and with all the great inspiration to be found , it's so easy to be inspired! There are lots on helpful videos and blogs dedicated to bringing out the mixed media artist in all of us! I've been making altered crafts for awhile but now that I've discovered mixed media I'm addicted!!!  Here's an altered wooden box I made .....

 

I started off with a simple wooden box that I found at a local Dollarstore ( what a great inexpensive place to find lots and lots of stuff for altering!!!) I wanted to make a sewing themed gift for my mother in law so I found some old sewing patterns I had. I used homemade Modpodge to adhere the pieces  on the top of the box.

 

 

 

 

I added layers until I got a good coverage and then I applied a coat of Gesso over the entire surface to secure it and to soften the patterns before adding my layers of ink.

 

 

I painted the rest of the box with Prima's Chalkboard paint in Egg Blue. Then  I used various sprays ( you can see in the pic which ones!!) and added layers and layers of color. I spritzed each layer with water to blend and then dried it before moving on to the next layer. When I finally got the look, I used a pretty vintage rose stencil from Tim Holtz and Golden Crackle Paste for the bottom corner and when it dried I applied Prima edger ink in Metallic Pink over in and around the edges of the lid.

 

 

 

I cut out a dress form and scissors from chipboard using my Cricut Explore . The dress form was  painted with Prima chalkboard paint in Eggshell and sprayed with Ranger's Perfect Pearl Mist in Bronze for a little glimmer. The scissors were glammed up using Tim Holtz Distress Glitter in Antique Linen. I adhered a variety of flowers, buttons ,ribbon,Prima jewels and sewing products until I achieved the desired look. Finally, I adhered some sewing patterned paper ( stitched, of course)  to the sides, added another die cut and painted flourish, buttons and flowers to complete this box.

 

I really pleased with the end result and I hope my mother in law enjoys it, too!

 

I'm entering this over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge for their " Think Pink" challenge .

 

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

 

 

 

The greatest is love..... a mixed media style Valentines card

Hi all! Valentines Day is just a little over a week away and while I don't normally make a big fuss over this holiday, I do try to make my hubby a card at least! This year we will be in Vegas for Valentines Day,( yay!!! can't wait!!) but before we go I plan on giving him this card I made. I used the sketch at Cardabilities as a basis to get my ideas flowing. they always have fabulous sketches and so many great DT samples,too! Here's the sketch....

 

 

 

Love those hearts , but I don't have many heart stamps and I didn't feel like using my die cut machines for this card , so I searched my room for an alternative and I found something that I never used on my paper crafts before!

 

Here's what I came up with........

 

 

 

 

I used muslin cloth to make the hearts. I just drew the hearts freehand and cut them out. The larger heart was stitched, stenciled and then sprayed for a more vintage feel. The two smaller hearts were also done in a similar way. I heated them up until they curled and the edges became slightly scorched.I then edged them with a bit of Tattered Rose Distress Stain by Tim Holtz.... I just love how they turned out!! I will definitely be using this material for future projects!!! It's such a versatile medium and super cheap, too!!!

 

 

Here's a view of the hearts......

 

 

 

To finish my card, I applied gesso to a few flowers before hot gluing them and added some sequins , a crochet flower and a sentiment heart sticker and sentiment banner from Fancy Pants Designs.

 

I had so much fun making this card and I hope you've enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

Mixed media birthday card

Hi and welcome to my blog.  I'm still working on building up my birthday card stash and the current sketch over at Cardabilities inspired my mixed media style birthday card. I used a bit of everything for this card .... Prima chalkboard paints, Petaloo flowers, Heidi Swapp  and Stampin' Up! stamps and whatever else I could find!

Here's the sketch:



Here's my take on the sketch:

 

 

I have a bunch of plain ole chipboard tags tucked away in a drawer. They are the perfect base for chalkboard paint- the paint goes on smooth and evenly and dries quickly. I used Eggshell for this tag and then stamped a woodgrain stamp ( Impression Obsession) in CTMH Desert Sand ink.... it shows better in RL. I stamped a piece of orange scrap paper with  a Heidi Swapp background  script stamp and the splats are a Stampin' Up! stamp ( Gorgeous Grunge) . I then added layers of Petaloo flowers , sequins and a metal flourish which I painted with Golden chalkboard paint and a bit of Tim Holtz Tarnished Brass . The leaves on the right are a die from , the buttons are from my stash and the Happy Birthday was made using a fun little gadget I've had for ages , but for the life of me, I have no idea what it's called!!!

 That's my card... hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!